The Sun.
London, England, 1852-05-01 00:00:00

INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS.
O Tuesday James M. Betide!, Esq., President, in
the chair. The paper read was " Railway Accidents;
their cause and means of prevention; detailing perticu-
tar)), the various contrivances which are in use, and
hevo been proposed; with the regulations of some of
t! e principal lines." By Captain Mark Huish, Assoc.
Inst. C.E.
The author first considered those points connected
with the road, and the machinery employed upon it,
from which loss of life, and injury to person and pro-
perty, most generally arose. With regard to the road,
or permanent way, from which fewer accidents occurred
than from any other cause, its complete effectiveness was
the basis of all safety in railway travelling; and for
keeping it up constant vigilance was necessary, especi-
ally when any great and sudden change of weather took •
place, as then the weak points were sure to show them-
selves. It was a very rare occurrence for trains to run
off the line; and when they did so, it was more generally
due to obstructions designedly placed on the line than to
any neglect of the superintendents, or the platelayers. It
was little suspected how frequent, how ingenious, and
how varied the attempts had become, to inflict a fearful
injury by these means; and though, providentially, bat
comparatively trifling damage had resulted from
such causes, yet it was lamentable to find, that in
addition to all ordinary risks, so diabolical
a mode of wreaking a petty vengeance,
or gratifying a mischievous disposition, had to be guarded
against. Of late the punishment for such offence bad .
been made more severe; and it was to be hoped that
this would have the effect of lessening their number.
' Owing to the rapid development of the traffic, and per"
titularly of the heavy goods traffic, on the main art&
rid. lines of the country, increased aiding accommoda•
diction, had become necessary; in the case of the Lon-
don and North-Western Railway alone, upwards of
fifty-three miles had been laid down within the last fog
years, although, by multiplying points and crossings, this
had, pro rank, increased the liability of accident; for it
might be received as an axiom, that anything which broke
the continuity of a rail tended to develop° danger. Ah
however, there were no means of avoiding these fro'
qaent " turns out," judicious regulations combined
with effective signals must be relied on, and now that
facing points were reduced in number, the liability to
danger had been diminished. The use of self-acting
switches was attended with evils of no trifling magei- •
tude, and many accidents bad occurred from reliance
them; indeed, as a general rule, machinery to supersede
personal inspection and manipulation was fraught Will'
danger.
With respect to the rolling stock, it appeared from n
return of one thousand cases of engine failures and de'
fects, within two years on the London and North-Western
Railway, that burst and leaky tubes nearly doubled eel
other class of failure, and that these, with broken springs
and broken valves, amounted to one-third of the whole
number; and though they caused no direct danger to thl)
public; yet as producing a temporary, or permanent in'
ability of the engine to carry on its train, they might
be the remote cause of collision. The passenger carriages
from its perfect manufacture, presented almost complete
immuaity from accident, for during the last four years out
of the large stock of the London and North-Western,
Railway only six wheels had failed, and though at firss
some annoyance and alarm had been experienced front .
heated axles, yet by the recent introduction of the
patent axle-box, it had been much reduced'
The same praise could not be bestowed on the
merchandize waggon, as in no portion of the
system had so little improvement been made ,
the fracture of axles was frequent, the Ler;
of coupling very defective, and the want of
buffers, or even of buffers of the same height and wi ;
lo
rendered the destruction of property enormous• nr
loss of life from fire, either from heated coke. L
spontaneous combustion, had occurred to a P 7,;•
senger train, but there had been some palt°E
escapes. These and other circumstances had led tne„(
persons to suggest various contrivances for ootoleu";,'
eating between the passengers, the guard, and t,,r
engine-driver, almost all of which were identical in P„,rh111;
' ciple consisting of a connecting wire, or rope. •iti—
planhad been tried and failed. A more feasible 01:
favourite one was that recommended by the railway
Commissioners, which was to continue the foot-boar"'
so as to form a narrow platform, from end to end of I°s
train, but a committee of railway officials had garble'
quently expressed their unanimous condemnation of Athe
measure. The plan now adopted on the Loos
and North-Western Railway, was for the guar" -
van at the end of the train, to project about a toot be,
yontl the other carriages, so that the guard looking
through a window in this projection, might Doti° the
waving of a hand, or a handkerchief ; this was, of wallet
useless at night. of
All these ceases, however, did not produce a tithe
the accidents which resulted from a want of attention t 2
signals, and a neglect of regulations, which of all
sources of danger were the most prolific. Railway sty
tionary signals had been greatly improved of late year;
and the introduction of the lofty semaphores and t
anxiltiary signals really left nothing to be desired. Di!"
Bides these there were the hand signals to be used by
.Ph;
guards, in case of stoppages between stations, and,%,"b
detonating signals to prevent collisions daring a fog?woce'd,
latter supplied a deficiency that had been experlepoa
and they were found to answer exceedingly well. oder ,
Electric Telegraph had greatly facilitated working.ffeete
variable circumstances, and so beneficial had inti,is v9s'
been, that, during the year 1851, out of 7,90°0"" teed,
sengers, or nearly one-third of the population of Eng tea
who had travelled over the London and Nort•h-Wes flea
Railway, only one individual had wet withlfeed),
death (from which casualty the author 11180 S„ '
co of
and this was the effect of the gravest disobedilitio
orders. In the six months during which the Ez,,,b2irsion
was open, 775,000 persons were conveyed by ia
trains alone, in 24,000 extra carriages, all central:log
a single focus, arriving at irregular hours, and 111.se,,see,
unlimited numbers, from more than thirty re"- Joe
without the most trifling casualty, or even interrup
to the ordinary extensive business of the line. st.
The author thought undue importance had been .h.
tached to the question of irregularity in
.1"of
times of the trains, as an essential elementlip
safety, for with perfect signals, and a lead
disciplined staff, no amount of irregularity should
to danger; but, on the contrary, it should, to a rod
tain extent, by its very uncertainty, induce incr;„to
vigilance, and therefore greater safety. Accl
very rarely happened from foreseen circumstances, L'.4
generally from a simultaneous conjunction of seier4,
causes, and each of these was provided 1d
as it arose. The statisties of railways, 0 sever
the periodical publication of the Goyereni:6
returns, drew public attention very eeitnee se
to the aggregate of accidents; but ",faivree
believed, that If due regard was had to comearfrnill'W- ai-
sults, if the accidents to steamers, or in mines, —-121 usefully
bus passengers, or even to pedestrians, were as
Aso
recorded, and then, whether as regarded the jg
and celerity of transit, or the facility of e"velater
numbers, the railway system, even in its prisent 6-ther
would be found to be incomparably safer than an
Y
system in the previous, or present history of l000n1°" $
It was announced that the discussion cn this elle-bairhe
would be resumed at the meeting of Tuesday, 1"-,_ %we,
awnhde,nitth
limo
mmeo monthly ballot for Members would te" la be "
permitted, the following paper wen- ss
read:—" Observations on Artificial Hydraulic! er Prio><
land Cement; with an account of the testing of thea.
beam erected at the Great Exhibition," by Mr.
White, Assoc. Inst. C.E.

SEABORNE MAILS.
[N signifies that the mails are sent froth the Qenely
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by the night—and 31 by the morning- Itch.]

by night—and Mby tile morning—dispatch.) .....-------
When made up in I From what `phi
PLACES, General Post-office' port die- (1110.
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French packet via Marseilles.

ne
BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPIL—The Solicitor- Git—!ol
(Sir F. Kelly) has been returned this day for East Suff°l'

BIRTHS.
OF A SOX
On the 27th ult., at Finchley-road, St. John's-Wood,
John Henry Roberts.
On the 28th ult., at Penns, Warwickshire, the wife of
Baron Webster, Esq.

OP A DA UGHTEY
On
, the -`)
Bth ult., at Bath, the lad of the Hon.
Stourton.
On the 27th ult., at Chester, the wife of Henry ELT nal*.
Esq., 23(1

MARRIED.
On the 28th ult., at St. Margaret's, Westminster, the Ref'
James Allen, vicar of Castlemar in. to Isabella Dorothea,
third daughter of the late Peter R. Iloare, of Kelsey, I"ent'
and of Clayton-hall, Lancashire.

DIED
On the 2Gth ult., at Leamington. Mary Ann, eldest (laug;
ter of the late Sir Richard De Capell Brooke, Bart., of Gres
Oakley-bowie, Northa mptonshire.
On the 24th ult., at Mayfield-road, Ralston, W Jenning!'
Esq., Assistant Commissar-General to her Majeßty's Forces%
On the 2Gth ult., at Hony fleur, Mr. John R. Wheeler, of
Wokingbam, Berks, aged 57.
On the 2811 ult., at the Grove, Croydon, aged 88, PhilipPa
Chollet, widow of the late S. Chollet, Esq.

London: Printed and Published by INTERDO TOUNG,t,°s,
No, 112, Strand, Printer, at The Sun Office, N__..0— 11,g
Strand, in the Precinct of die SavOyr Ow' -
Middlesex, *aturclay, May 1,1062,