The Express.
London, England, 1853-01-07 00:00:00

THE RAILWAY SLAUGHTER NEAR

OXFORD.

TO TILE SDITOIL OF THE EXPRESS.
Stn,—Of recent railway collisions the latest is at
once the most frightful and the most inexcusable ; the most
frightful, because out of six servants employed on the en-
gints but one remains to give any account of the awful tale
by which fourteen out of the twenty-one passengers were
more or lea seriously injured ; the most inexcusable, be•
cause the calamity—accident it is impossible to ca:l it—was
caused by negligence and carelessness at every point of the
line between Bletchley, whence the enormous coal train
started twenty-five minutes after its time, and Oxford,
which the passenger train left in spite of the shouts of the
foreman of the porters, the exposure of the danger signals,
and filmiest all rule and regulation.
Near Oxford there is a tunnel which the recent rains
have so injured as rendered it necessary to employ
the down line exclusively in its reparation ; all the traffic,
passenger and goods, have therefore to be conducted on
the up line. Care the most vigilant, and arrangements the
most superabundant in caution, were necessary to prevent
the possibility of adverse trains using the same line coming
into collision. Not only, however, was even usual care neg-
lected, and ordinary precautions disregarded, but great
negligence was displayed. What the public safety, under
such circumstances, first of all required, was that, over a
distance so short, two trains flying in opposite directions
should not, under any excuse, have been permitted to be at
the same time on the line ; above all, not two traitr, one of
which the public bad no notice of. In such an emergency,
coals might well have given way to human beings, and the
possibility of danger have beets removed, either by a tem-
porary cessation of the coal trade, or by its transit over the
line at such • time of night as passenger trains do not
travel at.
But Oxford, be it observed, is one of the great points of
competition and of rivalry between the North and Great
Western, to the infinite loss and damage of their proprieta-
ries. Neither hu • direct line to that city, but both have
branches, whirling people miles about the country in any
and every direction but that they want to go ; and
there they both struggle, and fight and con-
tend for • traffic that must pecuniarily be hurt-
ful to them ; for to suppose it can pay for the two ca-
pitals expended is manifestly absurd. And the consequence
of this monstrous competition is, taat lives, legs, arms, and
bodies are risked, that one company may not get a penny
the other can by any possibility taLe awa from it ; though
probably the earnings of both are insufficient to pay even
working expenses. This is what lies at the bottom of the
matter, and the way it works is seen in this terrible slaugh-
ter—greater than some battles have been won by.
Rivalry like this penetrates into every nook and cranny;
it enters into the soul of every one connected with them
from chairmen to carriage cleaners ; and with all the great
point is, how to damsge their competitors. That, sad not
the public safety, convenience, or accommodation, is upper-
most, and must, from the constitution of men's minds, be
uppermost in their thoughts. When a new chairman is to
be elected, the extent and magnitude of his parliamentary
influence is his best qualification. " How many members
of the House of Commons can he introduce Air. Latitat,
the company's solicitor, to ?" is the first question ; can he
influence more peers than the rival monarch is a primary
element of choice. And thus, instead of better, oar railway
policy is growing worse and worse ; and will never, to all
appearance, improve until one of two things happens—that
shareholders themielves make a clean sweep of boards
which, year after year, diminish the value of their pro-
perty, or that parliament take the whole subject in hand.
There being only one line of rails open between Islip to
Oxford, a distance of five miles, a huge coal train of 64
waggons, requiring two engines to draw it, arrived at that
dation from Bletchley about the hour at which it ought to
have reached Oxford ; end, instead of being detained there
and placed on the siding, so as to clear the line for the train
that ought to have left Oxford at 5.30, on it is permitted to
rusk through Wolverine tunnel, as if between Islip and
Oxford there was no danger to avoid. This was bad
enough. But at Oxford where, they say, the rule is not to
allow the 5.30 to start until the coal train duo at 5.20 has
arrived, there, when there is • large stuff, the outgoing train
is permitted to start, and at a speed unusually fast too,
although the coal train approaching on the same line has
net come in. This was worse. And the consequence, the
natural, legitimate, and almost unavoidable consequence, is
the frightful collision in question.
It is in vain to talk of sober engine-drivers, of steady
policemen, of good porters, or of rules and regulations: the
fault here lies higher up; it is in the system of manage-
ment which permitted the possibility of such an occurrence,
by allowing two trains to run the risk of flying towards
, each other on the same line at the same time. Railway
' companies placard their stations with notices that they arc
not bound to keep the time they solicit custom by announc-
ing. Be it so ; but then they are doubly bound to guard
against the slightest chance of danger in consequi ace of
I irregularities, which are cultivated and encouraged by such
notices as these. In receiving passengers at Oxford, they
contracted to convey them on a line which should not be
obstructed by coal trains, of which the miserable victims
knew nothing and could learn nothing. And to have placed
them on n line so obstructed is not, when the natural cala-
mity has resulted therefrom, merely a matter for pecuniary
compensation, it is a criminal offence.
I Look, too, at the confusion at Oxford. First of all the
coal train is telegraphed from Oxford to come on from Islip
when it is manifest that it could not arrive at Oxford by
5.30, the time for starting the passenger train ; and then
before it does arrive, the passenger train is allowed to start.
It started, too, without any orders from the station-master,
who was, Heaven knows where, and while one of his sub-
ordinates, who apparently acted fur him in starting trains,
was away at some distance seeing whether the coal train
had arrived. ffomething did arrive—a ball,-t train ; and,
therefore, the passenger train flew away withaut directions,
rushing into death sad des:ruction. " 1 felt sure there
would be a collision," was the logical exclamation of Ilayes,
the foreman of porters, whose only fault stems to have been
that Ito undertook other people's duty Insides his own.
Now to say that such a calamity could Mt have been