THE HEIGHT OF THE SEASON.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1075, 8 January 1872, Page 2

THE HEIGHT OF THE SEASON.

[PALL MALL GAZETTE, OCTOBER 19.]' It is now that the height of the season has arrived for, railway accidents.' .The worn-out engines and boilers/:- the. dilapidated, carriages and waggons, the aged and _ rusty wheels and tires which have carried the tourists, and, .dragged about the excursion trains,, are npw'bursting and ; breaking in all directions, while the rails and. points, probably there has not been time to repair them properly, seem. in practice to; be-all that they should not be in regard to efficiency ,and safety. The average of accidents has r lately been very large indeed, sometimes two have been reported on the same, day ; and now that. November fogs have. c6ine in a monih before they are due, few people will be inclined to travel by rail unless compelled by business. Unluckily, a large number of tourists are , still rambling about, and have to come home somehow. To these unfortunate persons the perusal of the daily papers must aftdrd good ground for foreboding, : unless, indeed, they are among those who believe in the virtue of inquiry. But then" the initiated known that, though inquiry is followed by reports, and advice from the Government inspectors, ' inasmuch as neither the Board of Trade nor any other governmental department takes the smallest notice of them, the railway companies naturally follow suit. s? ■■ September 27.— A goods train ran into a bank engine which blocked the Birdswood Junction. There was a good .deal of damage done to the rolling, stock, but the driver and stoker. of the bank engine were not awakened by the shock, now in custody charged with drunkenness and neglect of duty. October 10.— A heavy ■parliamentary tram came into KingVcross Station half an hour behind its time, and not content with this was turned in at the departure, instead of the arrival platform, -Tfthen 4t came into violent collision with a : passenger train about to stark Many passen-, gers were severely bruised and shaken, and probably there will be considerable damages to pay in' compensation. i;< •■'•■■•'""■• October 1 2.— The Scotch l express train on the North-eastern line left York about 3.30 p.m. When near Belmonii JunCtibn a van and one carriage ran off the. Hnp down an embankment thirty feet deep. Both were completely smashed, but no one was killed, though some passengers were severely injured. . ' October 13.— A passenger train on the Lancashire and Yorkshire line, due at Manchester at I.IQ a .m., ran into a goods train at Hythoimroyd. The engine was first upset and then smashed^ to pieces, and several carriages were similarly damaged. .-■>■.■■■>■. $ October 14.— A violent collision oc». curred on the Great Western Railway at Slough Junction. A goods train was, as usual, in process of shunting when another goods train which was due ran full into it, and did considerable damage,' besides smashing several waggons. As the companies do not publish the injuries sustained by their own servants if they. can help it, we do not hear whether/the respective drivers, guards, &c; ; were much hurt. But the consequence of the accident was that for five hours .the, .other traffic was worked over a single line between Taplow and Slough, to theimm> nent peril of passengers in; transit. The fog is blamed for this casualty.. (Possibly the stock of fog signals had run low, or the porters had forgotten to use them. . October 16.— A very bad accident occurred to the mail train' from the North to St Pancras, about fourteen miles {from Leicester,, near the Loughborough Junction.' When at full speed, five or six carriages got off the metals and were dragged along, bumping, in a, most .terrible manner, until the couplings' brpke, and the smashed and splintered carriages, with their occupants, -were Iqft oh theground. The guard and some 'half-db^ passengers were badly injured, and others. severely bruised and shaken; The 'defective state of tlie line at the point in question is supposed to have been the cause of this accident. Vi ' l! Another and fatal accident occurred on the same day, about 4 p. in;, at the Mary Hill Station of the North British Railway. Two persons, a woman and a. boy, were killed on- the spcjt, ; i*nd at leas? fifteen were more or less seriously injured. The 3.45 express was on its way to Mary Hill ; the driver observing that the danger signal was. up, slackened speed ; it was then lowered, and he put on pressure, coming almost immediately afterwards in contact with a travelling, crane standing on the down line. This obstacle first crushed in -the boiler, carrying away 'the safety valve ; in consequence, there was a tremendous explosion of steam. Havintr

upset boiler and tender across the roof of a first-class carriage, which was, of course, smashed in, it entered a third-class compartment, tearing away the sides and killing j wo of the passengers. Scalding, upsett|ofe, smashing, and killing! — the combination of horrors seems to have been complete. The signalman is in custody. We trust it will be inquired how many hours he had been on duty on that particular day.