MAIN TRUNK RAILWAY DISASTER.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2164, 1 June 1914, Page 4

MAIN TRUNK RAILWAY DISASTER.

IHE BANGER SIGNAL. Sir,- 111 yours of to-day, May 29, Micro is some, further %ht 011 the recent disaster. Evidently there lias hetrn some had blundering worJi! someivhert% The 'Mails state that ''"immediately After the accident a number of railway ofiieiijls, ami passengers trtado on mSWiiluitioi! of tlio sij,;iifiLi>ox and ®ig=w>8 ; " 'JfMs sounds very clever on the officials' jttri. Anyone knowing anything of inMrloeldttg firgiiailitm apparatus eoitld liavo «iatwi ihat the lever for lowering the- JiGirtft signal for tho north l-iii'.nd express cottitl jiot be drawn irfjfift tlior-o was a train earning in through, tte points going south. In nnv proper intflrtoekiijg system. !>}' allowing t]i» south bound train to ontser tito station, this action would lock tlip .levers of thu isignjik of .t'-lio north train. It tliaso officials had out mwl examined tlio "distant aignai," and satf how it wits then Vro might have had Eoitift idea of what tvas ivfang.The theory of a cold night contracting I lie (vii f-s to my wind seems a ll nonsense, In any ••eew&» plsoro signal this oov.ld not tsko ptaco, eseopt under certain ceftditioais. Souiap.hei'O signals haves always a bdfl, or balance on the sigjsal.-post which acts Immediately on the ferer in fte signalbos being put into position j the weight of the ball puts tlio semaphore in the danger position. Anything tint- adds weight io ihi; seniaptinM counteracts against tho hall cloii&g its work, as, for instance, a. heavy fall of Siiow, whieit adheres to tlio scitia.plto.ro aiifj adds Wcifrjit. Thii is a comwon occurrencein Britain i» the winter time. Signal-

men aro instructed to -put- on and off tlioir signsis occasionally so as not to allow snow to adhere te tliem, Klrethor they'have trains in their circuits or not. To. my wii-kI,. the, whole- system of miming grains in Zealand needs overhauling. Evidently the new Uftioral Manager has his work cnt out for aoino years to come, as it will take a; long time to cducate tho. officials of the 1 service to a proper efficiency, and get thorn ont of tho haphazard methods now in use. A new c«d<s of goverfiissg thesis trains passing each other iit stations is urgently wanted. I think, in duty to the travelling public, Mid. to restovi) confulcnco ifi tho system of railway working, a public inrj-.tirv should bo held oa this subject., auu sco what is tho cause of these accidents, which ftre becoming of too frequent occurrence in Nftw Zealand. There seems to be something wrong soinawhero, The human -element, shoukl 'bo fully studied. Most of the railway disasters that have occurred in recent years in Britain have ooctirrccl in tho early' hours of tho morning,' Sinn is known, to he at that tifti© at his lowest ■vitality. That is -why 1 state tkat tho human elrment should to carefufly studied, 1 know what I urn writing about, as I Hvo hce.u through the «x----peTieiic& of being on trains n't- all hours cif the da* and iiiaht, —I am. etc., TI.IOS. M. SHLLIGAN. : May 2S, 101-1.