THE RAILWAY COLLISION AT PORT GLASGOW STATION.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 23, 30 December 1863, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE RAILWAY COLLISION AT PORT GLASGOW STATION.

(From the Mottling Journal.) \ The mail train which leaves Greenock on the arrival of the mail bags from Belfast, per steamer, left on Friday at G. 21 a.m. — an hour and six minutes late — the mail steamer being at that time behind in arriving in consequence of the very heavy weather experienced in the Channel. The train, which consisted of five carriages, reached Port Glasgow at 6. 31, ten minutes after leaving Greenock. It stopped about a couple of minutes, and had just begun to move when it was run into by an engine. This engine, it appears, arrives at Greenoek every morning about six a.m., with a coal train, and returns a^aia thereafter with only the breakvan and tender attached. Her approach could not be observed till within a short distance of the station in consequence of a curve in the line ; but at the point of the curve, in the view of the station, and which is also seen for a considerable way along the line towards Greenock, there is a signal-post which is worked from the station at Port Glasgow. It is a rule that, immediately on the appearance of a train, the danger signal is turned on to prevent another train coming up. Here, no doulit, lies the cause of the accident — whether the danger signal was off or on. The pointsman, William Gordon, maintains that it was on, while the driver, Samuel Challenger, and the stoker, Robert Sutherland, hold that it was not ;on when they came up, and that it must havK been put on after they had passed. But, at all events, the engine came up, tender foremost, at a smart speed, and ran into the train with great force, literally smashing the last carriage, a second-class one. In this carriage there were seven persons, three of whom escaped with only some slight knocks, while there was one killed outright) two seriously wounded, and one si ghtly, a remarkable feature in the affair being that, of the latter four, three were servants of the railway. Their names are — Killed : George Jones, laborer on the line, aged sixtyfive years ; skull dreadfully fractured. Severely wounded — - Hector Dick, mason on the line, aged fifty-five years; legs fractured (one of which was amputated above the knee by Drs. Grieve, Reid, and Freeland) and otherwise bruised about the body, Alice Graham or M'Elhennie, aged seventy years, pawnbroker, Cookstown, county of Tyrone, Ireland ; both legs greatly fractured (afterwards amputated, one above and the other below the knee joint.) On Friday night she wa9 fast sinking. Alexander Martin, parcel deliverer, Greenock, residing in 1, Hillstreet, considerably injured about the small of the back, and his leg bruised. There were several others injured slightly from the collision, but they proceeded on to Glasgow in the train. James Brown, who was the foremost guard, while in the act of noting down the time of departure in his book, having his watch and book in one hand and his pencil in the other, was knocked down in his break, and was slightly hurt. John M'Culloch, driver of the passenger engine, was knocked forward on the engine, and injured slightly. Mr Gallocher, fishmonger, Greenock, was also oil htly injured, but proceeded in the train. Thomas Milier, the last guard, bad a narrow escape ; he was in the act of stepping into his break, which was on the last carriage, when he heard the noise of the engine. He at once leaped out, and was just in time to save himself, but too late to be of any use

to warn the other passengers in the carriage, for immediately afterwards the crush took place. The shock was felt all over the train, but its being then in motion prevented farther damage' than a few knocks on the head to several passengers in the four remaining carriages. The last carriage was completely severed from the others,which Went on for a short distance, leaving it a wreck on the line. The driver of the goods engine was alsoslightly injured about the hip, but no damage was sustained by the engine or tender. The injured parties were at once removed from the dvhris. We may state that in the Course of Friday witnesses were examined for the purpose of transmitting their testimony to the Board of Trade, and that the most of what they said about the accident is embodied in the foregoing narrative of our Greenock reporter. It may, how* ever, be well to add what is not stated therein. Thomas Miller, the guard, who was in charge of the rear part of the mail train, stated that he left Greenock at 6.23, arrived at Port Glasgow at 6.33, leaving at 6.34. He thought that the engine which ran into his train could not be more than thirty yards distant when he first saw it, and that he did not get into his van, as he was sure from the speed of the approaching engine that a collision would take place. Only a second of time elapsed between the first sight he got of the engine and its running into his train. He had, therelore, not time to warn the passengers in the train of their danger. James Browne, the guard in charge of the front part of the mail train, generally corroborated the statement of Thomas Miller, and added that his train was pulled up about 300 or 400 yards beyond Port Glasgow station. William Gordon, the platform policeman and signalman, stated that he was on duty at the time of the collision ; that as soon as he heard the mail train coining he crossed from the up side of the line to the down side, and turned on his distant signal to "danger;" he then recrossed the line in front of the approaching train and attended to it on its arrival at the station as usual ; that immediately after the train started, or rather before it was fairly off, be heard aa etfgine coming up the line ; that a second after he heard the beat of the engine the collision took place; that he did, not therefore alter the position of the j signals ; and that after having put the distant signal " red on f u he never touched it agaiu. Samuel Challenger, the driver of the engine which ran into the mail train, stated that as near as he could recollect he J eft Greenock Station at 6.30 ; that he saw the mail train I leave, he thought, at 6.22; that he ! drove his engine to Port Glasgow at ihe rate of eighteen to twenty miles an hour ; that on approaching the station of the town he saw that the distant signal was standing "clear;" that he received no signals during his journey ; that the first thing he saw was the red light at the tail of the mail train, and that be could not say whether this train was leaving or standing at the station when he came up. Robert Sutherland, stoker of the preceding witness, stated that after the collision he saw Gordon, the signalman, crossing the line and turning on the danger signal. We have only to state that, amidst the diversity of the statements of Sutherland, Gordon, and Challenger, it is quite clear that if the rules of the railway company had been observed, the accident would not have happened. Samuel Challenger, the engine-driver ; John Pollock, the breaksman ; Robert Sutherland, the stoker, and William Gordon, the signalman, have been examined before the Sheriff and committed for tiial.