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Derailment at Carnforth LANCASTER AND CARLISLE RAILWAY. Railway Department, Board of Trade, Sir, My Lords would be glad to learn the views of the Directors upon the recommendation of the inspecting officer, that in addition to the examination of the coverings of goods waggons, as is the present practice, an examination should be made at each end of the railway of the manner in which the goods are stowed in the waggons.
The Secretary of the (Enclosure.) Railway Department, Board of Trade, SIR, The engine-driver of that train, of ten years standing as a driver, states, that he was proceeding at his usual Speed of from 35 to 40 miles an hour, when just as he was about to put on on more steam, on passing off a falling gradient of 1 in 131, to a level piece of road about one mile north of Carnforth Station, or six miles north of Lancaster, a little after 9.0 p.m., the engine suddenly jumped off the rails, and after running about 100 yards by the side of the rails, ran down the slope of an embankment of about 9 or 10 feet in height, and finally stopped and sunk in a boggy piece of land lying to the east of the line, 60 yards further on. The engine was followed by the tender and the guard's break-van ; the former was found lying on the slope of the embankment, and partly resting on the corner of the engine, and the latter was a little in advance of the engine, with its wheels uppermost. The second-class carriage, next to the break-van, ran across the down line, and down the slope of the embankment into a field on the west side of the line, and stopped about 60 yards in advance of the engine. It stood on its wheels, but the body part of the carriage had been very much damaged. The next carriage in the train was a first-class, which was found about 90 yards further on than the engine, standing across the down line, and opposite to it, on the eastern slope of the embankment, was the post office van, lying on its side. The remaining three carriages stood in the same order as when forming part of the train, the first being over the edge of the eastern slope, and the last on the road, but off the rails. Two or three rails of the up line were bent, and some chairs were found broken, and one of the rails of the down line was altogether displaced. One passenger had his collar-bone and the small-bone of one of his legs broken, and five of the other passengers were a good deal bruised and shaken. They we believed all to have ridden in the second-class carriage which was so much damaged. The guard, who rode in the van next the tender, and the engine driver, were also a good deal bruised and shaken; and the latter appears to have had a very narrow escape, as the tender mounted on the foot-plate of the engine as the latter ran down the slope, and he was jammed between it and the fire-box, and was only enabled to shut off his steam. As the engine ran down the slope, the wires of the telegraph caught the safety valve and caused a large quantity of steam to escape. Immediately after the accident occurred the necessary steps were taken to prevent the passage of any up or down trains, and in about an hour and a half the resident engineer of the line, accompanied by the superintendent of police, arrived with a train from Lancaster, and the passengers were placed in it and taken on to that station. The resident engineer then Proceeded to make a minute examination of the state of the line, for the purpose of ascertaining what had caused the train to be thrown off the rails ; and the position of the several carriages which I have already detailed was obtained from that gentleman's description of what he found when he reached the Scene of the accident. About 170 yards north of the spot at which the engine sunk in the bog, there is a private level crossing, with a small cabin close to, but south of it, on the west side of the line. A bale of spun flax or jupe was found near this cabin, west of the down line, and a second bale was found about 50 yards still more to the north, on the west slope of the embankment; both of these bales were sound and undamaged, each being about 3 feet long by 1 foot 2 inches square; and portions of a third bale were discovered entangled among the wheels of the tender and guard's van, and lying about the rails. The engine was imbedded in the bog to the under side of the boiler, and I could not learn whether any of the flax was entangled in its wheels, but some was found on the right hand side of its frame near the fire-box. Wheel marks were traced on the ballast to within a few yards of this level crossing, where one bale was found. The guard irons in front of each engine, reach to within 2� or 3 inches of the rails, and they would suffice to throw aside any hard substance placed on the metals; but if a bale of this spun flax had laid across a rail, I imagine the point of the guard would be forced into the flax, which would then be drawn under the leading wheel of the engine, and thus serve to elevate it, and cause the engine to quit the rails. Something of this kind must certainly have happened, otherwise the third bale would have been found, like the others, undamaged. The engine was one of the London and North Western ordinary engines, having six wheels, with outside cylinders; it had been several years running on this line, and had been driven by the same driver for three years; and he describes it as being in very good order, and as having been recently repaired. The gauge of the line is stated to have been good. From the information I was enabled to obtain, I have no doubt that the bale of spun flax was the obstacle that caused the engine and tender, &c.to be thrown off the line ; it is therefore important to ascertain in what manner these bales got on the line. The Lancaster and Carlisle Railway forms a link in the western chain of railway communication between England and Scotland, connecting the London and North Western and Caledonian Railways. It receives packed goods in waggons at one extremity of the line from one Company, and delivers them at the other to another; but does not examine into the contents of the several waggons, and passes them on with the invoices which accompany them, without comparing the invoices with the goods in the waggons. The state of the waggons is however looked to, to ascertain that the goods are properly secured by tarpaulins placed over them; and a register of the number on each empty or loaded waggon in every train is kept at each extremity of the line. The invoice sent with the goods particularizes their nature, and the waggon or waggons in which each consignment is placed. When I made my inquiry at Lancaster on the 9th instant, the officers of the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway Company were unable to state to whom these bales belonged, or by what train they had been sent ; but they were still engaged in making enquiries on the subject, and were to communicate to me the result, and I have delayed this report to the present time in the expectation of being enabled to state the facts with greater precision than I can now do. Had the goods been very valuable, and no accident taken place, there would probably have been no difficulty in the matter, as they would certainly have been claimed, and the claim would have been duly forwarded from one Company to another, for the purpose of tracing them ; but as the clearing house regulations direct, that the " admitted damage " caused by goods falling off a truck, is to be borne by the mileage from the point of starting to the point at which the accident occurred, "unless the fault can be traced to any particular Company," and as the damage done on this occasion must be considerable, there is little prospect of the Company sending this flax making inquiries after the missing bales, which are of comparatively little value. The copies of the invoices transmitted to the clearing house do, however, afford the means for ascertaining what Company sent these bales, and I am surprised that it has not yet been made out. The line of railway should have been inspected by a platelayer. in the morning and in the evening of the day Sunday) on which the accident occurred, it was done in the morning, but the platelayer neglected his duty, and omitted to do it in the evening', and it remains uncertain up to what hour the line was clear. An up goods train passed over the same line of rails about noon, and a down goods train passed the spot a few minutes after 8 p.m. on that day ; and as one of the bales were fund on the west slope of the line, it is probable that they dropped from the down train. I was informed that the tarpaulins were all properly secured to the frames of the waggons belonging to this train before it started from Preston ; that after leaving six waggons at Lancaster, the supercargo in charge carefully examined every waggon, and found them all properly secured ; and that when the train reached Oxenholme, 19 miles north of Lancaster, he was not aware that any thing had been lost on the road, and none of the tarpaulins were found to be loose. It was most fortunate that an accident of this nature, happening to a train proceeding at such speed, was not attended with worse consequences to the passengers and servants of the Company. It appears that the examination of the fastenings of the tarpaulins stretched over the waggons, does not effectually secure the public from a repetition of this kind of accident, and, in my opinion, Railway Companies, like the Lancaster and Carlisle, which have a large amount of through goods traffic, can only provide for the safety of the public, by causing proper examination to be made at each extremity of their line, of the manner in which the goods to be conveyed in the various waggons are stowed. I have, &c.
Board of Trade Report 23rd November 1855
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