TO STOP TRAINS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 49, 15 July 1914, Page 8

TO STOP TRAINS.

ITi ICV JON T1 N(i- AOCIDENTS. HUMAN KHROJI ELIJiATiiJ). A MODEL AND JLTfeJ WORKING. .Recently a Star reporter was entertained in the basement of a Ohvistehtirch building watching train models at work. The Aisgill disaster was reconstructed and demonstrations- wove given of how it happened and ihow it could have beer prevented. The lata! Whangamavin.) accident o£ a few weeks ago was demonstrated with models, as oell as the I'atal accident in the Dunedin railway yr.rtl. in which a man lost his life by a collision l>etween locomotive and waggon. The young men who have devised an ameinalic train top lo eliminate these accidents are .Messrs Oovveil ami M'Cauglian. two young New Zealanders, and tliey are already beyon.l the experimental stage, uu-t their ideas are protected the world over.

I'ut briefly, the system is all extension -or improvement of the electrically - operated one l.ow Wing experimented with 011 Melbourne's net-work r! suburban ines. \Vhib tile first simply pi.lis the train up if the home signal' ..amst the train and is disregarded L,. the driver, the New Zealand invention brings t'he train to a standstill if there is any obstruction on the line, even though the signal irniy give tthe line clear, as was the ease at WSiungamarino, where frost contracted the connection.

11■ i- all doii' by an automatic iteration of the estinghouse brake. If the signal is at. danger, a ramp, consisting of a kind of short third rail, comes up and eonneits with. t;he engine as it runs jwst the signal. A bell is rung in the locomotive, and if it is disregarded, and speed is not slackened, an emergency application ,of the brakes, takes place automatically. This result is easily attained by the safety ramps already 011 tii'e .market, but onlv when the signal i« set at danger. The New Zealand invention goes further, and if tilers is any metallic connection on the line ahead, such as a standing waggon, or another train, the safety device operates, the electrical connection being given through the vails. Even where « truck is standing 011 a side-line or loop, with a corner projecting 011 the main line, t'il'e operation is continued by leaving a snll'icient "live" portion of the rails near the points' and insulating the central portion of the loop to enable the express to go through while the slow train stands in the siding.

At Aisgill the -Seottish express overran th'e station against the signal, and c.dli.led with a standing train furili r on. This el:t->; of accident "A'uuld also be eliminated bv the operation of the ramp. Bending the rails fs unneccspary, as the fish-plates make a sufficient connection froi.i station to station. Similarly. bridges could be protected at a safe distance with safety ramps, an 1 in case of a subsidence or 'break, the train would be pulled tip in safety.

The whole device eliminates the chance of human error, and is independent of engine-driver or signalman. It lias been seen by leading' railway men. who are sati-iiied with all the details. The cost of installation is said to lie slight.