The Yorkshire Almanac A accident in fog on the Midland Railway between Leeds and Sheffield highlights the need for better communications technology

19 January 1905: A accident in fog on the Midland Railway between Leeds and Sheffield highlights the need for better communications technology

Spectator. 1903/01/21. [Cudworth Junction railway accident]. London. Get it:

Excerpt

The Scotch up express, drawn by two engines, and travelling at fifty miles an hour, ran into a mail train from Leeds to Sheffield, travelling slowly in the same direction and on the same rails. Both trains were completely wrecked and caught fire, and the down Scotch express was only just pulled up in time before running into the wreckage. Few passengers were travelling in the wrecked trains, but six persons were killed on the spot, including two boys who were returning to Bradfield College, another died during the day, and fifteen were injured, seven seriously. A thick fog prevailed at the time, and it is supposed that the express overran the signals, but at the moment of writing details are wanting. It is, however, quite clear that had it not been for the presence of mind of the guard of a goods train on an adjoining line, who happened to know that the down express was due, and ran to place detonators on the rails, many more lives would have been lost or endangered. The accident thus plainly emphasises the need of giving further and extended trials to the apparatus which automatically establishes communication between signalmen and engine-drivers in a fog.

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

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Original

A terrible accident occurred on the Midland Railway near Cudworth Junction, between Leeds and Sheffield, early on Thursday morning. The Scotch up express, drawn by two engines, and travelling at fifty miles an hour, ran into a mail train from Leeds to Sheffield, travelling slowly in the same direction and on the same rails. Both trains were completely wrecked and caught fire, and the down Scotch express was only just pulled up in time before running into the wreckage. Few passengers were travelling in the wrecked trains, but six persons were killed on the spot, including two boys who were returning to Bradfield College, another died during the day, and fifteen were injured, seven seriously. A thick fog prevailed at the time, and it is supposed that the express overran the signals, but at the moment of writing details are wanting. It is, however, quite clear that had it not been for the presence of mind of the guard of a goods train on an adjoining line, who happened to know that the down express was due, and ran to place detonators on the rails, many more lives would have been lost or endangered. The accident thus plainly emphasises the need of giving further and extended trials to the apparatus – described recently in these columns – which automatically establishes communication between signalmen and engine-drivers in a fog.

228 words.