October 13. 1845, an accident occurred, which had wellnigh been the destruction of a whole train of passengers. Shortly after the train had left Dunford Bridge, and while it was dark, a shock was received which threw both engine and train off the line, seriously injuring several of the carriages, and almost crushing the guard to death. As soon as the passengers could be got out of the carriages, it was ascertained that a cow had got upon the line, and the engine had come in violent contact with it. The poor animal was nearly cut in two, and, of course, killed on the spot. Information was immediately sent to the Sheffield station, and a pilot engine promptly despatched at ten o'clock at night.

A train going west on Saturday evening last, Nov. 29. 1845, after dark, on the Newcastle and Carlisle railway, encountered some thing lying across the rails between Haydon Bridge and Haltwhistle, which turned out to be a cow, which was instantly killed. It seems the animal had jumped out of a truck from a train going east, and had broken its thigh. The engine, the Rapid, was thrown across the rails, and the driver into the hedge, but he escaped unhurt, and no damage was done otherwise.

ACCIDENTS FROM IMPERFECT EARTH WORKS AND BRIDGES.

An accident of a very frightful character occurred on Friday evening, December 5. 1845, on the works of the Shrewsbury, Oswestry, and Chester Junction Railway, between Gresford and Wrexham. The workmen and stonemasons employed on the works at Gresford, it appears, were in the practice, on leaving their work in the evening, of getting into the earth waggons, and being propelled up the

line to Wrexham. On the evening in question about forty of them had taken their seats in the trucks, and were proceeding at a rapid rate when, on arriving opposite the racecourse, near Wrexham, the fireman's waggon got off the line, and ran down the embankment, dragging with it the remainder. One man was found among the lower trucks, frightfully mutilated and quite dead. Another labourer was discovered with his left leg severed completely. A third poor creature had his left leg broken in three places, while seven or eight others were more or less injured. An inquest was held on the body, which occupied a considerable time, in the course of which it was shown that the accident arose by the rails sinking into the earth below the level of the road, the rails not being properly laid on the sleepers. The jury returned a verdict of “accidental death," with a deodand of 57. on the carriage.

On Thursday, January 1. 1846, a very serious land slip took place near the Stonehouse station of the Birmingham and Bristol Railway. The down mail train from Birmingham, which was due at Bristol at five o'clock, January 2. had not arrived, and a red light and a bar were placed upon the line above the engine to stop the Birmingham down mail train until the six o'clock Great Western up train had passed. Just at this moment, however, and fortunately before the Great Western engine was attached to the train, the Birmingham mail train came rushing down the steep incline, passed the red light without stopping, and a collision between the two engines was the consequence. The buffers were driven in, the engines dashed off the line, and much injured, but fortunately beyond the alarm necessarily arising from such an accident, the passengers received no injury.

An accident of a fearful and most appalling character happened to a railway train on the South Eastern Railway, on Tuesday morning, January 20. 1846, between Tonbridge

and Penhurst station between 12 and 1 o'clock. The train was passing over a kind of wooden viaduct resting on brick abutments, passing over a branch stream of the river Medway, when the bridge gave way, and the engine and a portion of the train was precipitated into the stream, killing the engine driver, and occasioning a considerable loss of property. The accident is supposed to have happened from heavy rains, the channel of the stream being greatly swollen, and the foundation of the abutments having been injured.

A fatal accident of another kind occurred at the Almond viaduct, on the Edinburgh and Glasgow railway, June, 1845, which created great alarm. It is believed to have arisen from the sleepers of the rails over one of the arches having two much elasticity, which is understood to have since been rectified. An engine of a fast train was suddenly jerked off the rails when going at considerable velocity; the consequence of which was, that the engine was thrown over, and the unfortunate driver was crushed to death. Fortunately, the draw-bar or connecting hooks for attaching the engine to the carriages gave way, leaving the train upon the rails, otherwise the train might have been precipitated over a very high embankment, or over the viaduct, the slight parapet of which could not for an instant have retained the carriages had they been thrown over the rails.

Few accidents which have occurred have been attended with more miraculous preservation than this; and it should afford a useful lesson in all time coming, of the vast responsibility that lies on the planner, constructor, and those in the management of railways, to have a careful eye to the public safety irrespective of expense.

The real cause of this accident has not been officially made public, although an examination of the spot was subsequently made by a government inspector. If the accident arose from too much elasticity of the rails at the spot, it surely admitted of being rectified. It is to be hoped that the chance of recurrence of such an accident is now entirely removed.

Another class of accidents owes their origin entirely to the defects in the construction of the bridges on the line. The accidents arising from these are more fatal to the servants of the railway company than to the public; still, as the preservation of human life, in every case, must be looked to as a part of the executive police of all countries, the servants of railways are as much entitled to have their safety looked after as passengers. I have before shown the want of uniformity of plan which exists in railway works; and in none, perhaps, does it more so than in bridges over the line. It would be desirable to fix, by legal enactment, a standard height. When bridges want elevation, they must be liable to cause accidents, and when once so erected, they remain as a permanent defect on the line.

The danger from the lowness of bridges is seen in the many accidents which have occurred to the

guards on several railways; and it is a painful supposition to the passengers, that a person in the discharge of his duty is liable, in a moment, to be killed on the spot or have his skull fractured by coming in contact with the arch of a bridge. On some lines the guard cannot stand up for a moment without running this risk; and, on some lines, he requires to keep a constant look out, even when sitting on his seat at the top of a carriage. Accidents, from these causes, have occurred in most parts of the kingdom. Not long since, on the Glasgow and Ayr line, one of the guards was killed, when sitting, by his head coming in contact with a bridge; and one of the guards on the Edinburgh and Glasgow railway, when standing at his seat, was nearly killed on the spot from the same cause. It must be apparent that the remedy for such accidents is, when the railway is making, to give a sufficient elevation to the bridges. therefore, to be spared by railway companies to effect this object.

No expense ought,

A fatal accident occurred on Friday the 30th January, 1846, on the South Eastern Railway. As the stoker of the engine of the half-past 9 o'clock train from Dover attempted to cross over the luggage van, his head came in contact with one of the bridges, and killed him on the spot.