The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-10-26
CORONER CRILLS BUCKL
 ON ROADS FAILURE TO
 PROVIDE LONGER CROSSOvERS
Official Didn't Regard Recommendation From
 Inspector Belknap as From Commission

Coroner John J. PheIan gri1led Vice. President Buckland this morning, up- on the failure of the New Haven road to comply with a recommendation, fol- lowing the wreck of the Federal EzN-
 press. that longer crossovers should be provided
 The recommendation was made oy the head of the department of safety appliances, H. W. Belknap, who is sub ordinate to the interstate commerce commission.
 Mir BuckIand had a most I1npleas- ant hour with the Coroner.
 The advantages of the. long cross over were fully discussed, ana MT. the railroad had not adopted auto matic stop devices. In this connection he admitted tna! the wreck of the Boston Express a. westport could have been preventeo had the air brakes been applied east instead of west of the bridge
 MT. Belknap was present Vice President Edward C., B11cf&lano coroner He-was examined by At
 ternsy Be15a1afn Ta5 ew | spas1 aazen oop Hart M ford railroad, who stated aItef nIs queries that he desired to nave Lnese
 matters go on the records of the near. ling MT Buckland said that he hao never known of any formal recon mendations made by the Interstate lCornmerce Commission as a result 0f the recommendations that were made to that commission by MT: Beaknap. who investigated and reported on the Federal wreck of July, 1911-
 Attorney Spock had asked what MT Buckband knew about supposed rec fovnendatiorfs' Coroner Phelan quiet I ly asked the railroad attorney not to
 oe -alas tioS,s. ss .sunnosed recom-
 nnendations, was regarded by the cor oner as being sarcastic. MT Spock remarked that he had meant no saT- casTn.
 Continuing his testimony relative to the recommendations of the Interstate Commerce Commission which the cor oner assumed had been made 70 the railroad, Mr. Buck1and said that ne had received copies of the report and recomrnelldat tions of Mr. BeiknaP 70 however. he did not regard as a rec ornrnendation from the Interstate Com
 merce Commission to his railroad It commission q don't think there Is any specific recomnfend dationa as an | o1tcon1e of the Federal Express wreck,
 made to the railroad by the Corl1gnerce Comm issdon. know of none, and l can find none,'' said the witness. 1 Witness said that there are an aver age of 867 movements on crossovers and switches between New York and l Coroner Phelan then took up the Iexarnination of the witness. He ask ed MT. Buckfand why the New York. New Haven 6. Hartford railroad had | never regarded the report made by 1 MT. Bellznap to the Interstate Com unerce Commission MT. B1ckaand de- I clared that the Commerce Commission l had never formulated any specific recon mmendation as a result Of this re- port Coroner Phelan pressed the witness with innl1n1erable questions in | f1ds effort to bring out from the wifi l ness whether the report of MT. Bel
 knap made to the Commerce Comarads- sion was or wasn't a report or rec concentration which should have been l regarded by the railroad l MT Buckland became impatient and stated that too much time was being
 taken in this question as it isn't of SC much importance as to what manner l the tions were made Hs said that the railroad has always given serious regard and Considers | ton to all recommendations of the Commerce Commission, as such rec
 concentrations were regarded as of the
 utmost importance and or great l weight. He said that the railroads of the country paid very strict regard i to recommendation of the road anc
 very seriously and thoroughly consiq cred.
 l MT. Buclzland said he didn't believe that the Commerce Commission has made public the report of it's chief in spector, Mir Belknap, and that the Eponly copies of the report of MT. Bel knap were cOp1eS CnaC were COuTLeOtlS- 1y sent to d1im by MT. Beltnap-
 Coroner Phelan asked if he had never seen Accident Bulletin No. Al published and issued by the Commerce tCona1nission- MT. BuckFand said that he never had and that he didn't know that his road had | Coroner Phe1and asked: 'sWhy is il that your railroad has not ordered trains taking crossovers of the 8, 1C and 15 size, to come to full stop be- lfore the crossovers were set ?" Such an order was recommended in the re- port which had been under question
 MT. Buckland replied that it was ap- parent that such a rule would have been of no more avail in the Westpori wreck or the Bridgeport wreck of last Iyear, than the rule that was disre- garded and which he attributed the cause of the two wrecI1s-nanely, ths rue which ordered the engineers te run their trains over the crossovers al a safe rate of speed. MT. Buc<land
 very emphaticaEly declared that ths stop signals are always set against ar
 engineer before he takes a crossover
 This stop signal requires that he slov
 1 down and to make sure that this ii
 done MT Buclzland said that th
 dwarf signals are the only indication been properly set and that for tha ) reason 1t was necessary for an en gineer to slow down so as to be sur of the dwarf signal giving him a clear
 1 anee. The high stop signal was dis
 soDeyed, declared the witness. 'in eacl