Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-12-09
Can Railway Accidents Be Prevented

Of appliances can be put in force to pre-.
vent such fatal lapses OF memory on the
part Of signalmen.
Apparently tho block system as operated
on the Southern railway main line Is the
very simplest form Of telegraphic block.
There seems to have been no mechanical
check to prevent the operator giving a
train a clear signal without permission
from the operator in the block tower ahead.
II there had been, Rangoon would have ben
compelled to report to Lawyers the passage
Of No. 80. or IL there had been track
circuit system In use RangOOn could not
have cleared his signal for the next train
till No 80 had passed out of the block The
failure OF the time-honored (or tlme-con-
demned) plan Of relying on the rear flag
man Is shown by the fact that although the
flagman did go back, and was seen by the
engineer of the following train. who applied
his emergency brakes at once, the train
could not be stopped soon enough to avoid
striking and telescoping the private car on
the rear Of the standing train
SO far as at present appears, therefore,
the lesson Of this latest disastrous wreck
is that while any form OF blocking Is better
than nothingi it is worth while to surround
mechanical appliances as win aid TO pre-
vent fatal errors on the part of the tower
men. This lesson ought to come home with
the more force to railway officers because
Of the prominence OF the principal victim
But It may be asked what could govern
ment investigator do in relation to this par
tlcular ACCIDENT He could make known
to the railway officers and employees the
country over all the facts relating TO the
occurrence. 1t has been widely advertised
that this was a collision under the block
system. In the interests Of sound railway
practice It ought to be made public Just how
much-and how lttle-of a block system II
was In the interests Of sound discipline,
block signal operators, the country over
should have placed before them the partic-
ular error of which one operator was guilty
and It's disastrous results,
We may go one step farther and set down
what is, we believe, pretty we'll known to
railway men. The main line OF the South
ern railway, on which this collision
occurred, has had bad reputation for at
least Ave years, and we do not know how
much longer, for It's great number of tram
wrecks. The trafic carried long ago out
grew the facilities for moving II and the
system for protecting the trains on tho
road. Had these accidents been investigated
by competent government experts, instead
of-aocordng to our correspondent-by the
railway company itself we cannot help
believing that long ago something would
have had to be done for the bettermCnt Of
operating methods. 1t might we'll be that
such Improvement would have averted the
collision that cost President Spencer's life
BY a curious coincidence, on the same
day with the reports of the Southern wreck
there appeared in the daily papers inter
views with one OF the principal officers Of
the Great Western railway of England,
who Is spending some time in the United
States. Asked for his opinions Of American
railway practice he expressed great ad-
miration for American methods Of moving
great volumes of freight at low cost, but
frankly revealed the fact that American