Clayton Tunnel rail crash

The railway accident in Clayton Tunnel was the collision of two trains in the railway tunnel on August 25, 1861., 23 people died, about 176 were most seriously injured. This was the worst rail accident in British history at the time.

Technical conditions

The 2 km long Clayton Tunnel is located on the Brighton Main Line, about 7 miles from Brighton. On the route was - apart from the Clayton Tunnel - run at intervals. Mandatory was a minimum distance of 5 minutes. The passage through the tunnel, however, was especially assured: Here the line was secured in place by a block signal before each portal that could be operated both from a linesman, as was also provided by an oncoming train for a subsequent to "stop ". If this mechanism fail, an alarm bell is triggered and the linesman had a possibly following train by flag " stop" signal. This ensured that there was always only one train on the track. The linesman agreed with a simple telegraph to each other. The guard at the southern entrance of the tunnel had a 24 -hour shift and was in when the accident occurred, since more than 18 hours on duty.

Expiration

The first special train

On unlucky wrong in front of a regular passenger train, two special trains from Brighton. The trains left northwards its train station every few minutes. The guard at the southern tunnel mouth became aware of a disturbance when the first special train passed, the signal behind the train but not automatically set to "stop " and that's why the alarm was triggered. He immediately informed by telegraph his colleagues at the north portal that a train was in the tunnel.

The second special train

The second train followed the first at the south portal at a distance of only three minutes. Time had not been enough for the guards at the south portal, set next to the telegraphic notification of his colleagues at the north portal also the signal from hand nor to "stop " to before the second train it happened. That this was followed in such a short distance, was a surprise to him. He ran with the signal flag from the linesman house, and commanded with a flag " stop". As already found in the train driving past, he assumed that the flag had not been seen by the train crew. Then he asked the guard at the northern tunnel exit if the train had left the tunnel. Since this did not know about the entrance of the second train, he referred the request to the first train and confirmed that " the train " I left the tunnel.

The cross-feed

Then the guards were on the south tunnel entrance the ride for the next scheduled train in the tunnel free. The staff of the second train had the flag signal but still saw him, stopped his train and pushed him back to consult the linesman at the southern entrance to the reason for the stop signal. The two trains collided about 200 meters off the southern entrance of the tunnel inside the tunnel. A support vehicle and a passenger coaches - - The last two cars of the special train were smashed by the locomotive of the train schedule. This derailed and got wedged between the tunnel walls. Most of the 23 deaths were in this last of the coaches of the second special train.

Investigation

The official investigation led H. W. Tyler, captain of the pioneers through. The court cases ended in a verdict of manslaughter against the second station manager of Brighton because he had left the trains in too short a time interval on the track. The two linesmen to the tunnel, however, were acquitted.

Consequences

The catastrophic consequences of a minimal communication error in high time pressure closely consecutive trains for initial technical failure of the signal triggered fierce criticism from on a backup system that was primarily based on the time interval in the sequence of moves. All of this would be with - indeed, technically and financially much more complex - have been avoided route block. Nevertheless, the consequences were not drawn from the accident stringent: only the railway accident at Armagh - met once again with "backwards " rolling cart in a subsequent train - prompted in 1889 the Parliament of the United Kingdom in the Regulation of Railways Act 1889 to pass a law, which drive the banned in the distance and driving time in the space distance, a Zugmeldeverfahren and the signal dependence of the turnout dictated binding.

Further, the investigation revealed that the normal shift length for a linesman was 18 hours. If they wanted to, however, have a day off during the week, they had to do 24 -hour shifts. This overload of staff in highly responsible for the safety positions was also criticized by the investigators.

Literary Aftermath

The short story The Signal -Man by Charles Dickens from December 1866 draws from the events of this accident.