Railroad Accidents, Their Cause and PreventionRichards, R. C. (Ralph Coffin)
History
Railroad Accidents, Their Cause and Prevention
Richards, R. C. (Ralph Coffin)
Railroad accidents
P. B. Montgomery, brakeman, fatally injured at Mason, while
attempting to uncouple car G., P. & A. No. 593 from O., M. & C.
No. 1783; chain on pin being broken; blocking gone from
guard-rail.
John Lenahan, switchman, killed at Juniper, June 4; footboard of
switch engine on which he was riding struck a telephone pole lying
in the grass alongside the track, throwing Lenahan under the
engine.
P. D. Kendrick, brakeman, injured at Bentley, Jan. 5, 7:00 p.m.;
was riding on the side of a box car, when he was struck by a spike
sticking in a board, which was part of the fence around the cellar
which was being excavated for the new depot at Bentley. It was
necessary to amputate two fingers of Kendrick's right hand, his
right leg, and he also received a very bad scalp wound.
Peter Alton, brakeman, was climbing up the side of A., B. & C. car
No. 2843, at Hackley, when he was struck and knocked off the car
by a highway crossing sign at that place, and so badly injured
that it was necessary to amputate both his legs below the knee,
and his right shoulder blade was also broken. This crossing sign
cleared this car only 2 ft.
K. G. Purdy, switchman, killed in Walton yards, Dec. 10; caused by
his being knocked off the top of a car by the Avery Street viaduct
and run over and killed.
I want to call especial attention to the Alton, Montgomery, Purdy and
Kendrick cases. In the former the crossing sign had been in the same
place for over 20 years. The man who put it there, roadmasters, and
section foremen, who should have discovered its dangerous proximity to
the track and moved it to a safe distance, the one required by Rule
49, were grossly careless, and the injured man and other trainmen who
had passed it daily for years must have discovered that it was too
close to the track, and if they had reported it, as they should have
done, this accident would not have happened, and they were blamable
for not doing so. In the Montgomery case the section foreman was at
fault for not properly blocking the frog, as required by Rule 45, the
roadmaster for not seeing it was done, and the car inspector and
repairer for not discovering that the coupling apparatus was defective
and repairing it. In the Purdy case the management was at fault for
not seeing that warning whips were up for the viaduct--they are now;
and in the Kendrick case the man who hung up the lamp too close to the
track to warn people, instead of making it a protection, increased the
danger, and the division engineer who allowed it to be done was
inexcusably careless. Such cases not only swell the total number, but
account in a large measure for the total increase in personal injury
accounts of the railroads.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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