The Safest Place on Earth.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIV, Issue 4, 26 January 1910, Page 52

The Safest Place on Earth.

A British railway train is still, the “Railway Magazine” points out, the safest place on earth, as only one passenger in seventy millions is killed, and one in every 2,300,000 injured. This deduction is based upon a careful survey of the Board of Trade report on railway accidents during the year 1907. Last year the number of fires in trains amounted to 170, but it should be explained that many of these were of the most trifling description. It is a significant fact that of the number of fires reported, not a solitary one occurred either directly or indirectly through a lightning flash. It would appear that for some reason, railway trains are practically immune from the disastrous effects which usually mark the track of a violent thunderstorm. What is the explanation of this fact? In reply we are told first that the telegraph poles alongside the railway provide a measure of protection to passing trains. These poles are usually spaced three chains or sixty-six yards apart, and on each pole is stapled a thick galvanised iron wire, projecting about six inches above the pole roof and terminating five or six feet below ground. This earth wire, as it is technically known, tends primarily to prevent conduction between contiguous wires, but there can be no doubt that it also serves as a lightning conductor, and that too in a very efficient manner. Further, it is contended that the pieces of ironwork scattered over the roof of a train constitute a conductor, or act as a safeguard against the injurious effects of atmospheric electricity. They fulfil the function of a metal screen or cage, and it lias long been known, in scientific circles that a complete metallic enclosure will protect a railway train as effectually as a powder magazine. Sir Oliver Lodge has declared that “a wire netting all over a house, a good earth connection to it at several points, and all over the roof a plentiful supply of barbed wire, which serves so abominably well for fences, and you have an admirable svstem of defence against lightning.” The similarity between the roof of a railway carriage and the conductor system described is evident.