The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-22 00:00:00

therefore uncoupled, or divided, and the first per'
e
tion, consisting of about twelve trucks, went
through the tunnel, and on emerging from it the
signal man was signalled, and immediately told
that only half the train had been brought through.
It appears that the guard, when he uncoupled the
train, experienced a concussion, and heard people
groaning ; and also that when the train left tier.l-
ton there was a train due from Woolwich. Thin
train was the express from Maidstone, which stopped
at Charlton, was allowed to proceed from thence on
the receipt of the " All clear" signal from Biaek-
heath, and ran into the ballast train, or a portion
of it, in the tunnel. There can be no doubt, then'
that the accident was directly caused by the " All
clear" signal being sent in error from Blackheath,
or by its being misapprehended at Charlton; and,
according to the evidence of the station-master at
the former place, the signalman there admitted to
him that he was afraid he had given the " clear
signal. It seems probable, indeed, that when part
of the ballast train left the tunnel the signal was
instantly given under the impression that the whole
train had come through, and it should be observed
that the signalman at the time was a railway porter,
doing duty for a man who was ill, and new to the
work, having only been so employed for six days.
Fortunately a working roan of Blackheath hal)"
pened to be passing when the half of the ballot
train came out of the tunnel, and seeing that it bad
no tail light, he felt convinced that it had been
divided, and, with forethought which proved most
valuable, at once communicated with the station'
master. Consequently, the train from Lou'
don, which arrived a few minutes afterwards,
was stopped, and a terrible aggravation of the catas-
trophe undoubtedly prevented. It is to be hoped
that the railway company will not suffer such an
instance of caution to pass unheeded or unrewarded.
This system of signalling is indisputably perfect as
far as it goes, and the South Eastern Railway Com-
pany are justly proud of it. Bat, admirable as any
system may be, it is necessarily dependent on its
working agencies. It is with railways as it is with
every other organisation, and the most excellent
theories often fail through their practical deficien ties.
As the Blackheath station-master said, he had al'
ways found the machinery of the signals work well;
" It was beautifully arranged, and never before had
there been any mishap; but, when human agency
failed, what was to be done ?" The coroner properly
answered that there appeared to have been acts of
omission as well as commission, and it is possible
to rely too confidently on the beauty of a system.
Many systems that are full of anomalies answer
their purpose well enough with an administration
regulated by sound, pr- ctical common sense. 1-11,9
fact that overmuch is expected from a man employed
in signaling on railways has been before remarked'
and yet here we have a porter, whose wages sr°
sixteen shillings a week, required to perform a°
arduous and anxious duty from seven o'clock in the
morning to six o'clock in the evening, with one
hour allowed for dinner. It is very well to sal
that if the signalman had waited to see the whole
train out of the tunnel, as he was bound to do, this
disaster would not have occurred; but the question
rather is, we submit, first, whether due care WI
taken in placing such a man at such a post, and
keeping him there so many hours on the stretch .
and, next, whether this ballast train should have
been permitted to leave Charlton when it was
known that the express train was due whether'
in short, some allowance ought not to be made 111
practice for the fallibility of the "human agency'`
It seems strange, too, that these ballast trains can
not be timed with more regard to the passenger
traffic; and, as regards the latter, there is, we srAe
afraid, more haste than is consistent with goo,`;
speed. People grumble if they are delayed, and
sometimes very unreasonably ; but they all t,"„
same hold the railway companies responsible 3°'
their safety, and probably a careful revision of the
time tables would obviate a great deal of the 0111 r:
muring and prevent many accidents. But it sc,
must have a fast system, and if gravel and passe%
gers must be conveyed on the same line in the ono
hour, the service of a railway ought to be equal t‘it
what is demanded of it. If everything dePeri,ur
upon a signalman, a telegraph clerk, and a port
who carries verbal messages from one to the other'
these agents should be capable men, men entertain'
ing a sense of their responsibility, and to be that
they must be adequately paid and not tasked be
yond their ability.