SIGNALMAN'S DILEMMA

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22344, 15 February 1936, Page 11

SIGNALMAN'S DILEMMA

TRAIN OUT OF CONTROL QUICK DECISION SAVES LIVES [from OCR OWN correspondent] LONDON, Jan. 18 A coal train of 45 waggons loaded with about 800 tons of coal slid out of control on the wet lines of a long f incline and ran into a passenger train which was standing in Victoria Station, ? Manchester, on a recent morning. A guard and nine passengers were injured. Dramatic features of the mishap were: —An attempt by the fireman of the coal train, running beside it before . it gathered speed, to apply the hand j brakes of the waggons. The quick de- A . cision of a signalman to switch the runaway train to a platform wher© there was a train with only a few passengers, instead of into a crowded express. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway Company issued the following explanation:—"The engine of the - freight train was apparently overpowered while descending - the Miles Platting ineline." The incline is a mile and a-quarter long and slopes at a gradient of one in 59 toward the station. The man who attempted to stop the •'» runaway was Fireman Hollins, of the coal train. When he realised that his train was sliding out of control ho jumped from the engine and tried desperately to apply the brakes to the coal waggons. Running as fast as ho could, ; he kept up with .the train as long as , possible, applying the hand brakes, until the train, with its speed ever in; creasing, left him behind. Meantime the driver pluckily stuck to his post, en- / deavouring, without success, to pull up his train. ■ < It was Arthur Shipley, a signalman in the main signal box on the north side of Victoria Station, who was faced with a difficult alternative. When he saw the train, now _at high speed, coming down the incline, he had to decido whether to allow it to run into , platform 13 or platform 14. The 9.4 a,; express train, with, a large number at passengers, was .standing in platform 13 He therefore elected to switch th<3 _ runaway into platform M, where therewere only thstee coaches and the.guard*,, van of the 9.54 slow tram to knowing that fewer passengerg would- ( r bo imperilled by this course.