Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

A code of regulations embodying the above provisions is now circulated by the Board of Trade, and recommended for adoption; and these provisions are more or less in force upon all single lines on which the staff system is employed.

The third system is that in which the duty of the train-staff is performed by a train-porter, constantly travelling backwards and forwards. Such an officer may be wanted, and there seems to be no reason why he should not be employed, even when the staff system is in force. But the train-staff has certainly these advantages over the train-porter-that it is never sick or sorry, that it never exceeds the bounds of sobriety, that it is unable to make a mistake, that it can neither be misunderstood nor misunderstand any one, that having nothing to fear and nothing to hope for it is no respecter of persons, that its instructions cannot be questioned, that by its presence or absence at any particular point it will always speak for itself, and that it can have no secrets and tell no lies.

The officers of the Board of Trade have of late years, before recommending the opening of a portion of single line for passenger traffic, demanded that a certificate should be furnished on behalf of the company wishing to open it, to the effect that one of the three modes above referred to would be adopted in working it. These undertakings have not always been carried out in practice, because the officers superintending the working of the lines have not in some cases felt themselves bound by the spirit of the certificates so given by others. But there is no doubt that the requiring of such certificates has very much contributed in a general way to the safety of the public.

Next after collisions, the class of accidents that is most numerous and of the greatest importance is that which arises from engines or carriages leaving the rails. These accidents are occasioned, sometimes by defects in the rolling stock, such as the failure of axles, wheel-tyres, springs, or other parts of the machinery of a train; and sometimes by defects in the permanent way, which includes the rails, chairs, fastenings, sleepers, and ballast. An opportunity occasionally offers of attributing such accidents to high speed when the real cause has not been found out; but high speed alone can never be considered as the principal cause of an accident, except in the case of a curve, of which the radius is so small as to render the speed employed dangerous, or on which the super-elevation of the outer above the inner rail is not sufficient to prevent the flange of an engineor carriage-wheel from mounting the former.

In writing thus we do not mean to justify excessive speeds, or to imply that the danger of railway travelling is not materially

greater

greater when the speed is increased beyond a certain point, which varies with the nature of the line, the condition of its rolling-stock, and the strength and state of repair of its permanent way. On the contrary, we conceive that the principal companies have been both foolish and rash in allowing their trains to run at the speeds which have now for some years been at all times and seasons habitually employed, and especially so in permitting their engine-drivers to make up time on the road. They have been foolish because high speeds are exceedingly expensive, in requiring superior arrangements for conducting the traffic, in causing interruptions or extra speed to the slow traffic, in the wear and tear of stock and road, in compensation to persons killed and injured, and in preventing the development of local traffic. They have been rash because, other things being equal, greater risk, both of collisions and of trains leaving the rails, is incurred at high speeds than at low speeds, and because, when an accident does occur, a high speed is liable materially to increase the damage to the stock and the injuries to the passengers which result from it."

In these respects we agree with much that is stated in a pamphlet against high speeds which has been circulated by Mr. G. R. Stephenson, C.E., under the form of a letter to the President of the Board of Trade, and which we commend to our readers. We are unable to endorse all his conclusions, especially as regards break-power and the reversing of engines, which are contrary to the teaching of practical experience; but we would add a few figures in corroboration of his views, because we conceive them to afford a somewhat strong illustration of the danger, and expense in compensation alone, of fast traffic. Out of a total sum of 181,2707., which was officially returned by the different companies as having been paid in the year 1860 as compensation for accidents and losses, 22,5047. is stated to have been paid on a line 381 miles long which stands high in public estimation for comfort and speed; whilst 11,1257. is stated to have been paid by a neighbouring line, 656 miles long, which is popularly supposed to be at the same time more deliberate and more dangerous; and 55,3627. is given as paid by a third line, 968 miles long, which rivals the first line in its speed, if not in its other qualifications.

At the same time we must add, that the fastest trains have not in practice contributed to produce the accidents in which the greatest loss of life and injuries have been sustained, and that some of the slower (stopping) trains are obliged to run at greater speed between the stations than the faster (through) trains. should be glad to see the speed of all trains diminished through

c 2

We

the

the winter months, as the attempt to maintain them invariably leads to great irregularities, much dissatisfaction, considerable risk, and extra loss of life. Fogs and frosts, sleet and snow, driving winds and slippery rails, are highly inimical to punctuality, and they all cause extra danger-the more so under defective systems, not sufficiently able to cope with irregularity. In fogs the engine-drivers cannot see sometimes fifty yards before them. During frost the roads are rigid, repairs and renewals are difficult, and iron is more brittle; and the permanent way is often left in a most unsatisfactory condition by the thaw that succeeds it. High speeds at such seasons are more objectionable than during the summer months. Many will remember the disastrous accidents that occurred one after another during the somewhat unusual continuance of hard weather that was experienced last winter. The companies then found it necessary suddenly to reduce their speeds, and to throw the traffic into a state of irregularity from which it was some time in recovering. That state of things was less satisfactory, both to the officers and servants of the companies and to the public, besides being less to the interest of the companies, than if the speeds had been deliberately reduced at an earlier date and the necessary alterations had been effected in the time-tables. The public would not, we are convinced, be otherwise than pleased at any reduction of speed that would during the worst of the winter months enable punctuality to be more regularly maintained.

But we were saying, before thus digressing upon the subject of speeds, that except under certain conditions upon curves, high speed could never be properly considered as the principal cause of an engine or train leaving the rails; and we may add, that there is invariably some other very good cause for every accident of this description, though it is not always brought to light. Speed is, in fact, a comparative question. What would be a comparatively high and dangerous speed in one case, is a comparatively slow and safe speed in another. When a train filled with electors ran off the rails on a line near the north-west coast of England on one occasion, it was found that a very unsteady engine, whose trailing wheels had been removed for greater facility in taking the curves, had been thrown from a bad permanent way by a shaky bridge. The speed in that case, though not more than thirty miles an hour, was unsafe, whereas at the same spot a steady engine might have travelled along a sound road over a rigid bridge with perfect safety at sixty miles an hour. The fact is that whatever the speed employed may be, the permanent way of every passenger line ought to be maintained in so efficient a

condition

condition as to be safe at a speed considerably higher. In all engineering works it is a rule that there shall be a margin of strength of two, three, or more times, above that which is absolutely required. Railway bridges of wrought-iron are required by the officers of the Board of Trade to have an ultimate strength capable of bearing four times, and of cast-iron six times the greatest weight that they will have in practice to support. There ought in like manner to be a sufficient margin of strength and stability in the permanent way, which should be safe not merely at the speeds daily employed upon it, but at much higher speeds also. We regret to say that this rule is not always carried out, and that the permanent way of some railways is permitted to fall into a most unsatisfactory condition. After an old line has been worked to the utmost, the renewals occupy a considerable period, perhaps a series of years; and whilst they are going on a train may run off the rails, partly, perhaps, from the defective condition of the road, and partly from other causes.

If no death ensues after an accident of this description, no public inquiry takes place. If death unfortunately follows, the coroner and his jury assemble. The evidence is probably conflicting, the causes are technical, and eminent engineers give it as their opinion that the road was in fair working order. They have often seen other roads in a worse condition; the accident ought not to have happened; and no one can be blamed for what has occurred. The jury return a verdict of Accidental Death,' and thank the company for their attention, their civility, and their readiness to afford information. The chairman congratulates the shareholders at their next meeting that the line has been so free from accident.

Out of the average before alluded to, of seventy-six accidents per annum, thirteen arise from engines and trains leaving the rails, in consequence, principally, of defects connected with the permanent way of different descriptions. One defect, that has been the direct cause of several prominent accidents, is the decay or shearing of the trenails, or wooden plugs, by means of which the chairs are attached to the sleepers. Trenails have been, and are still preferred by many engineers to wrought-iron spikes for this purpose, but they have proved themselves to be treacherous. They are found to give way more or less quickly, according to their quality and the positions in which they are placed, at the part between the chair and the sleeper, where strength is most required; and experience has amply shown that they ought never to be trusted on curves, because they are apt to be cut off by the edges of the chairs, which are generally sharp. Even on a straight line they sometimes give way suddenly after having

Jeen

been in use for six years and upwards. An express train from a watering-place of much resort on the north-west coast of England ran off a straight portion of line solely from this cause; and a fatal accident happened, also on a straight line, in the south of Scotland, not long since, from the same cause. In both of these cases, other parts of the permanent way proved on examination to be in a dangerous condition from this source of weakness. Wooden trenails possess the advantage of holding better in the sleepers than iron spikes, and therefore of retaining the chairs more firmly in their places as long as the timber is sound; but it is clear, after the experience that has been obtained of their liability to failure, that whenever they are used in future, a proportion of wrought-iron spikes-say two in each sleeper-should be used with them.

Amongst other defects in the roadway that lead more or less directly to accident, may be mentioned weak rails, or rails laid upon sleepers too far apart; and employed perhaps, when of a double-headed section, first with one head and then with the other head uppermost. The rails have frequently been fractured under these circumstances by the weight and momentum of a passing engine, and often without the engine or the train being thrown off the line. Points and crossings, again, are badly put in, or are allowed to get out of order. When sleepers decay, the beds of the chairs become uneven, or the fastenings get loose in consequence of the holes in which they are inserted becoming too large for them; and in the latter case, the gauge between the rails ceases to be well kept. The joints of the rails also are more difficult to keep up, and the ends of the rails acquire excessive motion as the trains pass over them. As each part becomes loose and shaky, the keys which keep the rails in the chairs are more apt to drop out, the chairs are more liable to fracture, and accidents of all sorts are more likely to occur.

It is surprising how bad a road the trains will sometimes traverse day after day without accident, and how the working platelayers will manage to keep them on the rails under the most adverse circumstances, though of course reckless engineers tend to engender careless foremen, and careless foremen to make neglectful plate layers. In many cases individuals, or local authorities, have complained with good cause of the condition of different lines of railway, and have asked for an inspecting officer from the Board of Trade to report upon them. In one of these cases of complaint, in which the permanent way proved to be in a very bad state, one engine had run off the line four times, and another once, within twenty days.

Our remarks apply, in spirit, to every one of the many descrip

« AnteriorContinuar »