1875.| Railway Accidents. 25 
to the Board of Trade only two accidents from this cause 
are stated to have taken place in 1870, and two in 1873; 
no record of a similar accident appearing in the two inter- 
vening years. 
The most common accidents to rolling stock are the 
breaking of the axles and wheel tyres. These cases may 
be traced generally to one or other of the following causes : 
sometimes they occur in the winter months, owing possibly, 
in some degree, to the rigid state of the permanent way in 
frosty weather; some are due to the use of bad iron or 
steel, and others to defects either in the welding of, or in 
the mode of attaching, the tyres of wheels. The existence 
of flaws in either axles or tyres may completely escape 
detection until. they are discovered upon the occurrence of 
an accident, and such cases must be included amongst the 
risks which cannot be foreseen or avoided. The high speed 
at which trains travel as a general rule must subject both 
tyres and axles to very severe blows and jerks, especially 
when passing over points, or portions of line that are out of 
repair, and uneven, and it is in such cases that flaws or 
cracks are most likely to result in a complete fracture. 
“There is no satisfactory test,’ said Captain Tyler, in his 
report for 1870, ‘‘to which axles can be subjected from time 
to time in the course of running, as far as is known, by 
which flaws can be detected.” With regard to fracture of 
tyres, it was stated in the same report that in two cases the 
tyre was attached to the wheel by means of rivets through 
holes bored in the tyre, and it was remarked that the “old 
system of boring holes through the tyres is essentially a 
vicious one, and is particularly undesirable in the case of 
steel tyres. It affords no security in the event of fracture, 
and even leads to increased risk of fracture, in consequence 
of the weakening of the tyre at the sides of the rivet holes.” 
In 1871 there were twenty-two accidents of this class, 
in which three persons were killed and thirty-four were 
injured ; in 1872 there were seventeen accidents, occasion- 
ing the death of two passengers and five servants of com- 
panies, and injury to forty passengers and eight servants of 
companies, whilst in 1873 there were twenty-three acci- 
dents owing to the same causes, killing ten passengers and 
two servants of companies, and injuring fifty-four passen- 
gers and seventeen servants of companies. The chief 
methods recommended for adoption with a view to avoiding 
accidents from the breaking of tyres, consist in the use of 
improved modes of fastening them to the rims, so as to 
prevent them from flying off the wheel. They may fail 
VOL, V. (N.S.) E- 
