The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER SATURDAY, MAY 3, 1919. MINIMISING ACCIDENT.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 35, 3 May 1919, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER SATURDAY, MAY 3, 1919. MINIMISING ACCIDENT.

On all railways accidents ;uv liabu» to happen, and it lias been calculated that 50 per cent, of railway accidents arc clue to mistakes on the part of signalmen, the other 50 per cent, being caused by the mistakes of drivers. Recent work on the New Smith Wales railways has made it ( practically impossible for a signal- i man to make a mistake, for the sig- j nals work automatically, and in some cases without the aid of the signal- I man. The system practically pie-j vents half the accidents which are j liable to happen on railways, but for I the prevention of the other half, it is still necessary to depencT upon the driver nf the engine seeing and obey- j ing the sign 'Is given by the signal-] man. To obviate tins possibility ol j human error efforts are continually j being made to make it practically im-i possible lor the driver to disobey the signal telling him to stop. There j have been many inventions designed j to achieve this end, .and with one | sue!) invention Uie New South Wales' Railway Commissioners have been experimenting on one of their branch lines. The experiment has been bo successful that the apparatus is to be 1 installed on a section of Hie main trunk line. The apparatus is not , working yet. sine every eiigine*used on the section must bo litted with a i new attachment, and there are at-I tachiuents that run si be fixed on the , line al each distant signal on the section. The Commissioners are cojnfid- , out of the success of the installation on the section, and if their expectations in this respect arc ro-'liscjd as i fully as they were as regards the inislallation on the branch line, the system will be adopted over the uholo , railway system. Apparatus for the I automatic stopping ol trains has proved efficient on certain electric railways, such as the London, tube railways, where tho speed and load is always uniform hut such a system, applied to trains of different loads and speeds, might lead to disaster. A heavy goods train, sudden ij, stopped, would very probably run a risk of being piled tip, and the same apparatus could not be used for both an express train and a slew goods train. As any automatic! stopping sys- ; tern is not workable in the case ol )

trains of all weights unci >prods, the next best tiling is to etuh-avor LO prevent the driver from missing a da'i- > ger signal—-ho may noi sec the danger signal, but can he not be made Ito bear it? The apparatus being : tried in New South Wales consists of | a small box affixed in the cab, and a ramp laid down between the railway lines at all distant signal stations. Below the engine ig a shoe which is lifted by contact with the ramp as the engine passes over it,l w.i h the result, that the apparatus i" the (•:!) j s operated. The whole j working is electric. When the driver! passes a signal soi at "danger," a ' " •all wills le affixed to the box in the; c.ib is automatlcally sounded, and it; continues to sound until the driver i slops it, while at the same time a partial application of the Westing-, bouse brake takes place. Huts, tntj driver not only hears r!ie ivhistle tel-j ing him to stop, Iml IVe] s the train's' speed being slightly checked, and thei 'two warnings coniia-.iP ii'. 'he driver

takes action. When the engine passes a signal in the "all el ar" position the driver is still compelled to notice the fact, for a hell i s set ringing, and continues to ring until the apparatus is reset. There is a further ingenious refinement in the apparatus. On a single li n<« trains ma.v be passing signals which do not apply to the direction in which they are running. In such cases neither the whistle nor the bell will sound. In case the whole apparatus gets out of order, by breakage of a wire or any other mishap, the device immediately takes notice and sounds the danger whistle. The apparatus has been adopted by the Victorian railway authorities, though so far they have not installed it, but when it is installed in New Soul], Wales the Victorian authorities have promised to fall iivto line.