
The accident that occurred on the 19th ultimo, at the Victoria station of the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway. In this case, the 10.45 a.m. Pullman-car train from Victoria for Brighton was starting from the Victoria station, where the engine left the rails at a pair of facing-points about 160 yards from the position in which the engine stood before it left the platform.
The engine and tender both left the rails, but none of the carriages were thrown off the line. One pas- senger complained of injury in the first instance; but the Company have not heard further on the subject. No servants of the Company were injured.
The timing-points in question are worked from a signal-cabin about 30 yards from them. They are not provided with a locking-bolt or a locking-bar ; but the lever for working them is interlocked with the lever working the signal by which trains are started from the station, and it is also interlocked with the lever of a signal admitting trains to the station.
The train in question consisted of an engine, No. 128, and tender, five passenger-carriages, and two break-vans, one next behind the tender, and one at the tail of the train.
The engine was a single, six-wheeled engine, with a six-wheeled tender. The cylinders are six inches in diameter, with a stroke of 24 inches.
The weights on the engine-wheels are as under:-
11 tons 2 cwt. on the leading wheels,
12 tons 17 cwt on the middle wheels
8 tons trailing wheels, and the wheel-base is 16 feet.
EVIDENCE.
The engine-driver, John Barber, states that he was started in due course by the inspector on duty on the platform. The starting-signal was duly lowered for him to leave the station. He approached the points at speed of about eight miles an hour. He felt as though his leading-wheel struck something at the points, and the engine immediately afterwards left the rails, and came to a stand after running 67 yards beyond the points, with the engine and tender off the rails with all their wheels. The engine was in very good order. The tyres were very good. They had been turned up on the 11th February. He went about 10 minutes after to examine the points, and he found that the wheel of his engine had struck the right-hand tongue of the points at the Mark which was pointed out on the spot. He noticed that the off-leading-wheel after striking had gone the wrong side of the off-tongue, whilst the near-wheel was on its proper side of the near-tongue, and the engine-wheels had thus got astride of the points.
The fireman, John Dawn, who was with the lost witness, states that he saw the starting-signal lowered for the train to leave the station, and they ran in due course to the points, and approached them at a speed of not more than 10 or 12 miles an hour. He felt the jerk of the leading-wheel against the points, and then the engine left the rails. Ho remained with the engine, and did not go back to examine the points.
The head-guard, Vincent Gibbon, was riding in the break-van next behind the tender. He was lookingto the front after leaving the platform, in approaching the facing-points, and he noticed the tender jumping. He at once applied his break and prepared to jump out of the van, which he thought was going to turn over, but his van remained on the rails, and came to a stand-still. He did not stop to see whether or not it was on its right road. He noticed a mark along the right-hand tongue of the points.
The under-guard, Frederick Knight, was riding in the break-van at the tail of the train. He felt a jerk as he got to the end of the platform, and he applied his break. He ran up to the front of the train in soon as he stopped, and found the engine off the rend, but all the carriages on the rails. He is not quite sore which rails the carriages were on.
John Arnold, the head-signalman on duty in the cabin, states that he did not himself work the lever of the signals or that of the points; but he saw his mate do so. He thinks it might have been five or ten minutes before the accident, but he cannot say exactly. About two minutes before the accident, he cleared a train into the station, and lowered the signal for it to run in, and the lever for working this signal locked the lever of the outgoing facing-points. He is certain that the lever of the signal for admitting the train was over, and he saw that the lever for starting the Pullman-car train was also over, and that the point-lever was locked by both these signal-levers when the accident occurred. He went to examine the points directly after the accident, and he found them in their usual state, with the tongue quite close to the rail; but he did not notice any mark on the points. A carriage, he thinks the Pullman-car, was on the points at the time, and all the other carriages, four in number, were on their proper rails.
The under-signalman on duty in the same cabin, Frederick Warner, pushed over the point-lever for working the facing-points in question to its normal position two minutes before the accident occurred, and he lowered the signal for the train to start. That signal was down when the accident occurred. About 10 minutes after the accident he went to examine the points, but could not see anything to account for the accident. Hethoughthecouldseeamarkatthetop of the off-tongue about 15 inches from its point, and all the carriages stood on their right road. He did not notice any other marks.
The foreman-platelayer in charge of this part of the station-yard, David Barlow, was about a hundred yards from the points when the accident happened. He went down at once to the points and found that the back-rod, connecting the two tongues together, was bent down into the ballast. He is certain that it was not bent before the accident. It must have been points, and the marks that, he saw on the ballast confirmed him in that opinion. He saw the mark at the end of the off-tongue, where the wheel of the engine appeared to have struck it.
James Barlow, a platelayer employed in the yard, was cleaning the points at the time the engine approached them. He saw the engine go back to the train before it started, and saw the points pushed over for the train, and they were not moved again before the train started. The tongue was quite close to the stock-rail when the points were pushed over. He saw the as the engine approached it. The lever in the train before it started, and saw the points pushed over for the train, and they were not moved back again before the train started. The tongue was quite close to the stock-rail when the points were pushed over. He saw the engine afterwards passing out over the points, and he heard a blow ; but he did not see from the steam what happened. He at once saw the engine was off the road by the dust flying, but he does not think the engine was altogether off until it struck the crossing, nor was the tender off until the crossing bad been struck. He went back at once and found the back-rod of the points bent. He saw the mark at the end of the tongue where the wheel had struck it. He had no occasion to cause the points to be moved whilst he was cleaning them.
William Finch, signal-fitter in the Company's service, was at Stewart's Lane when the accident occurred, and went to Victoria on hearing of it. He examined the points, and the rods connecting them with the cabin. There were no portions of these rods bent; but they were just the same as they are now. No alteration, as far as he is aware, had been made in them. He saw the mark on the end of the off-tongue, where the engine-wheel had struck it, but he cannot account for it as to how the engine struck it. The only way he can account for the accident is that there is a little twist in the road, and the engine might have jumped up at the point. There was a train ran off the road at the same points seven years ago. The mark on the off tongue of the points was a fresh mark.
CONCLUSION
This accident has evidently been caused by the flange of the tyre of the off leading wheel of engine striking against against the tip of the off tongue of the facing points, and, in order that the engine wheel should have so struck, it is certain that the off tongue cannot have been quite close to the standard rail as the engine approached it. The lever in the signal-cabin for working the points must have been in its proper position, or the signals could not have been lowered for starting the outgoing and admitting the in- coming train. And there must, therefore, have been some slight want of adjustment in the connections be- tween the cabin and the points. The position of these points is such that an engine in passing through them is rather suddenly twisted off to the left, and this would render its off-leading-wheel the more liable to mount at the off-tongue in the case of that tongue not fitting quite closely to the standard-rail.
With a view to the prevention of such an accident in the future, it would be wise to provide a locking- bolt to the points, so that whenever the signal is lowered for starting a train the tongue may be firmly bolted over to the standard-rail.