The Sun.
London, England, 1853-09-09 00:00:00

COLLISION ON THE GREAT NORTHERN

RAILWAY.

OFFICIAL INVESTIGATION BY CAPT. WYNN.

Yesterday Captain Wynn, of the Board of Trade, ac-
compahied by Mr. Archibald Sturrock, locomotive en-
gineer of the Great Northern Railway, Mr. John Den-
nison, the superintendent of the line, Mr. Leech, the
solicitor of the company, Mr. Budge, the locomotive
superintendent, and other officials, made a series of ex-
perimental trips from the terminus of King's-cross to
the Hornsey station, in a train specially provided by the
company, with the view to ascertain whether or not it
was practicable to stop the express down-train at Horn-
sey, going at its ordinary rate of speed, after seeing the
danger-signal, at the first moment it is possible to per-
ceive it.

In order to understand and appreciate the result of
the experiments so made, it is necessary to state that
the distance-signal on the London side of the Hornsey
station can be seen by an ordinary-sized man, standing
on an engine going from London, 510 yards before
reaching it ; that the distance-signal to the spot where
the collision occurred on the evening of Wednesday week
is 664 yards ; and that from the place at which the dis-
tance-signal can be first perceived to the point of col-
lision is 1,174 yards.
At one o'clock yesterday, Captain Wynn, in the com-
pany of the gentlemen mentioned, started from King's-
cross in a train composed precisely in the same manner
as the express was on the day of the accident—namely,
consisting of an engine and tender, seven carriages and
three vans, dispose in exactly the same relationship,
and the engine being precisely of the same calibre and
construction as the one with which the collision hap-
pened. It ought also to be stated that Pardington and
Woods, the engine:driver and fireman of the express
train on the evening of the accident, and the driver and
stoker of the pilot engine, the tender of which got off
the rails at Hornsey and impeded the down line, were
present in the train to witness the experiments, but were
not permitted to have charge of it. The result of the
first experiment was this :—When Captain Wynn's train
first came within view of the distance signal, it was tra-
velling at the rate of 45 miles an hour. On perceiving
the signal, the driver immediately shut off his steam,
and applied the tender break only, and the effect was,
that the train was stopped dead at the distance of 65
yards from the London end of the station platform at
Hornsey, the point of collision on the day in question
having been at the distance of about 130 yards from the
middle of the platform, and at the other end of it. On
the second experimental trip, the train started from the
ticket platform at King's-cross, and by the time that it
came in sight of the distance-signal it had attained a
speed of 40 miles an hour. At that point every possible
means at command were instantly put in requisition to
arrest the career of the train ; the driver gave three
beats with his whistle, that being the regular mode of
signalling imminent danger to the guards, with the view
to the application of the breaks ; the steam was imme-
diately shut off, the engine put out of gear, and all the
three breaks applied. The result was that the train was
brought to a stop just as the engine reached the dis-
tance-signal, that is, in the space of 510 yards, and at a
point 664 yards distant from the place of collision at the
Hornsey station. It was objected, on the part of Par-
dington, the engige-driver of the express, accused of
negligence, that this second experiment was scarcely a
fair one, in that three breaks were applied to stop the
train, the express having ordinarily two only, though on
the day in question it had, by a mere chance, three
breaks. Captain Wynn thereupon, with the view to
settle this point, and to test the matter still further, and
beyond the possibility of doubt, undertook a third trip,
starting, as usual, from King's-cross. He also, on this
third occasion, caused an additional carriage to be at-
tached to the train, as a compensation for the weight of
passengers and luggage which was conveyed by the
express on Wednesday week. Pardington was like-
wise allowed to take up a position on the en-
gine, near the driver in charge, in order to satisfy
himself that fair play was done. Captain Wynn and
Mr. Sturrock also rode on the engine. When they
came in sight of the distance-signal they were going at
the speed of 51.43 miles, or about 514 miles per hour.
The danger-signal was then immediately given, the
steam shut off, and only two breaks applied ; and the
effect was to bring up the train 45 yards from the Lon-
don end of the Hornsey station platform,
_ _

By a practical demonstration, it has thus been proved,
beyond cavil or question, that an express train, travel-
ling on the down line from London at the rate of 40
miles an hour, can be stopped before reaching the sta-
tion at Hornsey, if the means available for arresting its
progress are applied immediately that it is possible for
the engine-driver, keeping a lookout ahead, to see the
distance .signal. Undoubtedly, it may be said, with
some degree of truth, that the experiments of yesterday
were scarcely analogous to an ordinary case—that the
parties on the special train were all on the qui vivo, and
the engine-driver Argus-eyed—that their sole object was
to look for the danger-signal, and then, having perceived
it, instantaneously to have recourse to every means at
their disposal to stay the headlong career of the train
within the briefest possible time and the shortest possible
space. But still, making some allowance for all these
considerations, the experiments were of a nature to
carry conviction to an unprejudiced mind that the ex-
press train may be stopped at the Hornsey station, if
the engine-driver be keeping a proper lookout, at the
time at which the distance signal can be first observed ;
and therefore that the recent collision might have been
averted if all parties in charge of the engine and the
train bad been doing their duty. Perhaps the fairest
way to conduct the experiment would have been for the
persons in charge of the signals at Hornsey to exhibit
the distance danger signal some evening when the ex-
press down-train was anticipated, unknown to the en-
gine-driver and fireman in charge of it. It would then
have been seen, in the natural and ordinary way, whether
they pulled up the train within the station.
After all, the public and the companies are a good
deal to blame for these collisions. They act and react
upon each other. The public, heedless of the imminent
risk, demand a high rate of speed ; and the railway com-
panies, from the sheer force of competition, are driven
to comply with that demand. The engine driver of an
express train, on the other hand, is urged by every possi-
ble motive to keep up that speed, except perhaps the
one which ought mainly to influence his mind and that
s of all parties concerned—namely) a regard for th 9 safety