The Sun.
London, England, 1847-06-03 00:00:00

CHESTER

CHESTER, MONDAY MORNING.—Since our last report
a strict inquiry has been instituted by Captain Sim-
mons, the Government Inspector• General of Railways,
into the circumstances attending the falling of the
bridge, and the shocking catastrophe that followed. The
gallant officer was assi,ted by Mr. Robert Stephenson,
the engineer of the Chester and and Holyhead Rail-
way, who planned the bridge ; Captain C. W. A.
Moorsom ; Mr. Lee, the resident engineer ; Mr. W. R.
Collett, M.P., the chairman ; Mr. King, the Secretary ;
Mr. Ty roll, the solicitor ; and several of the directors.
The first obj.cts that came under inspection were the
girder that had given way, and the masonry of the piers
and abutments. The bridge across the river by the
race-course or Roode, its length being about three
hundred feet, supported by two stone piers in the centre
of the stream, and nearly thirty feet in height at low
water. The abutments were built upon piles of great
strength, and the piers were formed•on hard blue clay, a
coffer-dam having previously bean made. The iron
girders that support the permanent way. are ninety-
eight feet long, each consisting of three pieces, having
vertical flanges with bolts at the joists, and otherwise
strongly secured. There are many bridges of a t, m tlar
description on the Treat Valley, Blackwall, Great
Western, and other railways.
The masonry was minutely examined, and, from the
observations that fell from Captain Simmons, it is in-
terred that, in his report to the Board of Trade of the
disaster, he will not attribute the accident to its defec-
tive state, or state that the girder broke down from any
undulatory motion produced by the passing trains.
Toe girder that gave way, the outsi a one of the. down
line, underwent a strict scrutiny. It was in three parts
.he portion that had rested on the Salteney or Welsn.
side of the Dee, was torn from the masonry of the
abutment, and was lying partly in the mud and water,
buried by the falling stones and rails, &c., while about
50 feet of the remainder was still hanging from the
masonry of the pier buttress. The fractures w,re in the
sound metal, and exhibited no appearances of having
originated from any flaw or defect in the casting. One
or the fractures, it was considered, caused the bridge to
give way, and the other one was produced by the metal
falling on the cround, or some heavy substance striking
it in its descent. In other respects the girder was quite
sound.

Clayton, the driver of the engine attached to the train,
who hai so extraordinary an escape, made the same
statemant as he ,!id before the Coroner, and persisted in
his °rig:nal story, that the speed of the train in passing
over the bridge did not exceed 20 miles an hour.
Mr. Robert Stephenson expressed an opinion, not pub-
licly announced, that the train was travelling faster than
had been stated, and that the tender by some means got
off the rails, and on passing over the bridge struck the
girder a lateral blow ;.‘nd fractured it.

This, we believe, was the general opinion amongst
the many engineers and scientific gentlemen who were
present.
•
The Rev. Arthur Rig-g, the Principal of Chester
Training College, has given a totally different opinion
as to the cause of the calamity. He says there are
three causes for the accident; Ist, the defect in the ma•
sonry; 21), the peculiar vibration, brought about by ac-
cidental circumstances; the bridge, although not a sus-

pension bridge, was a structure that would vibrate-in
three ways—vertically, horizontally, and also with a
slight and almost inappreciable longitudinal motion;
3d, the horiz.mtal vibrations from the centrifugal force
of the train passing over.
Major Thomas Congreve R.A., stationed at
Chester, believed the accident arose from the breaking
of the girder, and not from the giving way of the ma-
soi;ry.
The board of directors have come to the conclusion
that no precaution or engineering skill could have
ary this morning, we were
g utiardp(e)
nd
ngaqutsyt tahe ttialcec iidnefinrt.
m
informed that the condition of several of the survivors
was very unfavourable.

I; EVIE`V OF I BOOPS.-1 t cted that the Grand
Duke Constantine will visit Woolwich previous to his depar-
ture front this; country, and that the Royal Horse Artillery
and field liatieries will be reviewed in his presence. A re-
view of the household troops will also, it is understood, come
oil' in Hyde Park,