FATAL RAILWAY ACCIDENT.

Evening Post, Volume XIII, Issue 54, 4 March 1876, Page 1 (Supplement)

FATAL RAILWAY ACCIDENT.

(From the Pall Mall Gazette, 29th Jan.) A serious and fatal accident occurred on the Great Eastern Railway on the Ist inst., between MutfSrd and Somerleyton, to the 9.10 a.m. train from Lowestoft. The Oulton Marshes, near Somerleyton, have for many weeks been submerged 2ft. and 3ft. several miles along each side of tbe line, and the line is uudergoing repairs. At the spot where the accident took place a number of men were at work. They saw the train approaching, but had only " stood clear" when the two engines attached to the train left the metals. The foremost engine plunged to the south side of the line, knocking two of the men into the water, and falling on the top of them and killing them, and the second engine went over into the water on the north side of the line. • William Brazier, the fireman on the second engine, was injured so severely that he died two hours afterwards. The brake van and a composite carriage, which came next to the engines, did not go completely over, but the next carriage, in which were 50 third-class passengers, turned over on its "side, and the passengers, •were saturated with water. The screams of ;the, women and children were (the report says) terrific, but several of the men climbed to the uppermost side, smashed the glass, opened the. doors, and brought out their less, strong-minded neighbors. Two or three of tlie "passengers^ sustained severe lacerations, but their injuries are not serious. At the inquest on the bodies of the three men who were killed, Captain Tyler, who happened to be at Norwich when the news of the accident arrived, and went to the spot immediately, gave evidence, and stated the result of his investigations. He said he had come to the conclusion that the accident was caused by running two tank engines over a road which was weakened by its being in course ot renewal, and which in its condition at the time was not capable of supporting the weight which it had to sustain. The jury, having deliberated an hour and. ahalf, returned a verdict to the effect that the deceased men met with their deaths through an accident on the Great Eastern Railway. They added that they were unanimously of opinion thWi-- the : .accident occurred in consequence of the permanent way having been relaid, and not been sufficiently secure for trains? to pass over it at the regulation speed of 25 miles per hour; that the speed was too high, and that, taking into consideration the condition of the line, it should not have exceeded seven miles per hour, and that danger signals should have been sent out to warn coming trains. They blamed the railway authorities for allowing two tank engines to run at such a speed over an unfinished line, and expressed ithe opinion that there was gi|ea?'wftnt of proper supervision. They.Jjhiinked Captain Tyler for his valuable assistance.