Tube, Train, Tram, and Car; or, Up-to-date locomotion

by Arthur H. Beavan

ELECTRIC RAILWAY ACCIDENTS AND BREAKDOWNS

As regards electric railway accidents and blockings of tubes, the Advocatus Diaboli is able to quote rather too many examples. Commencing with the United States, where in July, 1902, a car, descending the mountain on the Mountain and Lake Electric Railway, near Gloversville, where the grade is a thousand feet in four miles, became uncontrollable, and, acquiring frightful velocity, collided with another car which was ascending the slope. Both cars rushed down several feet, and then ran off the rails. Each car contained seventy passengers, and of these fifteen were killed and injured. Ten bodies, mangled beyond recognition, were taken from the wreckage. Most of the victims were women.

At home there is the disastrous Liverpool Electric Overhead Railway fire of December 23rd, 1901. The trains are run on the multiple control principle, a motor at each end, and the accident was due to a defect in the rear one. But as it is a typical case, I will quote in full the cause of the accident, as assigned by Lieutenant-Colonel H. A. Yorke, the Board of Trade Inspector. He says: “A gale of wind was blowing from the west, that is, from the mouth of the tunnel towards the station, which caused the fire to spread from carriage to carriage until the whole train was enveloped in flames. It is estimated that the train was well alight about twelve minutes after the stoppage. There were twenty-nine passengers, who, when the train first came to a stand, were urged by the driver and guard to keep their seats, as there was no danger. The driver and guard seem to have made some futile attempts to put out the fire; but it soon became apparent that the fire had obtained the mastery, and the passengers found it necessary to alight. They had only eighty yards to walk in order to reach the station, and the majority of them appear to have gone to their homes without any delay, and to have suffered no ill-effects from the fire. It appears, however, from the evidence that a few remained behind, presumably to watch the progress of the conflagration and the result of the effort to control it.”

The inspector went on to say that in his opinion it would have been productive of no serious danger had only the driver acted with a moderate degree of prudence. When this man discovered that his rear motor had failed his duty was to disconnect his rear motor by means of the plug provided for the purpose in his apartment. He should then have run into the station with one motor, as is often done. For some reason or other, which cannot be conjectured, the driver, instead of disconnecting the defective motor, and in disregard of the warning of the guard, made repeated efforts to bring it into use, the result being that before long the woodwork of the rear carriage was ignited by the flashes produced by the electric arc when the current was switched on to the defective motor. While the driver was so employed both he and the guard appear to have told the passengers to keep their seats, as there was no danger. Both these men and the station foreman seem to have exhibited a lamentable lack of judgment in this respect. It is impossible not to feel that the sacrifice of life might have been easily avoided. If the passengers had been hurried out of the train as soon as it became evident that it had broken down, and if none of them had been permitted to loiter about the station, their safety would have been secured. And if the train men and station foreman, who deserve credit for their efforts to prevent the fire from spreading, had only realised sooner that the train was doomed, they too had ample time to escape. The cutting off of the current did no good, but, by putting the place in darkness, rather increased the difficulties and danger of the situation.

The lesson of the disaster is, that all woodwork should be removed as far as possible from the electric machinery of the railway carriages, and that for the purpose of insulation material should be employed which is uninflammable.

Of blocks or stoppages on tube railways the following are examples.

Serious inconvenience was caused on December 30th, 1901, by a mishap on the Central London Railway. It appeared that just before five o’clock in the morning a motor was being shunted into the Bank Station to take the first train to Shepherd’s Bush, when, though going dead slow, some of the gear apparently fouled the current rail, and it jumped the points just where the two tunnels join, and effectually prevented any train entering or leaving either. The nearest “cross-over,” by which trains could be shunted from one to the other, was at the British Museum Station, but even timely notice did not make the walk through the wet any the more attractive to business men, the rain having caused all the omnibuses to be filled long before they got to the station gates. When the line was constructed it was proposed to make a second siding at the Bank as at Shepherd’s Bush, and had this been done there would have been no dislocation of traffic, but fears for the effects of vibration on buildings above vetoed the proposal. On an ordinary railway a powerful crane would probably have been run alongside, but the space in the tube is so circumscribed that it was with the utmost difficulty that the engine, which weighed forty-four tons, and was resting against the side of the tunnel, could be moved. As the afternoon wore on, crowds of City men gathered in the subway in the hope that the obstruction would soon be removed, but it was not till five o’clock that the line was cleared and the traffic resumed.

Once more the Twopenny Tube distinguished itself by a stoppage. It was on December 30th, 1902, the anniversary of the precisely similar mishap in 1901, but fortunately with less serious results. Then the engine fell against the side of the tube, and the workmen could only get at one side of it; but this one settled itself in such a position that jacks could be got to work under both sides. The points at the terminus very much resemble those at the ends of the tram lines, and with the tremendous traffic passing over them (engines 1,200 times a day) the only wonder is that accidents of this kind do not occur more often than once a year. With a curious perversity, the engine chose the time—four o’clock in the afternoon—when it would cause the maximum of inconvenience, and the thousands of City men and women going home realised more fully than ever the advantage of the tube. The nearest cross-over is between the British Museum and Chancery Lane, and notice was at once given that trains were running between the former station and the western terminus. As soon as possible gangs of men got to work, and within an hour and a half the wheels were got on, but unfortunately it was very difficult to see what had caused the mishap, as in getting the motor back the evidences of the cause were removed. Some little delay was occasioned by straightening the bent rails, but at half-past eight an engine was run to and fro over the points to see that they were all right again, and a few minutes later the message was sent to all stations: “Resumed bookings and ordinary working.”

These mishaps showed how necessary it was that, instead of cross-overs, loops should be provided, round which trains could be run.

January 16th, 1902, witnessed an accident on the City and South London Electric Railway, happily unattended with serious consequences. A train left the Elephant and Castle Station shortly after seven a.m., and had proceeded some two hundred yards towards the Borough when what is technically known as a “short” occurred in the switch. This means, roughly, that the current had chosen to go a way of its own instead of through the insulated wires to the motor. Hence, an “arc” was produced—that is, an arc lamp on a large scale. The insulating material began to burn and smell and smoke. Small defects of this kind are common enough, and the flame is frequently put out with the driver’s hand or cap. On this occasion the flame resisted all efforts to put it out, and the driver had to stop the cars and send back for assistance. The following trains came on slowly, and the engine pushed the broken-down predecessor on to the Borough Station. It was found necessary to ask the passengers (fortunately numbering only about thirty or forty) to leave the train, and the fire was then easily extinguished, though it was found necessary to cut off the current from the generating station for a short time. The line was only blocked for about an hour, and the accident was of little importance except as illustrating one advantage which, it is said, the “engine” system of electric traction possesses over the “multiple unit.”