Accident Summary - Chippenham Junction 1898

Summary

• 10.13 a.m. passenger train from Bury St. Edmund's to Cambridge
• Likely an M15 based on description and dimensions
• Carriages were:
  • third-class No. 1033
  • composite
  • composite
  • third-class brake-van No. 71
  • first-class
  • third-class brake No. 155
  • a horse-box of the London, Brighton, and South Coast Company.

Accident report from Railways Archive

Great Eastern Railway

Board of Trade (Railway Department) 8, Richmond Terrace, Whitehall, London, S.W. December 3rd, 1898.

Sir,

I have the honour to report for the information of the Board of Trade, in compliance with the Order of the 16th November, the result of my enquiry into the circumstances attending an accident that occurred on the 4th idem, between Chippenham Station and Warren Hill Junction, Newmarket, on the Great Eastern Railway.

In this case, as the 10.13 a.m. passenger train from Bury St. Edmund's to Cambridge was running on a curve of half a mile radius, between Chippenham Station and Warren Hill Junction, the whole of the train, with the exception of the engine and two pairs of wheels of a brake van, left the rails and ran along the ballast about 170 yards before coming to a stand.

There were about 25 passengers in the train and it is reported that no complaint was made at the time, but one passenger has since complained of some injury.

The train consisted of a four-wheels-coupled tank engine, with trailing bogie, running chimney in front, and the following vehicles, viz., third-class, two composites, third-class brake-van No. 71, first-class, third-class brake, and a horse-box of the London, Brighton, and South Coast Company. The train was fitted throughout with the Westinghouse automatic brake. The damage to rolling stock was slight, details of which will be found in the Appendix.

The permanent-way had one rail badly bent, and there were some broken chairs.

Description

The scene of this accident was about 580 yards south of Chippenham Junction box and 940 yards north of Warren Hill Junction box. The up line, between the two boxes, on which the train was running, is on a rising gradient of 1 in 194; and it is on a curve to the left of 40 chains radius at the point of derailment, and for some distance beyond.

The permanent-way has bull-headed steel rails, 24 feet in length, originally weighing 80 lbs. per yard, and laid in the road in 1880; the chairs, of the same date, weighed 36 lbs. each, and they are secured to the sleepers by two spikes and hollow trenails. There are nine sleepers to each rail length.

The super-elevation of the outer rail of the curve referred to above is 2½ inches. The line is fully ballasted, and the rails appear to be well held down.

The first sign of derailment was a badly bent rail in the outer or right-hand rail of the curve, which was found to be out of gauge to the extent of 2⅝ inches near the centre; the chairs under the bent portion of the rail had been forced outwards, while at both ends of the same rail the chairs remained undisturbed. This rail was afterwards taken out of the road and weighed; its present weight is 77¾ lbs. per yard. The inner rail of the curve, at the same spot, was, I am informed, strongly marked on the running edge. Beyond this point chairs were broken for a distance of 160 yards, on the outside of the right-hand and on the inside of the left-hand rail, showing clearly the path of the derailed vehicles.

The total weight of the train, exclusive of the engine, passengers, &c., was about 97 tons; all were six-wheeled vehicles, with the exception of the horse-box and the brake van at the rear of the train, and of the above weight about 67½ tons would be carried on braked wheels.

The following particulars of the engine may be noted:—

Total weight in working order 46 tons 18 cwt., distributed as follows:—

On the leading wheels ... 14 tons 9 cwt. On the driving wheels ... 15 tons 1 cwt. On the bogie wheels ... 17 tons 8 cwt.

The coupled wheels are 5 feet 4 inches in diameter, the two axles being 7 feet 7 inches apart; the bogie wheels are 2 feet 10 inches in diameter, with a wheel base of 5 feet; the distance between the driving axle and the bogie pin is 10 feet 11 inches, and the total length of the engine over buffers is 27 feet 10 inches.

The distance from Bury to Newmarket, the first stop, is 14½ miles, for which 22 minutes was allowed. As the train had to start from rest at the former place, and to slacken speed at Warren Hill Junction, and as allowance must also be made for the time lost in stopping, the average running speed may be estimated at fully 42 miles an hour.

Evidence

Thomas Brumpstead states: I have been 20 years in the Company's service, and a driver nearly 8 years. On November 4th I came on duty at 9.28 a.m. to work until 9.10 p.m. My engine is a four-wheels-coupled bogie tank-engine, fitted with the Westinghouse brake working blocks on the coupled wheels. I have had that engine about four months, previous to which I was driving one of a similar class, but I have also driven tender-engines of more than four years previously. At anything over 40 miles an hour these tank-engines oscillate a good deal more than the tender-engines, and I do not notice very much difference in that respect whether we are running chimney or bunker first.

I have worked off and on over the Newmarket-Bury road for the last 14 years, with the exception of one interval of 12 months. I am occasionally on the Sudbury branch, also between Bury and Ipswich. I have not noticed that the Bury-Newmarket line is any rougher than others—it appears to be in good condition. I have not known complaints from the platelayers of my engine knocking the road about. On the 4th I left Bury at 10.13. I believe, for Cambridge, and I ran chimney first. Newmarket was the first stop, but I had to slow at Warren Hill Junction to take up the tablet. When we were running between Chippenham and Warren Hill, at a speed of between 35 and 40 miles an hour—I think we were running fairly to time—I heard a noise behind the engine, and on looking round I saw the carriage next to me rolling about and I realised it was off the road. I had just shut off steam, to slow up before reaching Warren Hill box, so I had only to apply the brakes and we came to a stand in about 150 yards. No wheels of the engine had left the rails, but all the other wheels of the train were off with the exception of two pairs on the brake-van about the centre of the train. In order to run to my booked time I should say we have to run at over 50 miles an hour in places. At a high speed the engine appears to have a steady roll from side to side; I should not describe it as a hammering action against the rails. It is the bogie end of the engine which rolls.

Alfred Clark states: I have been seven years nine months in the Company's service, and a fireman one month; but I have been employed as acting fireman for three years past. On the 4th November I was firing for driver Brumpstead and my hours of work would be the same as his. During the three years I have been firing I have worked on all kinds of engines, for the last eight months mainly on the bogie tank-engines. The bogie tanks roll a bit more than the others after about 30 miles an hour. I do not notice much difference whether we are bunker or chimney first. We always run, so far as I remember, chimney first on the Bury-Newmarket line.

W. Hills states: I have been nearly seven years in the Company's service, and a porter-signalman for nearly one-and-a-half years—all the time in Chippenham Junction signal-box. On the 4th I came on duty at 6.30 a.m. to work until 10.30 a.m., then I had to attend to lamps and points until 4.30 p.m. On the above date I had “5 line clear” for the 10.13 Bury passenger train at 10.25, which would be given me at the time the train was passing Higham; I accepted it at once and it was given me “Entering section”—i.e., passing Kennett box—at 10.29. The train passed my box at 10.33.

William Cook states: I have been 26 years in the Company's service and a ganger four years. On the 4th I came on duty at 10 a.m. to work until about 8.30 p.m. On the above date I left Bury at 10.13 to run to Cambridge with the following vehicles behind the engine, viz., third-class, two composites, third-class brake-van, first-class, third-class brake and a London, Brighton and South Coast Company's horse-box. The train was fitted throughout with the Westinghouse brake.

John Hyner states: I have been 28 years in the Company's service, and a ganger 18 years. My length extends from 15 miles to 16 miles 14 chains approximately on the Bury branch, and I also take from Chippenham to Snailwell Junction. On the morning of the accident I went over my length on the Bury branch about 8 o'clock, walking from Warren Hill to Chippenham on the down road, and on the up road in the other direction. My gang were not then at work on the line.

Charles Williams states: I have been 43 years in the Company's service and 23 years a Sub-Inspector of permanent way. I take from Newmarket tunnel to Thetford, which includes the Newmarket-Bury line. I had walked over the latter line on the morning of the 4th, about 9.30 a.m., and I paid particular attention to the road as the men were just starting to work on it. There was nothing wrong except in two places they were attending to. It was nearly a week since I had been over it before then.

Conclusion

The immediate cause of the derailment of the train is more apparent than is often the case, for it was due, beyond any reasonable doubt, to a rail being bent outwards, i.e., to the right, to an extent which would certainly allow the left-hand wheels to drop down into the four-foot way; the train running at the time on an easy curve to the left of 40 chains radius.

Fortunately the engine kept on the rails, and the driver, noticing almost at once what had occurred, applied his brakes and brought his train to a stand without any very serious results, although all the vehicles had become derailed.

It appears from the evidence that when ganger Hyner went over his length, which includes the portion of line between Chippenham and Warren Hill Junction, on the morning of the accident, he found two places where the up road was out of gauge somewhat; and he and his men commenced work at about 9.30 a.m. to rectify these defects.

Two rails, 40 yards apart, on the outside of the curve referred to above, required attention; some of the chairs in each instance having been forced outwards. It was found necessary to draw the spikes, and in many cases the latter were too much bent to be used again.

The first rail was put right about 10 a.m., and the men then went to the second place, 40 yards in the direction of Chippenham; they were still at work there when the 10.13 up train from Bury became due. A flagman had been posted while the line was under repair, but he was called in before the train passed, as the ganger considered the line to be then perfectly safe.

According to the evidence the ballast had not been disturbed below the tops of the sleepers, the rail was keyed up properly, and the only deficiency is said to have been that the inside spikes of three chairs were not fixed. I am also informed that although the three spikes were not in, the hollow trenails were.

This rail was next to, on the Chippenham side of, the one found bent after the accident.

The train had left Bury at 10.13, the first stop being Newmarket, 14½ miles. The signal-box records show that it passed Higham box at 10.25 and Chippenham Junction box at 10.33, the distance between the two being 5 miles 69 chains; the average speed in this portion of the journey, where the gradients are favourable nearly all the way, being thus 44 miles an hour.

A little time, about one minute, appears to have been lost soon after starting and the train was still about a minute late passing Chippenham. The line rises, at an inclination of 1 in 194, from Chippenham to Warren Hill Junction, and the place where the platelayers were at work is 600 yards beyond the commencement of the rising gradient.

Just before the train got to the men the driver shut off steam, and immediately he had passed them he found the vehicle next to his engine off the rails, upon which, as already explained, he applied the brakes. As he had still 900 yards to run, on a curve and on a rising gradient, before getting to Warren Hill Junction box, where he had to pick up the tablet of the single line section between that box and Newmarket, and as the home signal of the junction was “Off” for him, he must have been running very fast if he thought it necessary to close the regulator so soon.

The platelayers say the engine was rolling a good deal as it approached them, but they do not think the speed of the train was any higher than usual at the same spot.

As regards the condition of the permanent way generally, which I examined for some distance on either side of the site of the accident, I have no fault to find. The rails have been in the road 18 years but they are in good order, and the sleepers, chairs and fastenings appear to be satisfactory. I found the gauge of the line correct, practically speaking, and the super-elevation of the outer rail of the curve was nearly uniform throughout; the latter, 2½ inches, being suitable for a maximum speed of about 40 miles an hour.

It is clear from the evidence that the platelayers have experienced some difficulty in keeping the outer rail of the up line, on the curve, true to gauge, and they say it was again disturbed the morning after the accident. It would, I think, be desirable to increase somewhat the super-elevation of the outer rail, and also to tie the rails to gauge by iron or steel stays so as to counteract the present tendency of the fastenings of the high rail to give way outwards.

It will be noticed that the ganger states positively the rail he was working at was not disturbed at all when the train left the rails, and I see no sufficient reason to doubt the correctness of his statement. The presumption appears to be very strong, however, that the chair fastenings of the centre portion of the next rail, i.e., the one which gave way, were loose before the accident, although the ganger had not discovered the fact.

The sleepers are quite covered by the ballast, which carries with it the usual disadvantage of concealing defects that might advantageously be made known.

Admitting a weak spot in the rail length, it is still most surprising to find the rail bent outwards more than 2½ inches, and the chairs at the two ends of the rail not moved out of place. There can be no doubt but that the damage was done by the engine.

In reporting upon the derailment of a Great Eastern train, on the Bury St. Edmund's and Long Melford branch, that occurred on October 17th, 1891, General Hutchinson referred to the engine as one of a class which ran “unsteadily with the chimney in front”; and he added “drivers should be specially cautioned not to attempt to work these engines, especially when running chimney in front, at any high rate of speed.”

That engine was similar in construction, and in its dimensions, to the one in use on the Bury-Newmarket line on the occasion which is the subject of my report; since 1891, however, balance weights have been put in the leading and driving wheels of the engines.

My attention was first directed to the effect produced by very similar engines, on the permanent way of a railway, by an accident that occurred on the Cornwall section of the Great Western Railway on April 13th, 1895; in that case somewhat startling evidence was given, and I had no hesitation in coming to the same conclusion as General Hutchinson had done in 1891, viz., that the engines were unsuitable, at any rate for express trains.

I am informed that tank-engines with bogies at the trailing end have been running on the Great Eastern Railway since 1872, but I believe they were designed and have mainly been used for the purely suburban services.

Driver Brumpstead says the booked timing of the 10.13 train ex Bury, which is no faster than others on the branch, requires him to run at a speed of over 50 miles an hour in certain parts of the journey in order to keep time.

This I can quite believe, in view of the gradients of the line, and such trains cannot be said to come within the category of a suburban service.

This accident, taken in conjunction with those referred to above and others, seems to me to show conclusively that engines of the trailing bogie class cannot safely be run at a speed of anything like 50 miles an hour.

I have, &c., G. W. Addison, Lieut.-Col., R.E.

The Assistant Secretary, Railway Department, Board of Trade.

Appendix

Damage to Rolling Stock

Third-class carriage, No. 1033 — One axle-box bottom broken. Brake van, No. 71 — One axle-box top broken. Third-class carriage, No. 155 — Two axle-box bottoms and one axle-box top broken.

London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway horse-box, No. 142 — One axle-box top and one flexible vacuum-pipe broken.

Materials Used in Repairing the Road

207 two-hole chairs. 411 hollow trenails. 150 keys. 50 5½-in. by 6-in. spikes.

Printed copies of the above Report were sent to the Company on the 5th January, 1899.