TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 1^ 



We are dealing with a department of industry, which, until lately, was oppressed 

 with an excess of human labour, whilst the whole of its produce was liable to be de- 

 preciated far more than any other in value, by a comparatively trifling increase in its 

 amount. But now the tables are turned ; the supply of agricultural labour diminishes 

 daily, whilst consumption is extending beyond all precedent, and the cultivator of the 

 soil looks eagerly to the mechanic to cheapen his operations, and, jointly with the 

 chemist, to aid him in making two blades grow where one only grew before. 



On Railway Accidents by Collision, and Suggestions for their Prevention. 

 By William Scoresby, D.D!, F.R.S.L^E. 



Tlie absorption of previously existing modes of travelling, for the most part, by that 

 of railway locomotion, has given to this method, in respect to its degree of risk of 

 personal injury, a vast measure of public importance. Each one of us, indeed, is 

 interested in the inquiry, of what may possibly be done to diminish these risks and 



It is not assumed by me that railways are necessarily or practically more imsafe 

 than former modes of conveyance ; on the contrary, estimated proportionally, or di- 

 viding the number of miles travelled by the amount of injury sustained, we should 

 have a result, I doubt not, still greatly in favour of railway travelling. For in esti- 

 mating the results of accidents, comparatively, we should remember that accidents by 

 coaches, involving occasionally fatal cases, were extremely numerous, and that of 

 these numerous accidents few became pubhcly known ; but accidents by railways, no 

 doubt sometimes very calamitous, are all recorded and generally become publicly 

 known ; whilst the enormous increase of travelling, ordinarily involving increase in the 

 number of accidents and quantity of injury, gives an apparent aggravation of the 

 comparative dangers. At the same time, accidents, it is notorious, are lamentably 

 prevalent, and far more so, doubtless, than are due to essential and unavoidable risks. 



The prevalent sources of accidents may be considered as divisible into three cha- 

 racteristic classes: — 1st, accidents from incaution or recklessness of passengers and 

 workmen ; 2nd, accidents from the giving way of machinery whilst the train is in 

 rapid progress, or from the engine or any carriage getting off the line ; and 3rd, 

 accidents from the collision of trains or carriages. 



It is to this latter source of accidents, yielding, I beheve, in respect to passengers 

 a considerable, if not a preponderating proportion of the injury referable to manage- 

 ment, to which I have now to direct the attention of the Section. And to this parti- 

 cular source of accident, presenting in its results catastrophes of the most appalling 

 character, a simple, and, as far as I am able to anticipate, effective remedy is capable 

 of being applied. The plan I have to submit for this most desirable and important 

 end comprises two leading pohits ; the systematic employment of the electric tele- 

 graph, with a separate wire from station to station for management purposes only, 

 and the securing and maintaining thereby a clear line from any one station to beyond 

 the next before a second train should proceed, — a plan which, if fairly carried out, 

 appears to be calculated, unless by the most wilful carelessness or desperate reckless- 

 ness, to render collisions, if not impossible, certainly most rare. 



It may be sufficient for explanation here to take a particular case of a railway, having 

 considerable traffic, — suppose that of the down-line, — and in reference to a series of 

 stations, which we may designate C, D, E, &c. 



I. ^s to the Arrmigements. 



1. That there be an electric telegraph at each station, or intermediately, so a« 

 generally not to exceed a distance of three or four miles. 



2. That there bs a separate set of wires, to be used for station or traffic purposes 

 only, worked by a supplementary battery, with a simple single-lever telegraph. 



3. That the wires be disconnected at each station, so that station D should com- 

 mimicate with C above and E below only, with a warning bell, sepai-ately, at the 

 termini, indicating at once whether the message is from above or below. 



4. That a time-piece and register-book or journal be kept at each electric station, 

 the book propei-ly ruled for notifying the passing of each train clear of the stations 

 above and below, respectively, in the column prepared for the several entries, i, e. the 

 particular train, whether express, slow, goods, &c. 



