Railroad Accidents, Their Cause and Prevention — John Shaqi
Railroad Accidents, Their Cause and PreventionRichards, R. C. (Ralph Coffin)
History
Railroad Accidents, Their Cause and Prevention
Richards, R. C. (Ralph Coffin)
Railroad accidents
A bulletin was issued by Superintendent Davis prohibiting trains going
down this hill faster than 30 miles an hour. From the statements of
the train crew it would appear that no attention had been paid to this
bulletin, and, from what the passengers say, it has been customary for
a long time for trains coming into Wilkes from Notman and Guilford, if
in sight of each other, to make a race to see which train could get
there first, so as to get out of Wilkes for Joppa without delay.
Now, there was no excuse for the engineman and conductor not complying
with the order. They both got off without injury, as the parties to
blame for such accidents generally do. Neither was there any excuse
for the train dispatcher not knowing that the order was being
disregarded daily, as the train sheets would tell him that, and he
should have stopped it. To my mind, he was just as guilty as the
engineman and conductor, and should have received the same punishment.
And when disregard of such orders and bulletins are not winked at,
until an accident happens, there will be fewer cases of failure to
observe them.
Don't try to run around curves 50 or 60 miles an hour, as a train I
was riding on a few weeks ago did and went in the ditch; neither
should freight or passenger trains run over interlocking switches
faster than 15 and 25 miles an hour, respectively, because it is not
safe to do so, and Rule 5 says you must not. Conductors, who are in
supreme command of the train, should pull the air on any engineman who
is running too fast around curves, over bad places, or through
stations, and when you get in, report the matter to your
superintendent, as reckless running should not and will not be
tolerated.
Next we have the accidents resulting from occasional derailments,
which were not serious, but might have been, and it is the cause, as
well as the result, we want to eliminate, such as:
Mrs. K. Smith and four other passengers, train No. 6, which was
derailed at Heilprin, Sept. 3. The train was very crowded and
these women were standing up at the time of the accident and were
injured.
Mrs. Jessie Doan and five other passengers, injured Oct. 11,
caused by train No. 15 being derailed one-half mile east of Morse
station, caused by reason of a brake-shoe on the tank of the
engine coming off; this brake-shoe had an old defect.
J. E. Fitzsimmons, passenger, injured near Hedley, by derailment
of train No. 316, on which he was riding.
None of which would have happened if some one had not failed to
perform his duty, and when every accident, no matter how slight, is
investigated by an expert--who reports not to the officer who may be
primarily at fault, but to the chief operating officer--to ascertain
the actual cause and find a remedy, such cases will be largely
eliminated.
The same is true of injuries like the following, resulting from trains
breaking in two:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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