The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-01-29 00:00:00

signals in consequence oi the snow and frost. After the •
down express passed on Friday last he-auspected that his
signals were not working right, and he sent a man to look
at them, who said they were all right.

Joshua Baßender, a signal fitter, went from Huntitigdon
to Abbot's Ripton on the night of the accident, and found
the signals showing a white light which ought to have shown
"danger." That was in consequence of vehicles lying over
the wires. He had to go up the ladders and raise n i It.
arms before they would go to "danger." There was much
snow on the arms. He went on to Wood Walton and there
found the down distance signal showing a white light. He
put tt to "danger." The witness described his having
knocked the snow off several wires and signals. In December
last he had to perform a similar duty, though the wires were
not in such a bad state at that time as on Friday last. On
Friday evening before the accident happened he was out on
that duty.
In4reply to Mr. Meadows White, witness said he had never
been out such a night as Friday last. The snow accumulated
In an unusually short time.
Mr. Amos Pigott. Chief Signal Intiedter on the Great
Northern Railway was then examined. He was not on the
scene of the accident till 3 a.m. on Saturday. He had been
waiting at Redford for the down Leeds express, as is his
custdm. He likes to see it safe in before he leaves. He rode
on an engine from Grantham on his way to Abbot's Ripton
to observe the signals, and found them all working
in d satisfactory manner. No snow was falling then,
but ;the telegraph wires were broken. He found ati !.•/-
..WoodwalLon, a signal at "AU right," which shonld liai'e
been at "Danger," the line being blocked. The wt3Xness
gave Lonle further evidence in corroboration of that given by
the evious witness as to the damaged state of the signals
abou the scene of the accident As the lines were blocked
he dW not trouble about it. He never before knew an in-
stall in which snow entirely prevented a signal from
worksng. He knew it to derange the working of the signals,
but never to entirely stop them until this occasion,
he had 20 years experience.
Two other witnesses were examined as to the weather, and
the state of signals and telegraphs on the evening in ques-
tion, one of them a superintendent of the company, and the
other Mr. Preece, Superintendent of the Telegraph Depart-
ment of the Post Office. This gentleman stated that the snow
storm of Friday evening extended over 10 miles of country
between the Bristol Channel and the Wash, its greatest
violence being from Hitchen to Birmingham. In some
cases telegraph wires become coiled in cables of ice and
snow, hundreds of poles were blown down, and at
thousands of different points the wires were torn down. , As
much as 200 pounds weight of snow was taken off of the
wires between two poles. The lines of the London and
North-Western, the Midland, Great Northern, and the
Great Western Companies were affected by the storm.
At a quarter to nine o'clock the inquiry was adjourned till
Tuesday week, after a day's sitting of 11 hours and three
quarters, with an interval of an hour for luncheon.