The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-09-05 00:00:00

MS ACCIDENT TO THE IRISH MAIL

ABERGELE, Saturday.
The fact that a witness has come for A sod to corm-
!, irate in some of its main particulars the extraor-
dinary narrative of Mrs. Dicken has very consider-
ably increased the interest in this inquiry (writes 7he
T wor.l' correspondent). A respectable anil intelligent.
hsiking young girl, named Sarah Haughton, states
positively that 5 e saw Mrs. Dicken " pleading" to
pension to c.ime (lit of carriages lii the fore part of the
ti ain, after the explosion haul happened and while the
fl Imes were righig. Sarah Haughton says she was on
the top of the embankment on the left side 14 the line,
while Mrs. Dicken was on the sea-side, tic the right of
the down train. It is admitted that the wind was
blowing from the sea and towards the embankment, so
that it carried the flames that waf ; but the girl says
she could see across the train as she was standing
towards the centre of the train, and at a point beyond
that to which the tire then extended. Mr. Eyton, the
Coroner's Assessor, with perhaps too much precipi-
tancy, gave it as his opinion that Sarah Haughton's
evidence was " worthless." She may be, and probably
is, mistaken ; but there has been other evidence, still
stronger, in the same direction, and it will be more
satisfactory to the relatives of the victims of the acci-
dent and to the public to have it shown by evidence
that Mrs. Dieken and Sarah Ilaughton are in error
than to have their evidence disposed of by wt opinion
of its value formed by the Coroner's Assessor before
the close of the inquiry. It is desirable that any
passenger who may have sat on the side of the mac!
train next the sea, w d who may have seen the pro-
gress if the flames on that sidle • sliately after the
coliision, should be here on Tuesday The following
es titmice of Sara, the guanl. of the goods train was

- -
lU:toted to with to most anxious attention :
Mtn ed Sara, driver of the goods train, was then examined
by V..le ABS.+, --I drove the m tali train as question on the
21111 inst. I had tteen in the habit of hiving that train fir
)ears I started from vrewe. I came on to Chester, the

. ...
first at. Tiling-place. The thne for leaving Chester was seven
a.m. Toe end of my journey with that train is Bangor. I
believe I left Chester at the proper time. I keep no book
showing the tunic! actually start. The breaksman has a book
slam-nig the time we actually do keep. The time-table shows
the rinse we actually do keep. There were in ith me that day
1110111:18 Davis. the fireman, and tw o lireaksinen. I believe
.10,pli White, senior, and Hobert Jones, pinior, were the
lireal“men win, caine w ith me as tar as Rhyl tnlriiaenl Williams
/cud the sante Robe. t JOIIeS were the breaksmen from Rhy I.
I cannot tell thernrinntterof waggons I had when we started from
Cliederi we picked up some on Die road. We had 110 para-
ffin that I know of when we started. At St. David's works,
Saltley. near Chester, we took up two waggons with barrels,
wldcli I believed to contain oil. Ido not know what kind of
....

;if in ;na-ti.ti-fa.CCurerl at those WOOLS. Those two waggons
'ere placed in the rear of the trout, next to the break-van—
on front of the break-van. I have r home of the rain as to
working it; the brealsnien have to Instruct me what to do.
At Rhyl Station the train was aI. ,ng one. It hail 47 waggons,
soine loaded and some empty, when we left Mort We
stripped at the Abergele station at front five to six minutes
post twelve. I cannot say how hung we stopped. Oil the
hi iel shle if the AI wrgele station—a little beyond the station
—I hail to (boo some waggons. I had 110110 to take lip I
sli4 sone shunting tie re, which occupied frill two to three
naiades. To li. lent of my knowkdge I left Abergele at
rt4litor tell tilimees pa-t twelve. t ant not positive, but, to
the best of tiny judgmetit, we left five or six minutes before
our time. The particular train I drive is called " the nick-u;.
It " II his to pick uo waggons at tbfferetit stations. We
are timed to shunt for the lush mail at Rayon and Luptons
siding When Inc have doubtsof being able toils it in time t here
we do it at Abergelestation—sometimesevenat Rhyl. Thurs-
day , the aith, we hteuileti to shunt at Llanddulas, the ordinary
place. We bail s, ine waggons to leave there and sonic to
take up. Ihe aiding is wider tt e control of the station-
inader at Llareldulas. Ile himself is the proper person to
work the signals at that station. Ile was on duty himself
oil that day. Sometimes the station-master orders his son to
work the sigeal.. To the hest of toy knowledge it was the
she iimminder himself who worked the signals on that day.
I saw him near the signals. As Woo as ever I arrived the
sizied was put up to ''danger' to prevent anything else
front coining up. That is the usual course. A portion only
of the train was on this OevaSlOn shurited into the siding,
because there was not room for the whole of it. Had there
hers room the whole of it would have been shunted into the
ii Mg. I could not of nip own accord have shunted the
mile into the siding. I take nit ordos from the breaksman,
on that occasion both the breaksitten gave me orders re-
specting the Blooding. The instructions were given to me
first of all by signal as I was drawing up. I drew ti the
eligine just at the mid id the platform, where the signal is
placed. 't he break-van awl the two waggons next to it woold
be iurther trim me than the points 44 the siding. A breaks-
man booked off a pontiff, id the waggons. Richard Wil-
liams then gave me the signal. I don't know whether two
of the breakmien or eye of them unhooked the wag-
gons. The tail end of the train was taken off. I
lomat they were unhooked became when I started again I
eft part id the train behind. I saw nothing about the um
coemitig till I i.ot the aimed and moved on. I got a signal
to .. ge ahead." It was given by the breaksman holding his
ann up. I saw the tail of the train which I had left behind
a. dittereht times within a space of, perhaps, front five or ten
minutes. They 5 ove on the main litie. I canuot swear as
to tile timelier of waggons left behind. There were the
break-veil, the ti a waggons with the oil, and one or two
other loaded w4gmis. w hat the-e latter waggons were
loadi il with Ido tad know. When I had advanced far
eilmigh I got a signal tot stop--one given with both arms. •
It ton.s eirell by Williams. I obeyed it. I then got a signal
from Jones to come back. 'rile station-master was holding
the pilots. I stopped c ear cattle crossing alia fly shunted"
10 et 12 waggons to seed them into the siding. To " fly
aloud " is to give the WiumOlis to be shunted sufficient jut-
pctos to send them into the siding w ithout the engine gottig
after them. lam not sure, hut I believe it was Robert
Johns who detached the waggms. Those 10 or 12 waggoes
Ponied the rear of the troth when the other wagg and
the van hail been left on the main line. Richard Williams
Soils standing and watching tin' waggons going into the
The wieggollS whit sari left on then-min fine were left
*tainting by themselves. Jones Was riding on the butler of
the last truck remainiug ill the train. When the
tra it came to a stop lie jangled down. Richard
Williams teas Somewhere about the points. Having
got the waggous into the siding. I got another
signal to come :tack again. I was on the Conn ay
side if the points. Jones gave the signal. I backed a very
few yards. when I stopped again in consequence of another
si,jal front Jones. I saw. three leaded waggials parted from
the train, and went towards the waggons and van which had
been bit standing on the main line. The place was on an
incline I should have thought that the wagons would
have gone down the line by their own weight without any
61m king of the train. I brought the train to a stand on
receiving the sigma. 1 was again sent ahead by tile signal
of Robeit Jones; I ag.ain get a signal from Jones to stop.
SIPI did so. I got a thitil signal mon Joiles to come back
Into the shling. I china know positively, but, to the best of
try belief, the person at the siding now was the station-
mitstm's son 1 was backing then to put some more waggons
into the siding. .d also for the purpose of pushing all the
tv..ggiots as far as they could go intii the siding, in order to
nod, romn to grt the rest of the train into the siding, and
II lie the main line clear tor the Irish Mail. While doing
this I saw' the wagginat I hail backed running down, but
l'oey had not yet reached the tab of the train, which h
been left on the main lime. I had not seen any one put a
bre,k on. I saw one person running after them first,
I:it-hard Williams, awl 1 afterwards saw Jones run after
tl um. Neither .4 those men caught the trucks be:ore tile
latter reached the tailenil ot the train. I slid not see the
II net., strike the tail-end of the train. The last time I saw
them I should suppose they must have been thirty or forty
yards apart hum the taibetel. The three trucks passed
round the curve. I could see tile tail end of the train (rola
tbe ha dots, RIM I conk' also see the three trucks which had
been "kicked oft" the train. I dill not see the tail start off,
but I sowthe two lots id trucks moving—one lot being apart
front thq iithir. The lots wele, I should say, th:rty ot forty
yards apart when I last saw them. Ido not know what
started the tldi first. The descending trucks remaiiied
NI Wild my sight only a few second.. The stove took them
omit of my sight. I started to run after the trucks, but was
stopped by Richard %IMAM, I think it was twenty or
twenty five minutes past twelve when I arrived at Llanddulas
titan., but I did not Imik at my watch. When 1 saw the
tnicks running down it was 1212 or thereabouts. I believe
the Irish niail is due at Llandilulas station at 1230. There
is no appointed time in the book for it to pass Llanildillas,
led it is timed to pass Abergele at 12 U. It is about three
ant a half miles from Abergele to Llanildulas.
At this stage of the proceedings the ioquiry was adjourned.

On Tuesday the inllile.t vies resumed by Or. Evan Pierce
coroner. assiite.l by Mr. E. Eyton, of Flint, as assessor.
Atirsd Mara, the driver of the goods train, was examined in
centinuation of Ids evidence on Friday. In reply to the
cop me, he gave (tie following answers :—I do not think the
tail of the train when ilLcomiectel would have stood on the
Wain line for a moment if a break had not been put on.
canhot. however, say that A break had been put on. I did
not Eve the three waggons which had 'peen kicked off reach
the tail eocl of the train. to the bed of my Judgment the
shinning of the three loaded waggons against the tail of the
train wou'il have been sufficient to Stan the latter. I think
the stliking of tlio,e waggons must have disturbed the
lireak.vao in sink a manlier as to catve the wheel of the
break to fly. The rule in our book of instructious is as
toll ',Ns:—
die. mineral, cattle, or ballast trains, when likely to
he wvertaken by a passenger train, must he shunted at sta-
tinny or sidings where there are fixed signals, at least Ten
P 1,1,1 In 'couch Po.r.oger noin ia Me, and kept there
till five min :es after it has passed. Wherever there is a
sid nig of siffident length to contain the train it must not be
sieiMed from one main line to the other, but always from
the main line into the siding."
'The three loaded waggon- started down the incline at almut
11 3a. The Irish mail eas due at that datum at about 12.34.
On that occasion we iambi Ant possibly have shunted ten
minutes twfore the I rh.li tiiail Was due. 'The time table of
our trains slmws that Liandilulas to tile proper place mr my
trill to shunt for the Irish mail. This is one sod the same
place as Ron and Lupton's oiling. Notwithstanding the
instruction for my simnting mt Llanddulas, I can do so at
Abergele Rh, I. and have done on. Our doing so tint
the .ti,cretion and Judgment of the breaksman It was from
2 i to 25 miiiut ea past 12 when we reached Llanddulas on the
day in question.
The AS6000ol.: Can you give any reason why you slid not at
once shoot at the Llandditlas siding on the day in question'
—l3ecan,e I saw at once the aiding would not hold the entire
of the train
The Assessor: tut you intended to make roars,. llow
could you oio that ?—There are two lines of siding, awl we
could make room by putting some waggons on oue set of
rails mid sonic on the other. Neither of the sidings was
'diffidently long to have held my train on that day. I had
to leave empties" 1,11 the siding that day. There were two
lots of empties. After having left all—there were two lots
of them the remainder of the goods train could have
been shunted on to tie other sails of the siding. my
train was a long train that day ; but not an un-
nPually long one. We do on other occasions as
on that day have maids trains of 47 waggons. Theme were
trucks on the siding before we arrived that day. We had
left two or.tiii re tiucks of the 47 at Abergele. Under soy
tto re w, Mil not, to the best of niy belief,
have heen sufficient leugth of rails to have shunted the
whole of by train that olay therefore, even if I had no
empties, I roust have divided my train in order to shunt for
the tristi mot. I don't know whether the slain at Llandituhis
Is the property if tine London and North-Western Company,
but it Wunder the control of the stationmaster at Llanddulas.
Ile always w.dics the pouts and the signals. Even at sta-
tions the train is under the control of the breaksmen. The
breaksmen receive their criers from the stationmaster. On
the .lay in question I obi not hear the stationmaster give
orders to the breaksilien but as a rule I don't hear them.
Those Wheels are too far away (rim me on such OCCAIiOIIS.
I A 011111 Wit. have gone into the siditigs without orders, nor
ould I have done no without some person holding the
points. My tiain is timed to reach Alierge e idea's at
11 5. Another somas train is due there at 11 55 On the day
lii quostion that train was behind no. It wnv behind tinie.
It starta from I liester at P-4.5, which is after us, hut •mght
tar padg us. "A this occasion it liii nod. Rhyl is our place to
shunt for that other pails train if it was in time. At
Ilaidldulas the rails of the siding are, I think, on the level, ,
awl both areas the same level If Me have a long train. we
generally divide if a short one we put it on one siding
o ally. I cannot tell how many waggons were on the siding
when T reached it that day. I know there were waggons on
each set of rails in the siding. I never on any previous oc-
ca. ion saw any trucks parted from my siding go down the
110th I:it:hard Williams and Robert Junes, Jun.,
ran of Sr tit hrin•ks. Williams ran first, Neither of them
caught the trucks
llt was suggested that the driver then under examination
ouglii not to have passed Rhyl till the other train had come
upsnifpag.ledhial
Witness resumed The up Irish mail from Holyhead is due I
at Conway at 1112. It sometimes passes as lam at Lland-
dulas. There ale" turnover*" or cross-over lines, frOITI
the up to the down line I never have crossed the main
Moe myself to shunt for the mail train, not that lam aware of.
when the siding was not sufficient to hold my train. To the
heat of my knowledge, I sever have put waggons on
the up line when there was no room in the siding in order
to allow the down mail to pass. That is olone at another
hour of the Ilay, when no) train is due On the up line There
were trucks belonging to the Innewerks when I reached the
soling on that day. I don't know whether they were lo.eled.
The whiml break on a van hi a much more powerful break
that two aide Week te each trues. The aide Weak ray

prevent a truck when still nom going into motion. I
do not know of my oCS knowledge that the wheel-
tweak had ever been applied in this case. The wheel-
loreak is sonnetintea locked wilt a stt op or chain. I don't
know whether there was a strap or chant to the tire ds in
tins case. I have seen break vans without either a strap or
a chain. If the bleak-van was standing still the break ,
would remain down, even if not strapped or chained.
If not snapped or chained I presume a collision would
release it : hut I think that even in such a case, it must get
a strong blow to relieve it. The distance the men were from
the trucks and the speed at which the latter were gong
prevented Williams and Jones from overts lag the three
trucks whicn descended The true a and van were Waled
shondol say that one break inn the side would not sty trucks
struek by these three. I don't think it was anyone's duty to
have been in the break-van at the time of the accident,
because the breakstnen had to come out to assist in the
aininting. I canted tell which of the two breaksmen attended
to the break and the tail van that day I UM both of them
in different places about the waggons. I do not know the
exact tinie at whiAwileft Abcrgele station that day.
The Assessor: has there ever been any occasion when
both sets of rails in the siding were Unab:e to hold your
train I—No, not that! remember.
The Assessor has it ever occurred that you have been
unable to shunt your train there? Na, not tuat I remember.
By the Assessor : I have sometimes been able to shunt the
whole train ; sometimes I have had to divide it. There
never has been an occasion on which the two lines of rails
were insufficient to hold nty train.
Thomas Davis, fireman of the goods train, was then ex-
amined by the Asse•or. Ile said I remember reaching
Cite Llautidulas station on Thursday, the 23, Alfred Sara being
the driver of the train. We shunt our train at /thy I, Aber-
Rode, or LllllldflUlat On the day in question we intended to
shunt at Llanoldulas. There was no room for the train as a
whole in the siding. There was room on both sets of rails for
the trucks of which the goods train was made up I think
the train ibolf was too long, to be put in on one set of rails
n.Ven if theie hail hero no wag,outs there already. I don't
know whether there were wag,ons titer when we reached. We
had empty waggons to leave there. Richard Williams inn
hooked the mut of the train. Subsequently I a,v three
waggons going lark towards the waggons and tan which hail
tormed the tail of th.: train. Those three wagmons had been
"kicked" back. loans no one putt ing on a break OR them
I saw the break:man running after them. I saw the tail enol
trucks naming as well as the three other ttucks. I don't
remember any occasion on which we were unable to
shunt on One or moth lines at Llandlulas. I olot not re-
member waggons having escap,l and run down the line on
any OCC:1810/1. Vhen we kick off waggons at that mad it is
not usual tot put the break on theta The station-tomato:es
son was at Ilanoldulas on the day in question. There was a
danger signal up at the station w hen we were shunting, and
a distant, e Monger, signal was also up. I did not see the
distance stoical worked that day. I aid see the semaphore
signal at the station worked. The stationmaater was oon
duty and at work that day. 'the stationmastet's Ball held the
points during the first shunting.
After ether unimportant evidence bad been given,
the inquiry was again adjourned.

The Timex in commenting on this terrible calamity,
and desirous that every possible precaution should be
taken for the safety of the public, says
No newest was ever read with iiktenser and closer interest
(bin that kni the horrible catastrophe at Abergele, and thus
far no balkiest has ever yielded less to comfort tjr reassure
the sympathizing and deeply-interested public. We do not
all of us handle guns, or go on the water, or climb preci-
pices, or inn st in Irish property, Or 111111 k off aoything we
see in a glass, of whatever colour, taste, or consistency. ; we
do led all of us drive doge iris home in the dark after late
suepers; out we all of us travel by rail, and many of
us travel as fast as we can to make the most
if our short " outings." A good many of us have
travelled by the Irish Limited Mail_ and have had to fall in
at Chester. When we did this, remember how se bkokeil
out for the sea, and how our hearts rose or fell at the first
sight of a ship. This makes us feel at home with the pas-
stealers who have survived to tell the tale. Then, we may
have to go the same journey again ; inkleed, most likely,
But, unfortunately for our peaee and comfort, we perceive.
as we real the proceedings of this inquest, that it matters
not at all whether it be Ireland we are going to. The
danger, brought out as vie read, is universal and ordinary,
it is everywhere of daily and hourly occutrefice. There
is no need for two waggon-loads of paraffin, or even
for a single barrel; no need for all incline of one in ninety on
a main line; no need for an express train. These are all
accessories, and no more. The circumstances composing the
dangeroes situation are as familiar as the roatine of is quiet
holtsehkdkl. Anti here comes the reason of the intense
personal and practical interest with which we follow these
proceedings They confirm a natural and irrepressible mi.
givieg, which we were, perhaps. beginning to hope might Ike
ignorant and unreasonable, but which we now see to be folly
justified. If a man is always fearing something and it never
conies to pass, he begins to suspect himself a fool or a
ckkward; but if it does happen, and that exactly in the
way he feared, he retains his self-respect anti also his appre-
hensions.
Ilk's is what we allot us have seen, and what gave to more
or less disquietude till we became used to it. A traveller
happens to have to wait for a train at a count, y station,
where it is evident there is a good deal of work to Ike done in
a small compass. There is a siding of a Mind, el yards, more
or less. Partly on this siding, and partly 011 the main line,
there is going on a mysterious and tedious penal mince with
alt conektive anti testier, waggons, anti trucks, full or empty,
sometimes a strong horse, and always some men who do not
seem quite to know what they are about, or to have any de-
finite plan for the re ukkiting of the dislocated train. There
is plenty of calling ankl signalling, awl a eel tain spasmodic
effect which snags st s that skaamil or third thoughts may have
altered the plait of action. While this is vino: on a'' through"
train dashes In , making the earth tremble, and contrasting
forcihly with the slow movements of the goods train, or what
is to be one in doe thee. What if tkne of the true a hail
been a few inches in the way? Out will the process of mani-
pulation lie completed before your own train anises? At ,
last your train does arrive. and by that time your use is
cleared somehk kw, you hardly know how. Baying witnessed
such a process without quite understanding It, or being sure
that anyliekty else did, you are able to appreciate the fact
that you have dashed in express trains thrtaigh many hun-
dreds of stations ss bile this sort of work was in progress,
and have never yet had to dash through a coal truk k or a
cattle train. Familiarity breeds contempt of danger, but the
wonkier remains ; MIA unconverted reason every now and
then storm sts how much better It would lies! passengers and
goods, expresses and slow trains, could Ike kept see:tilde, as
as to be under no necessity of performing continual feats of
skill and daring. The men who walk on ropes a hundred
feet over your head, or bound like squirrels from one rope
to another, surprise and shock a natural instinct, till it is
blunted by use ; hut the instinct reasserts itself when the
perforkner falls to the ground, and a sensible man will he less I
inclined than he ever was to witness such exhibitions. Unless
the moral of this fearful catastrophe be accepted and utilised
by those whom It most concerns—the managers of railways
—the public will be very apt to relapse into that timid,
suspicious frame of mind with which they first heard of rail-
ways to carry passengers thirty miles an hour.
Itere was a goods train of mire than 10 waggons a few
minutts in advance of the fastest and mist punctual train in
the country If it was not absobitely homer than the siding,
It was at least so long that the 'tail" of the train had to be
detached and left some distance off on the 1111411 line,
in order to kkbtaikk space for the backward and forward
movements required in =kin up the goods train. Not
only was this '• tail" left tilt the rails, at a point admitted
to be on the incline. and when the Mail was due in a few
11111:11tell, lout several Imlen waggons were sent with an
insist 3 sultleieet bk carry them without furthsr aid to the
disjointed That they should start it d kwn the incline
as tom as they touched it seems inevitalkle ; lkut it In
not even certain that they did touch it, or that the
touch was necessary But it ,s evident that the coupling
necessary to complete the goods Milo and tate it old of
harin's way would have to be comp eted loefore the ark ival
of the Mail, due in five or ten minutes, for th- "tail' at okke
end I.ollllllnd move without the assistance of the 1,111610 e at
the other. (he managers of the line were fully alive to the
dangers, and the goods train appears to have had general
enteral° get rid of the empties, awl make itself up wherever
it could, at elm station if not at another. and one station is
named as a last resource. A large discretikiii, therefore, is
left to the pers. kns in charge of the trains What they have
to decide tie their own reaponsibility is where they will have
titne to take a 111111 E, heavy goods train to pieces. get rid of the
empties, take in full waggons. and put ad together again, 111
the interval between two successive trains, the latter, in
this iustance, befog the Irish Lail. Why, as e have already
observed, beim e the oaening of the Inquest, there appears to
have been a reasonable probability of a terrible accident,
even if the " tail " had not gone down the Maine, and even
if there had been no psi atfin in the matter.. Happily
It cannot lie an ordinary Sr frequent kkccurrenee that waggon-
loads of paraffin slaktild be travelking about the railway-a in
the path of express trains. But it ones appear to be a very
ordinary occarrence, and part of the daily routine of a
rai. way, that goods trains are pertorming complex anti
difficult evolutions and undergoing manipulations requiring
at least one pair kof rails on the main line, if not both. if it
must be so. kind if racehorses mid broad-wheel waggons are
to run the same course and fit in as well at they can with one
antkther, it is evident the remekly is to be found in larger
sidings and a larger staff of servants to expedite these

liazai'dous processes._