[D.]

[SPECIAL REPORTS ON ACCIDENTS.]

COLLISION AT CROSSING OF THE OLD COLONY AND THE NEW YORK & NEW ENGLAND, IN WALPOLE, FEB. 10, 1881.

THIS was a grade-crossing collision of a freight train of the New York & New England Railroad with a passenger train of the Old Colony Railroad, at their crossing in Walpole. The freight train was the first section of No. 54, leaving Hartford for Boston at 12.05 A.M., and composed of an engine, tender, and seventeen cars, with a caboose. The passenger train left Taunton for Lowell at 6.40 A.M., and was composed of an engine, tender, one baggage car, one mail and smoking car, and one passenger car.

The hoisting of two balls is the signal for Old Colony trains to proceed, and for New York & New England trains to stop. The absence of a signal gives New York & New England trains the right of way, and bars Old Colony trains from proceeding. Both roads have down grades to the crossing.

On this occasion the signal balls were hoisted as the Old Colony train approached and whistled at a highway crossing a short distance south of the Walpole station, and they continued at mast-head for a long time after the accident. The train stopped at the station, delivered and received passengers, and then went on at 7.30 A.M., as was its right.

At this time the New York & New England train had stopped six hundred and eighty feet beyond the crossing, or a hundred and eighty feet beyond the five hundred feet post. This was done to make the legal "K. N. stop," and incidentally to take care of a hot. box. The stop continued from five to ten minutes. It is doubtful whether it would have been quite safe to move the train a hundred and eighty feet with the idea of stopping again, so as to comply with the law in making the "K. N. stop." Trouble might have arisen from the down grade, and from the slippery condition of the rails. At all events no one proposed to do this.

The morning was very foggy, and it was impossible to see whether the signal was up or not. Neither the conductor nor the engineman thought it necessary to ascertain by sending a man ahead. They assumed that it was not up, or they thought nothing about it, and took the risk of crossing without any effort to learn whether the train

had the right of way or not. The freight train moved on slowly till the engineman saw the Old Colony train crossing, probably within a hundred and fifty feet of his train. He reversed his engine, and used the sand; but, having both hands occupied with the two levers, he did not whistle for brakes. Two of the brakemen saw the danger. One of them set one brake, and the other tried to set one, but had not time. The engine struck the rear car of the passenger train, pushed it down an embankment of twenty feet, followed it with the tender, and lay there by its side. The car, containing thirty passengers, was broken somewhat, but not as much as would naturally be expected. No passenger was killed, nor was any serious injury inflicted, although four passengers were more or less hurt. Their escape was marvellous, and was due, in part, to the unusual strength of the car.

The trainmen of the New York & New England remained at their posts, and the engineman went over the embankment, grasping the two levers. He was thrust beneath the wrecked car, and escaped without serious injury. Unfortunately, the fireman of the New York & New England Railroad was crushed to death.

The track was not disturbed. The damage to the rolling-stock of the New York & New England Railroad will not exceed a thousand dollars. The expense of repairing the Old Colony car was promptly assumed by the president of the New York & New England for his company.

It was

There can be no question as to the cause of this accident. the gross negligence of the engineman and conductor of the New York & New England Railroad. It was their plain duty to ascertain whether the signal was up or not. They knew that the dense fog made it impossible to see whether it was up from the point where they stopped; and they went on with inexcusable recklessness to take the chance of its not being up. The conductor did not even ask the engineman to proceed with caution. He did proceed slowly, regarding the condition of the frog-crossing rather than the possibility of the signal being up. But he could not control the train, and he had no right to proceed at all. The company acted rightly in promptly discharging both these men.

No other men seemed to be at fault, and no blame whatever attaches to any person connected with the Old Colony Railroad. When the freight train was discovered it was too late to do any thing except to go on.

No rule or practice of either road contributed to the accident. An affirmative signal required before a train of either road is allowed the right of way is better than the negative given by the absence of a

signal. It is well to require the men in charge of a train to stop, unless they actually see a signal permitting them to go on.

A more serious matter is the grade-crossing. This was allowed by chapter 83 of the Acts of 1867. The Old Colony Railroad then had nothing to do with the road, and the New York & New England Railroad Company was not in existence. Wherever such a crossing exists, there is danger. The Board is glad to learn that the officers of the two roads have joined in making surveys to ascertain the possibility of separating the grades. If it is possible, the Board strongly recommends that they be separated; and for a life-saving movement like this, perhaps the General Court would suspend the rule forbidding the introduction of new business, if legislation should be needed. The suppression of this danger, aggravated as it is by the two down grades, is of pressing importance. Since this report was made, the two corporations have decided to put in at this crossing, under the provisions of chapter 143 of the Acts of 1881, a system of interlocking block signals, which has been in successful use in England, and has received the approval of the inspecting officers of the Board of Trade. A thorough test alone can show whether this appliance will render the more costly separation of grades unnecessary.

By the Board.

WM. A. CRAFTS, Clerk.

FEB. 12, 1881.

COLLISION ON THE BOSTON & LOWELL RAILROAD, AT WOBURN, MAY 3, 1881.

THIS accident, which occurred on the Woburn branch of the Boston & Lowell Railroad, was caused by the misplacement of a switch. It was investigated on the spot, May 4. The train left Woburn for Boston at 9 A.M., and was made up as follows: engine and tender, two passenger, baggage, smoking and two more passenger cars. The train was moving at the rate of five miles an hour, on a down grade of fifty feet to a mile. The engineman saw that the switch was misplaced when he was two or three hundred feet distant. He used his train-brakes, called for brakes, which were set by the brakeman, and reversed the engine, but without effect. The side track was occupied by a number of freight cars loaded with bark, and the engine going on this track was telescoped into the rear freight car, pushing the freight cars forward about a hundred and fifty feet. The shock was slight, and no person in the cars was injured at all.

Unfortunately, Mr. Daniel Driscoll, who was standing on the front platform of the forward passenger car, was caught between the front