FEARFUL RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 720, 20 September 1870, Page 4

FEARFUL RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.

An accident of a sad and fatal character occurred on the Great Northern Railway on the 21st June. It appears that an up goods train from Doncaster passed through Newark at its appointed time without stopping. When about half-a-mile south of Newark, an axle of a waggon belonging to another company, loaded with potatoes, broke off close to the inside of the wheel, and the waggons which followed were thrown off the rails on to the down line. At the moment the engine-driver of the up (roods train felt the jerk caused by the breakage of the axle, a down excursion train, which was returning from London to Yorkshire, passed him. This train was timed through Newark without stopping, and when the accident happened it was running from 20 to 25 miles per hour, and to its regular time. The engine of this train ran into the waggons which had been thrown across the down line of rails, was turned round and thrown completely clear of both lines, bringing the excursion train to an immediate stop. Six of the front carriages were there thrown off the rails, three of them being piled up near the engine and almost destroyed. The passengei'3 of these carriages suffered very severely from the shock and the consequent breakage of the carriages. The engine-driver, Hurst, of Donraster, and several passengers were killed on the spot ; the fireman and some other passengers were so seriously injured that they died shortly afterwards. The total number of deaths up to the present time, including the driver and fireman, is 16, and abmt 20 more injured, who remain at Newark. The Newark stationmaster and staff were on the spot very shortly after the accident happened, and the medical men of the town were immediately summoned. The dead and seriously injured were removed to the hospital, and others who were less injured were taken to hotels in the town. Another accident, though happily not' attended with fatal results, occurred at Heat era Junction, near New castle-on-Tyne. Several persons were injured, two of them severely. The cause of the accident is stated as neglect of signals. An inquest has been held on the sufferers by this accident, and the jury returned the following verdict : — "We believe that Major Ker3liaw Hurst and othor3 came by their deaths on the Great Northern Railway, within the borough of Newark, on Tuesday, 21st July, by the accidental breaking of an axle belonging to the waggon No. 3238, belonging to the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincoln-

shire Railway Company. From the evidence given we believe that the

luggage train was driven at too great a ! speed from Retford to the scene of the , accident. We are also of opinion the I fracture in the axle which caused it to break had been in existence some length of time, and that the axle was not fit for use, and we think there should be some limit of maximum time of use. We are also of opinion that there should be 9ome means devised for the periodical testing of axles, the jury being of opinion that the present system is defective." These recommendations the jurj desired might be sent to the Board of trade. On July 10 an accident happened to the midnight mail from Carlisle to the south. When it left the latter station it was going at a speed of about ten or fifteen miles an hour, but, just as half of the train had passed the crossing, a goods train, consisting of 26 waggons, travelling from the Canal station at the rate of about ten miles an hour, ran into it with a fearful crash. The result of the collision was most disastrous ; five persons were killed, and a large number more or leaa aerioualy injured. The driver of the goods train was, from some unexplained cause, absent, and his place was filled by the stoker, a young and inexperienced hand. The line upon which the goods train was, and the main line, on which the mail train ran, converge in such a way that the driver of the good 3 train must have seen the carriage windows of the mail train .all lighted nearly all the way after it left the station. The injured are doing pretty well, except Mr Ancock and Mr White, whose cases are the moat serious ; both are old men, and their condition is somewhat critical. In the front part of the train, which escaped free, were several volunteers on their way from Scotland to Wimbledon. None of them were much hurt, but some of them aud several passengers who went forward received contusions. It is stated that one of the signals on the branch line, though properly turned, was not lighted. That was what is called the distance signal. The main signal at the box, known as the home signal, was, however, all right, so that the driver of the goods train would have had time to pull up if he had retained full control over his train, but he was running at an unusually high speed, and there was not a break at the end of his train.