AMERICAN AS COMPARED WITH FOREIGN RAILROAD ACCIDENTS.
Up to this point, the statistics and experience of Massachusetts
only have been referred to. This is owing to the fact that the
railroad returns of that state are more carefully prepared and
tabulated than are those of any other state, and afford, therefore,
more satisfactory data from which to draw conclusions. The
territorial area from which the statistics are in this case derived
is very limited, and it yet remains to compare the results deduced
from them with those derived from the similar experience of other
communities. This, however, is not an easy thing to do; and, while
it is difficult enough as respects Europe, it is even more difficult
as respects America taken as a whole. This last fact is especially
unfortunate in view of the circumstance that, in regard to railway
accidents, the United States, whether deservedly or not, enjoy a
most undesirable reputation. Foreign authorities have a way of
referring to our "well-known national disregard of human life," with
a sort of complacency, at once patronizing and contemptuous, which
is the reverse of pleasing. Judging by the tone of their comments,
the natural inference would be that railroad disasters of the worst
description were in America matters of such frequent occurrence
as to excite scarcely any remark. As will presently be made very
apparent, this impression, for it is only an impression, can, so
far as the country as a whole is concerned, neither be proved nor
disproved, from the absence of sufficient data from which to argue.
As respects Massachusetts, however, and the same statement may
perhaps be made of the whole belt of states north of the Potomac and
the Ohio, there is no basis for it. There is no reason to suppose
that railroad traveling is throughout that region accompanied by any
peculiar or unusual degree of danger.
The great difficulty, just referred to, in comparing the results
deduced from equally complete statistics of different countries,
lies in the variety of the arbitrary rules under which the
computations in making them up are effected. As an example in
point, take the railroad returns of Great Britain and those of
Massachusetts. They are in each case prepared with a great deal
of care, and the results deduced from them may fairly be accepted
as approximately correct. As respects accidents, the number of
cases of death and of personal injury are annually reported, and
with tolerable completeness, though in the latter respect there is
probably in both cases room for improvement. The whole comparison
turns, however, on the way in which the entire number of passengers
annually carried is computed. In Great Britain, for instance, in
1878, these were returned, using round numbers only, at 565,000,000,
and in Massachusetts at 34,000,000. By dividing these totals by
the number of cases of death and injury reported as occurring
to passengers from causes beyond their control, we shall arrive
apparently at a fair comparative showing as to the relative safety
of railroad traveling in the two communities. The result for that
particular year would have been that while in Great Britain one
passenger in each 23,500,000 was killed, and one in each 481,600
injured from causes beyond their control, in Massachusetts none
were killed and only one in each 14,000,000 was in any way injured.
Unfortunately, however, a closer examination reveals a very great
error in the computation, affecting every comparative result drawn
from it. In the English returns no allowance whatever is made
for the very large number of journeys made by season-ticket or
commutation passengers, while in Massachusetts, on the contrary,
each person of this class enters into the grand total as making two
trips each day, 156 trips on each quarterly ticket, and 626 trips on
each annual. Now in 1878 more than 418,000 holders of season tickets
were returned by the railway companies of Great Britain. How many
of these were quarterly and how many were annual travelers, does not
appear. If they were all annual travelers, no less than 261,000,000
journeys should be added to the 565,000,000 in the returns, in order
to arrive at an equal basis for a comparison between the foreign
and the American roads: this method, however, would be manifestly
inaccurate, so it only remains, in the absence of all reliable data,
and for the purpose of comparison solely, to strike out from the
Massachusetts returns the 8,320,727 season-ticket passages, which at
once reduces by over 3,000,000 the number of journeys to each case
of injury. As season-ticket passengers do travel and are exposed to
danger in the same degree as trip-ticket passengers, no result is
approximately accurate which leaves them out of the computation. At
present, however, the question relates not to the positive danger or
safety of traveling by rail, but to its relative danger in different
communities.
Allowance for this discrepancy can, however, be made by adding to
the English official results an additional nineteen per cent., that,
according to the returns of 1877 and 1878, being the proportion
of the season-ticket to other passengers on the roads of Great
Britain. Taking then the Board of Trade returns for the eight
years 1870-7, it will be found that during this period about one
passenger in each 14,500,000 carried in that country has been killed
in railroad accidents, and about one in each 436,000 injured.
This may be assumed as a fair average for purpose of comparison,
though it ought to be said that in Great Britain the percentage of
casualties to passengers shows a decided tendency to decrease, and
during the years 1877-8 the percentages of killed fell from one in
15,000,000 to one in 38,000,000 and those of injured from one in
436,000 to one in 766,000. The aggregates from which these results
are deduced are so enormous, rising into the thousands of millions,
that a certain degree of reliance can be placed on them. In the
case of Massachusetts, however, the entire period during which the
statistics are entitled to the slightest weight includes only eight
years, 1872-9, and offers an aggregate of but 274,000,000 journeys,
or but about forty per cent. of those included in the British
returns of the single year 1878. During these years the killed in
Massachusetts were one in each 13,000,000 and the injured one in
each 1,230,000;--or, while the killed in the two cases were very
nearly in the same proportion,--respectively one in 14.5, and one in
13, speaking in millions,--the British injured were really three to
one of the Massachusetts.
The equality as respects the killed in this comparison, and the
marked discrepancy as respects the injured is calculated at first
sight to throw doubts on the fullness of the Massachusetts returns.
There seems no good reason why the injured should in the one case
be so much more numerous than in the other. This, however, is
susceptible on closer examination of a very simple and satisfactory
explanation. In case of accident the danger of sustaining slight
personal injury is not so great in Massachusetts as in Great
Britain. This is due to the heavier and more solid construction
of the American passenger coaches, and their different interior
arrangement. This fact, and the real cause of the large number of
slightly injured,--"shaken" they call it,--in the English railroad
accidents is made very apparent in the following extract from Mr.
Calcroft's report for 1877;--
"It is no doubt a fact that collisions and other accidents to
railway trains are attended with less serious consequences
in proportion to the solidity of construction of passenger
carriages. The accomodation and internal arrangements of
third-class carriages, however, especially those used in
ordinary trains, are defective as regards safety and comfort,
as compared with many carriages of the same class on foreign
railways. The first-class passenger, except when thrown against
his opposite companion, or when some luggage falls upon him, is
generally saved from severe contusion by the well-stuffed or
padded linings of the carriages; whilst the second-class and
third-class passenger is generally thrown with violence against
the hard wood-work. If the second and third-class carriages
had a high padded back lining, extending above the head of the
passenger, it would probably tend to lesson the danger to life
and limb which, as the returns of accidents show, passengers
in carriages of this class are much exposed to in train
accidents."[28]
[28] _General Report to the Board of Trade upon the accidents which
have occurred on the Railways of the United Kingdom during the year
1877, p. 37._
In 1878 the passenger journeys made in the second and third class
carriages of the United Kingdom were thirteen to one of those made
in first class carriages;--or, expressed in millions, there were
but 41 of the latter to 523 of the former. There can be very little
question indeed that if, during the last ten years, thirteen out
of fourteen of the passengers on Massachusetts railroads had been
carried in narrow compartments with wooden seats and unlined sides
the number of those returned as slightly injured in the numerous
accidents which occurred would have been at least three-fold larger
than it was. If it had not been ten-fold larger it would have been
surprising.
The foregoing comparison, relates however, simply to passengers
killed in accidents for which they are in no degree responsible.
When, however, the question reverts to the general cost in life
and limb at which the railroad systems are worked and the railroad
traffic is carried on to the entire communities served, the
comparison is less favorable to Massachusetts. Taking the eight
years of 1871-8, the British returns include 30,641 cases of injury,
and 9,113 of death; while those of Massachusetts for the same
years included 1,165 deaths, with only 1,044 cases of injury; in
the one case a total of 39,745 casualties, as compared with 2,209
the other. It will, however be noticed that while in the British
returns the cases of injury are nearly three-fold those of death, in
the Massachusetts returns the deaths exceed the cases of injury.
This fact in the present case cannot but throw grave suspicion
on the completeness of the Massachusetts returns. As a matter of
practical experience it is well known that cases of injury almost
invariably exceed those of death, and the returns in which the
disproportion is greatest, if no sufficient explanation presents
itself, are probably the most full and reliable. Taking, therefore,
the deaths in the two cases as the better basis for comparison, it
will be found that the roads of Great Britain in the grand result
accomplished seventeen-fold the work of those of Massachusetts with
less than eight times as many casualties; had the proportion between
the results accomplished and the fatal injuries inflicted been
maintained, but 536 deaths instead of 1,165 would have appeared in
the Massachusetts returns. The reason of this difference in result
is worth looking for, and fortunately the statistical tables are
in both cases carried sufficiently into detail to make an analysis
possible; and this analysis, when made, seems to indicate very
clearly that while, for those directly connected with the railroads,
either as passengers or as employés, the Massachusetts system
in its working involves relatively a less degree of danger than
that of Great Britain, yet for the outside community it involves
very much more. Take, for instance, the two heads of accidents
at grade-crossings and accidents to trespassers, which have been
already referred to. In Great Britain highway grade-crossings
are discouraged. In Massachusetts they are practically insisted
upon. The results of the policy pursued may in each case be read
with sufficient distinctness in the bills of mortality. During the
years 1872-7, of 1,929 casualties to persons on the railroads of
Massachusetts, no less than 200 occurred at highway grade crossings.
Had the accidents of this description in Great Britain been equally
numerous in proportion to the larger volume of the traffic of that
country, they would have resulted in over 3,000 cases of death or
personal injury; they did in fact result in 586 such cases. In
Massachusetts, again, to walk at will on any part of a railroad
track is looked upon as a sort of prescriptive and inalienable
right of every member of the community, irrespective of age, sex,
color, or previous condition of servitude. Accordingly, during the
six years referred to, this right was exercised at the cost of life
or limb to 591 persons,--one in four of all the casualties which
occurred in connection with the railroad system. In Great Britain
the custom of using the tracks of railroads as a foot-path seems to
exist, but, so far from being regarded as a right, it is practiced
in perpetual terror of the law. Accordingly, instead of some 9,000
cases of death or injury from this cause during these six years,
which would have been the proportion under like conditions in
Massachusetts, the returns showed only 2,379. These two are among
the most constant and fruitful causes of accident in connection with
the railroad system of America. In great Britain their proportion
to the whole number of casualties which take place is scarcely a
seventh part of what it is in Massachusetts. Here they constitute
very nearly fifty per cent. of all the accidents which occur; there
they constitute but a little over seven. There is in this comparison
a good deal of solid food for legislative thought, if American
legislators would but take it in; for this is one matter the public
policy in regard to which can only be fixed by law.
When we pass from Great Britain to the continental countries of
Europe, the difficulties in the way of any fair comparison of
results become greater and greater. The statistics do not enter
sufficiently into detail, nor is the basis of computation apparent.
It is generally conceded that, where a due degree of caution is
exercised by the passenger, railroad traveling in continental
countries is attended with a much less degree of danger than in
England. When we come to the returns, they hardly bear out this
conclusion; at least to the degree commonly supposed. Take France,
for example. Nowhere is human life more carefully guarded than in
that country; yet their returns show that of 866,000,000 passengers
transported on the French railroads during the eleven years 1859-69,
no less than 65 were killed and 1,285 injured from causes beyond
their control; or one in each 13,000,000 killed as compared with one
in 10,700,000 in Great Britain; and one in every 674,000 injured
as compared with one in each 330,000 in the other country. During
the single year 1859, about 111,000,000 passengers were carried
on the French lines, at a general cost to the community of 2,416
casualties, of which 295 were fatal. In Massachusetts, during the
four years 1871-74, about 95,000,000 passengers were carried, at
a reported cost of 1,158 casualties. This showing might well be
considered favorable to Massachusetts did not the single fact that
her returns included more than twice as many deaths as the French,
with only a quarter as many injuries, make it at once apparent that
the statistics were at fault. Under these circumstances comparison
could only be made between the numbers of deaths reported; which
would indicate that, in proportion to the work done, the railroad
operations of Massachusetts involved about twice and a half more
cases of injury to life and limb than those of the French service.
As respects Great Britain the comparison is much more favorable, the
returns showing an almost exactly equal general death-rate in the
two countries in proportion to their volumes of traffic; the volume
of Great Britain being about four times that of France, while its
death-rate by railroad accidents was as 1,100 to 295.
With the exception of Belgium, however, in which country the
returns cover only the lines operated by the state, the basis
hardly exists for a useful comparison between the dangers of injury
from accident on the continental railroads and on those of Great
Britain and America. The several systems are operated on wholly
different principles, to meet the needs of communities between
whose modes of life and thought little similarity exists. The
continental trains are far less crowded than either the English or
the American, and, when accidents occur, fewer persons are involved
in them. The movement, also, goes on under much stricter regulation
and at lower rates of speed, so that there is a grain of truth in
the English sarcasm that on a German railway "it almost seems as
if beer-drinking at the stations were the principal business, and
traveling a mere accessory."
Limiting, therefore, the comparison to the railroads of Great
Britain, it remains to be seen whether the evil reputation of the
American roads as respects accidents is wholly deserved. Is it
indeed true that the danger to a passenger's life and limbs is so
much greater in this country than elsewhere?--Locally, and so far
as Massachusetts at least is concerned, it certainly is not. How
is it with the country taken as a whole?--The lack of all reliable
statistics as respects this wide field of inquiry has already been
referred to. We have no trustworthy data. We do not know with
accuracy even the number of miles of road operated; much less the
number of passengers annually carried. As respects accidents, and
the deaths and injuries resulting therefrom, some information may be
gathered from a careful and very valuable, because the only record
which has been preserved during the last six years in the columns of
the _Railroad Gazette_. It makes, of course, no pretence at either
official accuracy or fullness, but it is as complete probably as
circumstances will permit of its being made. During the five years
1874-8 there have been included in this record 4,846 accidents,
resulting in 1,160 deaths and 4,650 cases of injury;--being an
average of 969 accidents a year, resulting in 232 deaths and 930
cases of injury. These it will be remembered are casualties directly
resulting either to passengers or employés from train accidents.
No account is taken of injuries sustained by employés in the
ordinary operation of the roads, or by members of the community
not passengers. In Massachusetts the accidents to passengers and
employés constitute one-half of the whole, but a very small portion
of the injuries reported as sustained by either passengers or
employés are the consequence of train accidents,--not one in three
in the case of passengers or one in seven in that of employés. In
fact, of the 2,350 accidents to persons reported in Massachusetts
in the nine years 1870-8, but 271, or less than twelve per cent.,
belonged to the class alone included in the reports of the _Railroad
Gazette_. In England during the four years 1874-7 the proportion
was larger, being about twenty-five instead of twelve per cent. For
America at large the Massachusetts proportion is undoubtedly the
most nearly correct, and the probabilities would seem to be that
the annual average of injuries to persons incident to operating the
railroads of the United States is not less than 10,000, of which at
least 1,200 are due to train accidents. Of these about two-thirds
may be set down as sustained by passengers, or, approximately, 800 a
year.
It remains to be ascertained what proportion this number bears to
the whole number carried. There are no reliable statistics on this
head any more than on the other. Nothing but an approximation of
the most general character is possible. The number of passengers
annually carried on the roads of a few of the states is reported
with more or less accuracy, and averaging these the result would
seem to indicate that there are certainly not more than 350,000,000
passengers annually carried on the roads of all the states. There
is something barbarous about such an approximation, and it is
disgraceful that at this late day we should in America be forced
to estimate the passenger movement on our railroads in much the
same way that we guess at the population of Africa. Such, however,
is the case. We are in this respect far in the rear of civilized
communities. Taking, however, 350,000,000 as a fair approximation
to our present annual passenger movement, it will be observed that
it is as nearly as may be half that of Great Britain. In Great
Britain, in 1878, there were 1,200 injuries to passengers from
accidents to trains, and 675 in 1877. The average of the last eight
years has been 1,226. If, therefore, the approximation of 800 a
year for America is at all near the truth, the percentage would seem
to be considerably larger than that arrived at from the statistics
of Great Britain. Meanwhile it is to be noted that while in Great
Britain about 25 cases of injury are reported to each one of death,
in America but four cases are reported to each death--a discrepancy
which is extremely suggestive. Perhaps, however, the most valuable
conclusion to be drawn from these figures is that in America we as
yet are absolutely without any reliable railroad statistics on this
subject at all.
Taken as a whole, however, and under the most favorable showing,
it would seem to be a matter of fair inference that the dangers
incident to railroad traveling are materially greater in the United
States than in any country of Europe. How much greater is a question
wholly impossible to answer. So that when a statistical writer
undertakes to show, as one eminent European authority has done, that
in a given year on the American roads one passenger in every 286,179
was killed, and one in every 90,737 was injured, it is charitable
to suppose that in regard to America only is he indebted to his
imagination for his figures.
Neither is it possible to analyze with any satisfactory degree of
precision the nature of the accidents in the two countries, with
a view to drawing inferences from them. Without attempting to do
so it maybe said that the English Board of Trade reports for the
last five years, 1874-8, include inquiries into 755 out of 11,585
accidents, the total number of every description reported as having
taken place. Meanwhile the _Railroad Gazette_ contains mention of
4,846 reported train accidents which occurred in America during
the same five years. Of these accidents, 1,310 in America and 81
in Great Britain were due to causes which were either unexplained
or of a miscellaneous character, or are not common to the systems
of the two countries. In so far as the remainder admitted of
classification, it was somewhat as follows:--
GREAT BRITAIN. AMERICA.
Accidents due to
Defects in permanent way 13 per cent. 24 per cent.
" " rolling-stock 10 " " 8 " "
Misplaced switches 16 " " 14 " "
Collisions
Between trains going in
opposite directions 3 " " 18 " "
Between trains following
each other 5 " " 30 " "
At railroad grade crossings[29] 0.6 " " 3 " "
At junctions 11 " "
At stations or sidings within
fixed stations 40 " " 6 " "
Unexplained 2 " "
[29] During these five years there were in Great Britain four cases
of collision between locomotives or trains at level crossings of one
railroad by another; in America there were 79. The probable cause of
this discrepancy has already been referred to (_ante pp. 194-7_).
The above record, though almost valueless for any purpose of exact
comparison, reveals, it will be noticed, one salient fact. Out of
755 English accidents, no less than 406 came under the head of
collisions--whether head collisions, rear collisions, or collisions
on sidings or at junctions. In other words, to collisions of some
sort between trains were due considerably more than half (54 per
cent.) of the accidents which took place in Great Britain, while
only 88, or less than 13 per cent. of the whole, were due to
derailments from all causes. In America on the other hand, while
of the 3,763 accidents recorded, 1,324, or but one-third part (35
per cent.) were due to collisions, no less than 586, or 24 per
cent., were classed under the head of derailments, due to defects
in the permanent way. During the the six years 1873-8 there were
in all 1698 cases of collision of every description between trains
reported as occurring in America to 1495 in the United Kingdom; but
while in America the derailments amounted to no less than 4016, or
more than twice the collisions, in the United Kingdom they were
but 817, or a little more than half their number. It has already
been noticed that the most disastrous accidents in America are apt
to occur on bridges, and Ashtabula and Tariffville at once suggest
themselves. This is not the case in Great Britain. Under the heading
of "Failures of Tunnels, Bridges, Viaducts or Culverts," there
were returned in that country during the six years 1873-8 only 29
accidents in all; while during the same time in America, under the
heads of broken bridges or tressels and open draws, the _Gazette_
recorded no less than 165. These figures curiously illustrate the
different manner in which the railroads of the two countries have
been constructed, and the different circumstances under which they
are operated. The English collisions are distinctly traceable to
constant overcrowding; the American derailments and bridge accidents
to inferior construction of our road-beds.
Finally, what of late years has been done to diminish the dangers
of the rail?--What more can be done?--Few persons realize what a
tremendous pressure in this respect is constantly bearing down upon
those whose business it is to operate railroads. A great accident is
not only a terrible blow to the pride and prestige of a corporation,
not only does it practically ruin the unfortunate officials involved
in it, but it entails also portentous financial consequences. Juries
proverbially have little mercy for railroad corporations, and, when
a disaster comes, these have practically no choice but to follow the
scriptural injunction to settle with their adversaries quickly. The
Revere catastrophe, for instance, cost the railroad company liable
on account of it over half a million of dollars; the Ashtabula
accident over $600,000; the Wollaston over $300,000. A few years ago
in England a jury awarded a sum of $65,000 for damages sustained
through the death of a single individual. During the five years,
1867-71, the railroad corporations of Great Britain paid out over
$11,000,000 in compensation for damages occasioned by accidents. In
view, merely, of such money consequences of disaster, it would be
most unnatural did not each new accident lead to the adoption of
better appliances to prevent its recurrence.[30]
[30] The other side of this proposition has been argued with
much force by Mr. William Galt in his report as one of the Royal
Commission of 1874 on Railway Accidents. Mr. Galt's individual
report bears date February 5, 1877, and in it he asserts that, as
a matter of actual experience, the principle of self-interest on
the part of the railway companies has proved a wholly insufficient
safeguard against accidents. However it may be in theory, he
contends that, taking into consideration the great cost of the
appliances necessary to insure safety to the public on the one side,
and the amount of damages incident to a certain degree of risk on
the other side, the possible saving in expenditure to the companies
by assuming the risk far exceeds the loss incurred by an occasional
accident. The companies become, in a word, insurers of their
passengers,--the premium being found in the economies effected by
not adopting improved appliances of recognized value, and the losses
being the damages incurred in case of accident. He treats the whole
subject at great length and with much knowledge and ability. His
report is a most valuable compendium for those who are in favor of a
closer government supervision over railroads as a means of securing
an increased safety from accident.
To return, however, to the subject of railroad accidents, and the
final conclusion to be drawn from the statistics which have been
presented. That conclusion briefly stated is that the charges of
recklessness and indifference so generally and so widely advanced
against those managing the railroads cannot for an instant be
sustained. After all, as was said in the beginning of the present
volume, it is not the danger but the safety of the railroad which
should excite our special wonder. If any one doubts this, it is
very easy to satisfy himself of the fact,--that is, if by nature
he is gifted with the slightest spark of imagination. It is but
necessary to stand once on the platform of a way-station and to
look at an express train dashing by. There are few sights finer;
few better calculated to quicken the pulse. It is most striking
at night. The glare of the head-light, the rush and throb of the
locomotive,--the connecting rod and driving-wheels of which seem
instinct with nervous life,--the flashing lamps in the cars, and
the final whirl of dust in which the red tail-lights vanish almost
as soon as they are seen,--all this is well calculated to excite
our admiration; but the special and unending cause for wonder is
how, in case of accident, anything whatever is left of the train.
As it plunges into the darkness it would seem to be inevitable
that something must happen, and that, whatever happens, it must
necessarily involve both the train and every one in it in utter
and irremediable destruction. Here is a body weighing in the
neighborhood of two hundred tons, moving over the face of the earth
at a speed of sixty feet a second and held to its course only by two
slender lines of iron rails;--and yet it is safe!--We have seen how
when, half a century ago, the possibility of something remotely like
this was first discussed, a writer in the _British Quarterly_ earned
for himself a lasting fame by using the expression that "We should
as soon expect people to suffer themselves to be fired off upon
one of Congreve's _ricochet_ rockets, as to trust themselves to the
mercy of such a machine, going at such a rate;"--while Lord Brougham
exclaimed that "the folly of seven hundred people going fifteen
miles an hour, in six trains, exceeds belief." At the time they
wrote, the chances were ninety-nine in a hundred that both reviewer
and correspondent were right; and yet, because reality, not for the
first nor the last time, saw fit to outstrip the wildest flights of
imagination, the former at least blundered, by being prudent, into
an immortality of ridicule. The thing, however, is still none the
less a miracle because it is with us matter of daily observation.
That, indeed, is the most miraculous part of it. At all hours of the
day and of the night, during every season of the year, this movement
is going on. It never wholly stops. It depends for its even action
on every conceivable contingency, from the disciplined vigilance
of thousands of employés to the condition of the atmosphere, the
heat of an axle, or the strength of a nail. The vast machine is in
constant motion, and the derangement of a single one of a myriad of
conditions may at any moment occasion one of those inequalities of
movement which are known as accidents. Yet at the end of the year,
of the hundreds of millions of passengers fewer have lost their
lives through these accidents than have been murdered in cold blood.
Not without reason, therefore, has it been asserted that, viewing
at once the speed, the certainty, and the safety with which the
intricate movement of modern life is carried on, there is no more
creditable monument to human care, human skill, and human foresight
than the statistics of railroad accidents.
INDEX.
Abergele, accident at, 72.
Accidents, railroad, about stations, 166.
at highway crossings, 165.
level railroad crossings, 94,165, 245, 258.
aggravated by English car construction and stoves, 14, 41, 106,
255.
comments on early, 9.
damages paid for certain, 267.
due to bridges, 99, 206, 266.
broken tracks, 166.
car couplings, 117.
collisions, 265.
derailments, 13, 16, 23, 54, 79, 84.
in Great Britain, 266.
America, 266.
draw-bridges, 82, 266.
fire in train, 31.
oil-tanks, 72.
oscillation, 50.
telegraph, 66.
telescoping, 43.
want of bell-cords, 32.
brake power, 12, 119.
increased safety resulting from, 2, 29, 155, 205.
precautions against early, 10.
statistics of, in America, 263.
Belgium, 260.
France, 260.
Great Britain, 236, 252, 257, 263.
Massachusetts, 232-60.
general, 228-70.
_List of Accidents specially described or referred to_:--
_Abergele, August 20, 1868, 72._
_Angola, December 18, 1867, 12._
_Ashtabula, December 29, 1876, 100._
_Brainerd, July 27, 1875, 108._
_Brimfield, October, 1874, 56._
_Bristol, March 7, 1865, 150._
_Carr's Rock, April 14, 1867, 120._
_Camphill, July 17, 1856, 61._
_Charlestown Bridge, November 21, 1862, 95._
_Claypole, June 21, 1870, 85._
_Communipaw Ferry, November 11, 1876, 207._
_Croydon Tunnel, August 25, 1861, 146._
_Des Jardines Canal, March 12, 1857, 112._
_Foxboro, July 15, 1872, 53._
_Franklin Street, New York city, June, 1879, 207._
_Gasconade River, November 1, 1855, 108._
_On Great Western Railway of Canada, October, 1856, 55._
_On Great Western Railway of England, December 24, 1841, 43._
_Heeley, November 22, 1876, 209._
_Helmshire, September 4, 1860, 121._
_On Housatonic Railroad, August 16, 1865, 151._
_Huskisson, William, death of, September 15, 1830, 5._
_Lackawaxen, July 15, 1864, 63._
_Morpeth, March 25, 1877, 209._
_New Hamburg, February 6, 1871, 78._
_Norwalk, May 6, 1853, 89._
_Penruddock, September 2, 1870, 143._
_Port Jervis, June 17, 1858, 118._
_Prospect, N. Y., December 24, 1872, 106._
_Rainhill, December 23, 1832, 10._
_Randolph, October 13, 1876, 24._
_Revere, August 26, 1871, 125._
_Richelieu River, June 29, 1864, 91._
_Shipton, December 24, 1874, 16._
_Shrewsbury River, August 9, 1877, 96._
_Tariffville, January 15, 1878, 107._
_Thorpe, September 10, 1874, 66._
_Tyrone, April 4, 1875, 69._
_Versailles, May 8, 1842, 58._
_Welwyn Tunnel, June 10, 1866, 149._
_Wemyss Bay Junction, December 14, 1878, 212._
_Wollaston, October 8, 1878, 20._
American railroad accidents, statistics of, 97, 260-6.
locomotive engineers, intelligence of, 159.
method of handling traffic, extravagance of, 183.
Angola, accident at, 12, 201, 218.
Ashtabula, accident at, 100, 267.
Assaults in English railroad carriages, 33, 35, 38.
Automatic electric block, 159,
reliability of, 168,
objections to, 174.
train-brake, essentials of, 219.
necessity for, 202, 237.
Bell-cord, need of any, questioned, 29.
accidents from want of, 31.
assaults, etc., in absence of, 32-41.
Beloeil, Canada, accident at, 92.
Block system, American, 165.
automatic electric, 159.
objections to, 174.
cost of English, 165.
English, why adopted, 162.
accident in spite of, 145.
ignorance of, in America, 160.
importance of, 145.
Boston, passenger travel to and from, 183.
possible future station in, 198.
some vital statistics of, 241, 249.
Boston & Albany railroad, accident on, 56.
Boston station of, 183.
Boston & Maine railroad, accident on, 96.
Boston & Providence railroad, accident on, 53.
Boston station of, 183.
Brainerd, accident at, 108.
Brakes, original and improved, 200.
the battle of the, 216.
true simplicity in, 228.
Inefficiency of hand, 201, 204.
emergency, 202.
necessity of automatic, continuous, 202, 227.
_See Train-brake._
Bridge accidents, 98, 266.
Bridges, insufficient safeguards at, 98.
protection of, 111.
Bridge-guards, destroyed by brakemen, 244.
Bristol, accident at, 150.
Brougham, Lord, comments on death of Mr. Huskisson, 7, 270.
Buffalo, Correy & Pittsburg railroad, accident on, 106.
Burlington & Missouri River railroad, accident on, 70.
Butler, B. F., on Revere accident, 142.
Calcoft, Mr., extract from reports of, 196, 255.
Caledonian railway, accident on, return of brake stoppages by, 211.
Camden & Amboy railroad, accident on, 151.
Car construction, American and English, 255.
Carr's Rock, accident at, 120.
Central Railroad of New Jersey, accident on, 96.
Charlestown bridge, accident on, 95.
Claypole accident, 83.
Collisions, head, 61-2.
in America, 265.
Great Britain, 265.
occasioned by use of telegraph, 66.
rear-end, 144-52.
Communipaw Ferry, accident at, 207.
Cannon Street Station in London, traffic at, 163, 183, 194.
Connecticut law respecting swing draw-bridges, 82, 94, 195.
Connecticut Western railroad, accident on, 107.
Conservatism, British railroad, 29.
American railroad, 41, 52, 65, 161, 205.
Coupling, accidents due to, 117.
the original, 49.
Crossings, level, of railways, accidents at, 165.
need of interlocking apparatus at, 195.
stopping trains at, 95, 195.
Croydon Tunnel collision, 146.
Deodand, 43.
Derailments, accidents from, 13, 16, 23, 54, 79, 84.
statistics of, 265.
Des Jardines Canal accident, 112.
Draw-bridge accidents, 82, 97, 114.
stopping as a safeguard against, 95.
need of interlocking apparatus at, 195.
Eames vacuum brake, 208.
Eastern railroad, accident on, 125.
Economy, cost of a small, 174.
at risk of accident, 268.
Employés railroad, casualties to, 243.
Engineering, on American inventions, 221.
English railways, train movement on, 162, 194.
Erie railroad, accidents on, 63, 118, 120.
France, statistics of accidents in, 259.
panic produced in, by Versailles accident, 60.
Franklin Street, New York city, accident at, 207.
Galt, William, report by, on accidents, 268.
Gasconade river accident, 108.
Germany, railroad accidents in, 261.
Grand Trunk railway, accident on, 91.
Great Eastern railway, accident on, 66.
Great Northern railway, accidents on, 84, 149.
Great Western railway, accidents on, 16, 43, 112.
of Canada, accidents on, 31, 112.
Hall's system of electric signals, 168.
Harrison, T. E., extract from letter of, 210.
Heeley, accident at, 209.
Helm shire accident, 121.
Highway crossings at level, accidents at, 165, 170, 244, 258.
interlocking at, 195.
Housatonic railroad, accident on, 151.
Hudson River railroad, accident on, 78.
Huskisson, William, death of, 3, 200.
Inclines, accidents upon, 74, 110, 121.
Interlocking, chapter relating to, 182.
at draw-bridges, 97, 195.
level crossings, 195.
practical simplicity of, 189.
use made of in England, 192.
Investigation of accidents, no systematic, in America, 86.
English, 85.
Lake Shore railroad, accident on, 11.
Lake Shore & Michigan Southern railroad, accident on, 100.
Lancashire & Yorkshire railroad, accident on, 121.
Legislation against accidents, futility of 94, 109.
as regards use of telegraphs, 64.
interlocking at draws, 97.
level crossings, 97.
London passenger traffic, 162, 183.
London & Brighton railway, accident on, 145.
London & North Western railway, assaults on, 32, 38.
accidents on, 72, 143.
train brake used by, 222.
Manchester & Liverpool railway, accidents on, 10, 11, 45.
opening of, 3.
Massachusetts, statistics of accidents in, 156, 232-60.
train-brakes in use in, 157, 214.
Metropolitan Elevated railroad, accident on, 207.
interlocking apparatus used by, 196.
Midland railway, accident on, 209.
protests against interlocking, 192.
Miller's Platform and Buffer, chapter on, 49-57.
accidents avoided by, 19, 53, 56, 70.
in Massachusetts, 157.
Mohawk Valley railroad, pioneer train on, 48.
Morpeth, accident at, 209.
Murders, number of, compared with the killed by railroad accidents,
242.
New York City, passenger travel of, 184.
New York, Providence & Boston railroad, accident on, 106.
New York & New Haven railroad, accident on, 89.
Newark, brake trials at, in 1874, 217.
North Eastern railway, accident in, 209.
brake trials on, 218.
returns of brake-stoppages by, 211.
Northern Pacific railroad, accident on, 108.
Norwalk accident, 89.
Oil-tank accidents, 72, 150.
Old Colony railroad accidents on, 20, 24, 174.
Oscillation, accidents occasioned by, 50.
Pacific railroad of Missouri, accident on, 108.
Pennsylvania railroad, ballasting of, 248.
English block in use on, 164.
Penruddock, accident at, 143.
Phillips, Wendell, on Revere accident, 141.
Port Jervis accident, 118, 202, 218.
_Quarterly Review_ of 1835, article in, 199, 269.
_Railroad Gazette_, records of accidents kept by, 261.
Rear-end collisions in America, 144, 151.
Europe, 143.
necessity of protection against, 159.
Revere accident, 125, 172.
improvements caused by, 153.
lessons taught by, 159.
meeting in consequence of, 161, 205.
Richelieu River, accident at, 92.
Shipton accident, 16, 216.
Shrewsbury River draw, accident at, 96.
Smith's vacuum brake, 208, 220, 226.
popularity of in Great Britain, 220, 226.
compared with Westinghouse, 218, 227.
Statistics of railroad accidents, 230-70.
Stopping trains, an insufficient safeguard at draw-bridges and level
crossings, 94, 97, 195.
Stage-coach travelling, accidents in, 231.
Stoves in case of accidents, 15, 41, 106.
Suicides on railroads, 246.
Tariffville accident, 107.
Telegraph, accidents occasioned by use of, 66.
use of, should be made compulsory, 64.
Telegraphic signals, chapter on, 159.
Telescoping, accidents from, 43.
Thorpe, collision at, 67, 172.
Train-brake, chapters on, 199, 216.
Board of Trade specifications relating to, 219.
doubts concerning, 28.
failures of, to work, in Great Britain, 211.
introduced on English roads, 29, 216.
kinds of, used in Massachusetts, 157, 214.
Sir Henry Tyler on, 222, 228.
want of, occasioned Shipton accident, 19, 216.
Trespassers on railroads, accidents to, 245.
means of preventing, 245, 258.
Tunnels, collisions in, 146, 149.
Tyler, Captain H. W., investigated Claypole accident, 85.
on Penruddock accident, 143.
train-brakes, 222, 228.
extracts from reports by, 192, 194, 228.
Union Safety Signal Company, 168.
United States, accidents in, 261.
no investigation of, 86.
Vermont & Massachusetts railroad, accident on, 112.
Versailles, the, accident of 1842, 58.
Wellington, Duke of, at Manchester & Liverpool opening, 3.
Welwyn Tunnel, accident in, 149.
Wemyss Bay Junction, accident at, 212.
Westinghouse brake, chapter on, 199.
accidents avoided by, 19, 209.
in Newark, experiments, 217.
objections urged against, 176.
stoppages by, occasioned by triple valve, 211.
use of, in Great Britain, 226.
Massachusetts, 157, 214.
Wollaston accident, 18, 20, 155, 172, 227.
* * * * *
Transcriber's note: The following has been moved from the beginning
of the book to the end.
=By the same Author.=
=Railroads and Railroad Questions.= 12mo, cloth, $1 25. The volume
treats of "The Genesis of the Railroad System," "Accidents," and
the "Present Railroad Problem." The author has made himself the
acknowledged authority on this group of subjects. If his book goes
only to those who are interested in the ownership, the use, or the
administration of railroads, it is sure of a large circle of readers.
"A most interesting and important work."--_Railway World._
"Characterized by broad, progressive, liberal ideas."--_Railway
Review._
"The entire conclusions are of great value."--_N.Y. Journal of
Commerce._