GLOUCESTER ROAD JUNCTION

8th JUNE 1876


INVOLVING DRIVER JOHN LAWRENCE


extracted and adapted from the report by

H.W. Tyler

Captain





The accident that occurred on the 8th instant, near Croydon, between the Gloucester-Road junction and the Windmill-Bridge junction, on the London Brighton and South Coast Railway.

In this case, as the 8.57 p.m. passenger-train from the Victoria Station, London, for South-Croydon was running at a speed of 15 miles per hour, on a rising gradient of 1 in 100, and round a curve having a radius of 1,100 feet, the leading-wheels of the engine left the rails. At the end of 112 yards the other wheels of the engine also left the rails, and the engine then turned round, and fell over with its wheels in the air. Of the eight carriages which composed the train, four left the rails, and the four others remained on the rails. The two leading-carriages, on leaving the rails, ran past the engine on the near-side ; the first falling nearly over on its side, and the second remaining on its wheels ; but both being jammed between the engine and the slope of the cutting through which this part of the line runs. Twenty-two passengers have, up to the present time, complained of injury. The driver and fireman were also injured.

Description.

The Gloucester-Road junction, from which the lines to New-Croydon and to West-Croydon diverge, is about 9i miles from the Victoria station, and the down-line past that junction descends, first on a gradient of 1 in 120, and then on a gradient of 1 in 270, to pass under a bridge carrying the railway from Victoria to East-Croydon. There is next a rising gradient of 1 in 123 for about 22 yards, to the level crossing of an occupation-road by the New-Croydon line, and afterwards a rising gradient of 1 in 100 from that level-crossing towards New-Croydon. It was at the level-crossing that the engine first left the rails.

The permanent-way at this crossing is laid with double-headed rails of iron, weighing 76 lbs. to the lineal yard, and fished at the joints. The chairs are of cast-iron, weighing 56 lbs. each, and they are secured by hollow treenails, and spikes driven into them, to the sleepers. Three of these combined fastenings are used in each chair. The sleepers are laid transversely, at distances of 2 feet 8 inches apart from centre to centre, and measure 9 feet long, and 10" by 5" in section. The spaces between the rails at the level-crossing are filled in by pieces of timber, laid longitudinally, and spiked down to the sleepers.

There is a gateman kept at this level-crossing by day, whose duty it is to remain there from about 7 a.m. to about 7 p.m., or longer, according the road- traffic over the crossing.

The train in question consisted of a tank-engine, No. 131, and eight passenger-carriages, of which two one at each end of the train, were break-carriages.

The engine, No. 131, is a-four-wheel-coupled side- tank engine, built by the London-Brighton-and-South- Coast Company in 1858. The cylinders measure 16 inches in diameter, by a stroke of 20 inches. The coupled wheels are the middle and trailing wheels, and are 5 feet 6 inches in diameter.

The wheel-base measures, as will be seen from the accompanying diagram, 7 feet 9 inches from leading to middle, and 7 feet 3 inches from middle to trailing wheels. The weight on the leading-wheels is stated to be 10 tons 3 cwt., divided between 5 tons 2 cwt. on the off-side, and 5 tons 1 cwt. on the near-side. The driving-wheels carry 7 tons 6 cwt. on the off- side, and 7 tons 6 cwt. on the near-side, making a total of 14 tons 12 cwt. The trailing-wheels carry 5 tons 16 cwt. oil the off-side and 5 tons 16 cwt. on the near-side, making a total of 11 tons 12 cwt.

The wheels were turned up, and the engine received a thorough repair, and was sent out to work in May of the present year. The engine was examined by the locomotive-superintendent after the accident, and he could find nothing the matter with it to account for the accident.

Evidence.

The engine-driver, John Lawrence, states that he left the Victoria station at 9 o'clock, three minutes late, and Norwood-junction at 9.39, four minutes late. He ran through the Gloucester-Road junction at about 14 or 15 miles an hour, and found the signals all-right for him to proceed towards New-Croydon. As he was passing through Rogers' crossing, also at a speed of about 14 miles an hour, he felt the engine, which was running bunker first, give a sudden jump at the leading end. He shut off steam, told his fire- man to apply the break, and whistled for the guard's break. He also put the engine out of gear. After running partly off the rails for some little distance, he felt the engine go off the rails altogether, and come to a sudden stop and turn over. He remained in his place on the engine as it turned over, and only crawled out after the water in escaping from the tank had washed away the ballast from under the engine. He was scalded and injured. He could not find his mate, though he searched for him under the carriages. He did not go back for about 20 minutes. He then went to examine the crossing, and he found some pieces of brick on the off-rail at the level-crossing. His engine had been running very well until this accident happened. He fetched the engine from Brighton on the 29th May, and had been running with it ever since that date, and had no complaint to make about it.

His fireman was so much injured as not to be able to attend.

John Whitington, the guard of the train, was riding in the break-carriage at the tail of the train.  The train left Norwood junction at 9.40, five minutes late, and ran in due course through the Gloucester Road junction to Rogers' crossing. In passing that crossing he heard the engine-driver whistle for the break, and noticed that the train was running very unsteadily. He there-fore applied his break. He had got it on, and chained it. He cannot say exactly at what  speed the train was running, but it was not more than usual at that spot. He found the train stopped suddenly, and thought they must have run into something. He found the engine turned over, and the first two or three carriages off the rails. He ran back to the Gloucester-Road junction, to inform the signalman of what had happened. In returning from the Gloucester-Road junction, to proceed to the Windmill-Bridge junction, he noticed a quantity of pieces of brick on each side of the off-rail at the crossing. He could not see anything else to account for the accident, which he attributed at the time to the presence of the brick causing an obstruction in the way of the train.

The inspector of permanent way for the district, William Johnson, was in house about 300 yards from the scene of the accident, and on hearing an unusual noise he went to see what was the matter. He reached the engine two minutes after it had rolled over. He saw the fireman by the side of the cutting and asked him at what speed lie was running, and  how it occurred. The fireman said he felt a jerk at  Rogers' crossing. He took measures for blocking the line and sending for assistance. lie took a lamp, and went with Quaker, one of his labourers, to trace back from the train to the point where the engine left the rails. He found a quantity of brick crushed on the off-rail of the crossing. He left Quaker in charge of the crossing and the brick-dust. He went to the engine, and found the driver escaping from under it. He went back with him, and noticed that the spikes were marked inside the near-rail, and the chairs outside the off-rail. Mr. Perry and others arrived, and he showed the crossing and the brick-dust to Mr. Perry. It was then in the same state as when he first found it. He could see no other cause for the accident than that the brick must have been placed, as he thinks, on the rail. The gauge of the rails was not disturbed from the point near the brick-dust, at which the engine-wheel first mounted the off-rail, for 339 feet; but six chairs were broken under the off-rail, immediately to the south of Rogers' crossing where the off wheel first left the rails. He thinks about 1/8 inch slack, but he did not try the level.

Mr. Perry, the district-engineer, was on the spot within half an hour after the accident. He found the engine turned upside down, and three or four carriages off the rails, some of which were damaged. The passengers had all left, and a number of men were engaged getting ready for the tool-van. His attention was called by Mr. Johnson to the crossing, and to a splintered brick. He did not take much notice of it at first; but he examined it afterwards with three or  four roof lamps, so as to get a good light. He found the brick had been crushed to pieces, and the remains of it scattered over an area of three or four feet, and some brick-dust lay on the rail for about a foot in length. At about 11p.m., with Mr. Williams and Mr. Buxton, he examined the crossing and the por- 

tion of the line traversed by the engine after it left the rails ; and he found, at the distance of 19 feet from the remains of the brick, the first indication of the off-wheel leaving the rails, going to the outside of the off-rail. He also noticed a mark on the top of the rail for 19 feet, from the brick to where the wheel dropped off the rail, and he particularly called the attention of Mr. Williams and Mr. Ruxton to these marks. There was also a man of the mounted-police- force on the spot, whose attention he called to the position of the crushed brick, and to the mark on the rail. He tried the gauge and level of the roads towards daylight, about 4 o'clock a.m., before the road had been altered. He found the gauge between the rails about 1/8th of an inch slack, and that there was a super-elevation of 2 7/8 inches of the off-rail above near-rail, and the road appeared to be otherwise in good order. He showed these conditions to Mr. Banister, the engineer of the Company, the following day between 11 and 12 o'clock.

Frederic Collins, No. 386 A of the reserve of the mounted-police-force, was in the Gloucester-Road about 11p.m.when he heard of the accident, and proceeded at once to Rogers' crossing. He found Mr. Perry and others on the spot, and Mr. Perry called him and then handed him seven small pieces of the brick, and showed him the mark along the rail, beginning close to the brick and ending about nine feet from the brick, terminating on the inside of the rail, us far as he could see.

Conclusion

In order to determine more positively, as far as possible, the cause of this accident, I had two experiments tried with an engine passing along the line, in the first place over a brick laid on the top of the rail, and in the place with a brick jammed in between the rail and the timber of the crossing. In both cases the brick was placed as nearly as possible in the position that it would have occupied supposing the accident to have been caused by it. The result of the experiments was that the brick was crushed in each case without the engine leaving the rails. In the first experiment the tread of the wheel of the engine perceptibly mounted the brick before crushing it, which it did effectually, and then proceeded along the rail as if nothing had happened. In the second experiment the flanges of the wheel destroyed the brick still more easily without any perceptible mounting of the wheel. The bricks with which these experiments were tried did not, however, appear to be so strong or so hard as the remains of the brick found on the rail after the accident. I also examined care- fully, at Brighton, the springs of the engine, which the Company were good enough to remove from it, and to take to pieces for my inspection. Taking them as the engine was running, bunker first, I found, of 16 plates in the near-leading-spring, one broken through and six cracked, showing, more or less, partial flaws. In the off-leading-spring one plate was newly cracked. In the near-driving-spring all the plates were sound, In the off-driving-spring two plates were newly cracked. In the near-trailing-spring all the plates were sound. In the off-trailing-spring two plates were cracked, showing two slight previous flaws. I came to the conclusion that the accident had not been caused by anything in the condition of the engine, any more than by the condition of the permanent way.

The evidence in this case points distinctly to the  off-leading-wheel of the engine having commenced to mount the off-rail immediately after passing over and crushing a brick; and, judging from the above experiments, it would appear to be quite possible, in the case of an engine approaching, at higher speed than I could venture experimentally to employ, a brick of a harder nature, such as appears by its remains to have been in the way of the engine, the accident may have been produced as the result of such an obstruction. The brick must, however, have been placed, apparently, either by accident or wilfully, upon the rail, and not have been jammed between the timber of the rail and the crossing.

It seems to be desirable that, for the present at all events, a gate-keeper should be stationed at this level-crossing by night as well as by day. I understand that the Company intend, at considerable expense, as soon as they can make the necessary arrangement; to do away with this level-crossing altogether.

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