The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-08-09 00:00:00

glue driver He lolued the to with his engine at Ciewir-
Hie train stopped at Warriugton, where they were nineteen
minutes behind time They were d. laved tines a short time
Nothing oncurred until they reached Wigan. As the maitre
went through the sixth,o he noticed it Wila lit. All the
'lariate were right the distance signal Wall cff, WWI the home
signal Ail right " Steam w. on, arid as far as he rowel
tea they messed the cabin at the rate of 37 to 3.3 miles au
hour. ibis was not so fast as word, for the lines were
"slippy," arid th y could not quite keep up the swed.
He made it a praettee on passing through Wigao,
and all stations ..f the kind, to look behind him.
When he did so on this occasion he noticed gawks at tip.
roil of the station, and at the Balite time felt tile jerk of
breaking loose. Ile del lela atop quite 50 Alllitieniy Plt be
might have done for fear of the letter part of the train till,
Mug into hint. He noticed nothing unusual its the motion
of the train as he entered Wigan station. As soon as he
pul.ed up Ile and the driver of the leading engine had Souse
conversation. They uncoupled the leaning engine and sent
it forward to bites up the Main line, 101 tile up auxiliary
mall had not then passed. lie wont trick to see what wet the
matter, and found they had only 17 Instead of 25 carriagee.
lie a cot to tho scene of the acci.leut at the end of tin
platform, but did not notice the state of the signals. He
was numb overcome when he sum what bad ocr urred, and
returned to Ms engine. Afterwards the station-rnasier pro-
lied be should back into the station, but this could not be
done. It was eventually thott.ht beat that the train should
. o on to Pros-on. lie did not examine the points at which
the train left toe line at all. He did not notice in passing
any oscillation there, except what Is usual at such a place.
It was as nice a recie of road as they ha I anywhere. Thu
general y felt the points, hut n it always.
Riellard Davies, the .toker, gay, tlnuilar evlb•ince. Ile
noticed he si..nals were all right, and observed nothing
peculiar as the train entered the station.
Isaac Tlierlwell, of Crewe, the driver of the leading engine,
said be had been an ensint-driver for the company for eight
years. lie felt nothing sensual until they ranched the north
end of Wigan Matins,. When the accident happened the
signals were perfectly slant. He did not go back to the
station until alter he had !distracted the r ignalman ii block
the male line. He then returned to the 'dation .d acted
as pilot to w. rk the limited mall up the wrong line.
At this point oi the inquiry Captain Tyler was joined by
Mr. ltavenhill, the legal aYsossor appointed by the Board of
Traria to attend the inquiry.
. _
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the at“ker of the leediug engine gave evidence skull tr to
that of the driver.
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reed May, the guard in charge of the train, was examined.
He iald the train mandated of twetity.five carriages and
two engines and tender., and was air unusually heavy one.
Tun signals as they approached Wigan were quite right.
lir euditenty felt • Jur., and the trate slisekened speed very
quickly and then atoned. On getting out of the winichw
he foul d that seventeen carriages had gone on with the
train, and eight remained behind. He wee very leech
shaken, but was now pinch butter. Twenty minutes or half
at, hour after the accident, he and the conductor of the train,
who was not able to be present at the lumnry, went witu
lamps and exatulheil the pelotas They found no mark.
there end saw nothing to show why the csrrhages left the
rails. The poirits seethed to have received uo injury or strain
whatever. Wituesea car, lege was the last but one arriving
at Wigan. Le believed his van took the siding rails matte
clear, hr it we, not until he was close to the station that he
felt the oscillations. He wait not thrown dawn, for he held
to the rack end to his seat until they were knocked away by
inn buffers of the next carriage. The sort of Jerks witness
experienced were In no respect different from those usually
fell fir purling points in a fast train.
John Lambert, of Islington, the guard who occupied the
van next the meanie, said he felt no Jerk and hotbed nothing
until lie beer.' the eegine driver whistle.
I a reply to Mr. Ravent ill, who asked if any instruction
had been given to the engine-driver to make up the twos ty-
-51,,ht minutes the train was late thee 'these May said he laud
Oct had an opportunity of speaking the onviie.nriver.
Ito drivers had ttrue.books as well as the guards, and the
ruards only kept hie time. They were not goirig extra fast.
Witness had travelled a great deal faster than they were
going when the accident occurred.
Josiah Goodall, the pcititsman on duty at the inns from
which the volute were worked where the carriages went off,
said man had been employed at this post for about two years
previously ; lie bad charge of poked at vt. ileleu's Junction.
ids hours were twelve v n a Sunday eight, in his tiara with
two ethers, anal eight hours daily on other nays. tie ree-ived
a signal of the approach of the train to wince the accident
happened on the eltctric gong, and Inn by signal asked the
sigualmati at the north of the station if all wee clear. On re-
ceiving a reply he sent word oak to the station south of hits,
and ritual), after the train came up the signalman eon! h
if him was signalling another train. He th.o noticed
that the tourist train screened all the line, and he
gave the starlet to block it and to put on his male atonal..
the points he certainly did not touch until Mr. habereer toe
station master, came le, and then they together examined
the points, but f, rind nothing to ins date how the accident
hail occurred. lie points and signals from his box were
luterlocked, and when his &goal was at "Castles," the
point lever was locked. When the lover was at the wrong
side he could not move the signal. In relay to the In-
spector. witueSs sold ha hail never noticed that this ci uld
lie done. lie al hot think it could be if the points were
properly pulled back. lhe point lever c iuld sot be moved
et' -r %btu the rignal was at csution. lie had never found
auy thing erroug with the working of the points sinca he bail
been in the cabin. That night witness went on tiuty at nine
o'clock, and frisa that h mete the thee of the accident about
Wile trains passed retinue'. hex. 'Me last was a goods
tram of about forty waggons, patina about 11.30. He did
not notice any particular ovettlatioa ea the Warta,
Main approached the elerial.box. he had hover heard
of there b-fmt any thing wroth: with these points, awl
ha del not thailt he bed seen a Waggon or vehicle
of itny kind go off the li. at tin se p hats, but h.
would hot 3wear th nt he had not, The poiets wets re-
newed anout too ear. ago. Ii Was A very tiara high',
an I he rattly knew the carriages were off the hue because be
heard the Jumping. The Stalhridge Wail was due at 195,
and it werit tido the sidling. 1, v tills lie had t r open the
points. Wheu the expreu was telegraphed he put the safety
lanai On ; when he put on the danger signet the points were
free to be moved is either direction. Garble the time he
had been In the service of the company Le hal never been
fined or reported for ueglect or ditty.
James Wood, the %Ignatius% occupying the box south of
that in which the last witness was atationed, said he haa itel
appointments DS signalivan for two and a half years, ant
had been at his present post for abant three months. 11,
had twelve hours duty, there being a day man and a night
man allotted to the box. fie noticed nothing unueual its the
train to which the acddent haptened pawed his box. He
heard the noise if the aedient, but could at tell what had
happened. The aerial under the control of May was not
turned on to •'daiiger" until after this noise. He hind
examined Goodall's points that menders, and he thought t •
I cause of the necident was not the points at all ; he thou„ t
' the train must have Jumped in some way.

John Taverner, stall oinnester at the Wigan station, Bald ho
had held the uppointnient about thirteen years. Ile nae
called out of bed after the accident, aud MU an the pine
about twenty minutes after ii happened, Having seen that
the Injured were being properly attended to, he went down
to the minds, aunt found that the 'jaw' the chairs hail
broken, If. He noticed no marks sniath of the points. Some of
the carrioges which remained attached to the train had evi-
dently been 011 the line ; others had run along the ballast in the
space between the main line and the loop hue the points deal
alth, while others, he thought, Pal run alm g the thetes
of the loop line. ilo arc-eta ned that the pointa wore in
complete Working order, and the pointernan roisured tim he
had not toinhed the lever. The pi:animal], mm quite tober,
and Had worked under him for two years, and witness lied
Lever occasion to complete of him. No record had been made
to him concerning the p ante, and he was euiratanCly p iying
pert n attend na to tee that they ware in. working order.
there were thirty seta of points, perhaps, about the
stotion, but he paid 'pedal sttention to these, becaute
they were facing points , n the main line, and I robab y
more troths parsed through these points than any oiler,.
lie should think at Ponttwenty tn. 111 a day posed thoie
points into the loop hoe alone. lu reply Cu Mr. Revenhill,
witness said there war nothing La the appearance of the
ground or the points or the rid s, or in ao)thieg he saw, to
enable him to give any reason for the acoldent. In reply to
Mr. Thompson, witness said Inc did not, in his previous
answer, mean that only 20 train, a day parsed through the
stag n. He never counted them, but he thought upwards
of 200 dint so.

Captiia Tyler requeitsd the w itness to give accurate in-
formation on the subject next Friday.
John Price, the inspector In charge of the station at the
time of the accident, mid he stood on the platform as the
train parsed lie saw that the conductor's van was off t'le
road, the side was out, and boxes wire flying across the
platform.
After two porters had been examined briefly, the hqnlvy
was a.jounied till Friday next.