Year: 1875

The terrible disaster ON the Great
Western railway near Shipton, England,
says the New York Herald, has aroused
attention to the fragility of rolling stock
and revived the wholesome agitation of
the proposed mid-guard rail. This
frightful accident to an.express train of
thirteen crowded cars was due to the
breaking of tire or axle and the pre-
cipitation of hundreds of passengers over
an embankment. The fracture Of axles
and the running gear of railway carriages
is one of the most unavoidable sources of
peril to the passenger. Engineers have
clearly traced it to the subtle physical
change in the fibrous texture of the best
iron, the toughest and most fibrous
metal assuming, after long strains, the
crystalline form.


The Shipton disaster occurred during
thaw, after extreme cold, and seems
therefore to connect the fragility of the
broken machinery with the frosty wealth
er and its effect on the tensile strength of
the tire. The increased liability to
such accidents in very cold or thawing
weather has long been noticed. A late
writer in a scientific journal has shown
the strong probability that this increased
peril arises not so much from weakness
of the metal by cold as from diminu-
ton of the elasticity of the road-bed and
also of the machinery. During the in
tense cold of December in France the
inhabitants of Montmartre reported they
could distincly hear the trains passing
through the distant tunnel of Batig-
nolles, but when the thaw came they
wero no longer audible. The critical
moment in the history Of railway axle
appears, however, to be that which
marks the sudden rise of temperature
after the cold spell has for some time
held the iron in its icy and compressive
grip. The shaft that has been for year
or two undergoing slow crystallization is
then, by a few successive shocks,
brought to the fracture point, and the
slightest jar or oscillation of the train
may precipitate such a calamity as that
which occurred at Shipton.


That much may be done by railroad
managers to avert such disasters in frosty
weather is evident, provided their trains
are then run with an eye to this danger.
But the remedy lies deeper than this. 1t
is very questionable whether any amount
of inspection and care in the manufac-
ture and working of rolling stock will
ever prevent the occasional breakage of
axles and tires. The true wisdom is to
provide against the train leaving the
track after such fractures have occurred,
and some of the highest engineering au-
thorities have approved the plan of the
mid guard rail. The idea consists sim
ply of lying down a third rail in the cen
ter of the track, which shall be no en-
as the fianged wheels perform their
Office; but as soon as the derailment
commences the guard rail interposes to
keep the car in the line of the road. 1t
is said that if the Great Western had
been suppliedwith such a safeguard the
disabled car might easily have run to
the next station without accident or in
jury to any one. The introduction OF
the third rail on our wealthiest roads,
whose express trains make forty miles
an hour, would immensely enhance the
safety of the passenger and not very
materially increase the cost of the track.
AS the guard rail is exposed to no fric
ton, except in case OF accident, it would
not require renewal for great many
/, years, and would probably pay for its
cost in the increased popularity anG
reputation for safety it would give the
, lines adopting it. The discussion of it,
value from IN economical and an engi
neering standpoint is timely and import
, ant to the travelling public, and we hope
it may be fairly weighed by railway au
thorities in this country.