Coroner Questions Practice Of Running Engines Tender First.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19119, 11 July 1930, Page 5

Coroner Questions Practice Of Running Engines Tender First.

INQUEST ON VICTIMS OF FATAL ACCIDENT AT SOCKBURN CROSSING IS CONCLUDED.

U '\TtTE cannot expect the Railway Department to run trains W at five miles an hour with a man in front with a red flag,” stated the Coroner, Mr E. D. Mosley, at the inquest on the victims of the Sockburn crossing smash yesterday. “We cannot expect them to run at ten miles an hour. But running trains at that speed (twenty-five miles an hour), tender first, without any safeguard, does not seem to me to be in accordance with the demands made for safeguarding the lives of the railway officials.”

Coroner's Comment. ** It becomes necessary,” said the Coroner, in giving his verdict, “as might have been expected from the inquiry, to find the cause of the death of the six people who were in the car which was struck by the railway engine at the crossing at Sockburn and deal with the death of the driver of the engine a little later on. It is perfectly evident that the six people in the car met their death on June 16 at the Sockburn railway crossing on the Main South Road.

I find that their death was due to injuries and shock caused as the result of a collision between a railway train being driven from Islington to Christchurch and a motor-car in which they were driving, and which was being driven in a southern direction by Ralph Augustus Smith. Hard to Understand.

“It seems hard to understand from the evidence,” added the Coroner, 44 why the young man Ralph Smith did not stop and let the train pass. I went out the morning after the accident, early, to have a look at the scene for myself, and I took measurements and observed the whole locality. It seems to me hard to understand why a fatal accident of this kind should occur at such a crossing. It has been described as a very dangerous crossing, but to my mind it is one of the most open crossings, at any rate within the vicinity of Christchurch. There are more than twenty crossings within eight miles of the centre of Christchurch, and this is one of the best of them. Going out from Christchurch, especially, in a south or south-westerly direction, one can see, especially trains coming from the south for a distance of several hundred yards. When one is eighty yards back from the crossing one can see a distance of several hundred yards on the right. On a dark night such as this it should' have been perfectly easy for this young man to have seen the light on the top of the tender. It was seen by several of the witnesses, and it should have been seen by the. young man who was driving this motor-car. It may be that his attention was attracted elsewhere, or may have been attracted by the lights of a motor-car on the other side of the crossing. But he, being so familiar with the crossing, and being a careful driver, one cannot understand how he came to drive over that crossig in such circumstances. “ I can find no fault with the Railway Department in their guarding of this crossing so far as the deaths of these six people are concerned. Everything that is provided for in the regulations seems to have been carried out by the Railway Department. I do not say the regulations are perfect, but, still, there they are and they were carried out in a very thorough manner. The Railway Department and their officers are in no way to blame so far as this crossing is concerned for the deaths of these six people. I do not wish to say any more so far as they are concerned, and bring in the verdict I have stated. Engine Driver’s Death.

“Now, as regards the death of Charles Waterloo Smith, I am sure you all join with me in sympathising with the relatives of the people who were killed. You must, lam sure, sympathise with the relatives of Driver Smith. Here was a man who was just about to retire from the service after spending nearly forty years in the service of his country. That he should meet a death like this is terrible. We hope and sincerely trust that his death was instantaneous. “ I do not think it can be denied that his death was in a measure contributed to by the fact that he was driving the engine at a speed, according to the evidence, of twenty-five miles an hour, tender first. We have heard—it has been put in in evidence —the opinion of railway officers who have had practical experience of driving railway engines for a number of years—officers whose experience must

count for something, must be of some value—and in addition to them we have got the experience of the general manager of the railways.. He says in this letter to the general secretary of the Engine Drivers and Firemen’s Society: As far as the engines themselves are concerned, there is no danger in running tender first at the speed specified. . . . “And then he continues: In order to obviate any likelihood of derailment due to the absence of | a cow-catcher when tender is lead ing, arrangements have been made to fit suitable 4 life guards' to the tenders concerned. Recognition Of Danger. “ He at once recognises by this letter that there is a likelihood of the danger—at any rate he suggests suitable life guards. That, in itself, of course, is a recognition of the fact that there is some danger. lam not an engineer, but it is perfectly evident from the evidence given by Mr Patterson that there is danger. lam quite satisfied that the Railway Department appreciates the danger. Of (course, we cannot expect tfce Railway Department to run trains at five miles an hour with a man in front with a red flag. We cannot expect them to run" at ten miles an hour. But running trains at that speed, tender first, without any safeguard does not seem to me to be in accordance with the demands made for safeguarding the lives of the railway officials. “ The public must take care, and many of them do take care, and many of them do not. For the sake of the railway officials themselves care ought to be taken to minimise the risk of a fatal accident. Ido not want to say—l think it would be wrong for me to say—that if this engine had been going cow-catcher first this man’s life would have been saved. I cannot say that. But I think the danger which resulted in his death was increased by the fact that the engine was running tender first with a very big load of coal, which prevented a look-out being kept over the tender and without adequate safeguards on *he tender itself. It is for the officers of the Railway Department to try to solve the difficulty. I know that they cannot do impossibilities. They must devise other means of safeguarding the lives of their employees, ft can be left to them. “ I find that Charles Waterloo Smith died on June 16, 1930, at the Sockburn railway crossing on the Main South Road. His death was due to injuries and shock received by him when the train w-hich he was driving came into collision with a motor-car and the engine fell over on its side.” Department's View.

Prior to the verdict being delivered, Mr Aickin, who represented the Railway Department said that the rule regarding a pace of ten miles an ' hour when travelling tender first dated right back to the times of unfenced railways. It had been found that the Department had to move along with the times. Mr Aickin quoted rules obtaining in Victoria and New South Wales permitting engines to travel tender first over all lines at twenty miles an hour. Mr Thomas: Have they life guards

Mr Aickin said that in New South Wales there were a number of classes of engines that could run tender first. “ Whenever there is any innovation in cur service,” said Mr Aickin, “ there is always a certain amount of public prejudice, which dies down. When the limited express was started in the North Island people said they would not travel by it because it was unsafe. Now you will find the people will not travel in any other.”

With regard to the fitting of the life guards, Mr Aickin said that after this policy had been decided on it was found that the guards were dangerous to the shunters and were likely to catch their feet when they were doing their work, and the Department was requested by the A.S.R.S. to take the. guards off. As a means of furthei safety it was decided to . shift the. guards further back under the engine In some engines this was not practicable, and the engine concerned in the accident may have been of this type M “ The question was,” said Mr Aickin, whether we were continually to risk the lives of shunters or risk an occasion such as happened the other day. There is no actual evidence that the absence of the life guards on this particular occasion caused the derailment of this engine.” Mr Thomas: At ten miles an hour Ox under could it not have stopped? Mr Aickin: We are not running ten mnes an hour.

Mr Thomas. That is what we say you should do.

Mr Aickin said that running engines tender first was world-wide. It was done in South Africa, and he was told riiat it was done all over the world. He had made it clear why there had been some delay in putting life guards on some of the engines; it was due to the trouble in the shunting yards. Dealing with the question of using engines tender first only as an emergency measure, Mr Aickin pointed out that there was such a thing as a financial emergency. To do away with these tender engines would call for six more tank engines, and that would mean a great deal of money”. He thought that was what might be termed a financial emergency. Inexplicable Accident. Mr Sargent said that, in fairness to the driver of the car, he would like to ' make one or two observations. It seemed inexplicable that this ymung man, who was a careful driver and who was used to the road, should strike the train. It was unfortunate that the person in the yellow-car that was standing at the crossing was not known, as he would probably have seen the whole thing and would have been able to throw some light on it. It might have been the case that Smith’s view of the crossing-keeper’s light was obscured. It may have been that he did not notice the train coming along because the tender did not have so bright a light as the ordinary engine light. It was a bad corner, and it was not a properly lighted crossing. Many motorists told him it was so badly lighted that they went over it in fear and trembling. It might easily have been the case that had the tender not been in front of the engine, or had the train been going at a slower rate of speed, the accident would no.t have happened.