The official Report of Colonel Yorke on the railway accident
at Shrewsbury in which eighteen persons were killed on October 15th last is a very remarkable and somewhat dis- quieting document. The accident, which Colonel Yorke describes as among the worst which have happened on English railways, cannot, in his opinion, be ascribed to defective machinery or the state of the driver's health. But in view of the fact that he had been on duty the entire previous night, and had been out of bed during four nights out of six previous to the accident, Colonel Yorke is of opinion that he was either asleep or dozing at the moment when the brakes should have been applied, and thus overran the danger signals. Colonel Yorke, who is fortified in this view by the experience of retired enginemen, suggests, as a means of guarding against such disasters, that the duties of drivers and firemen should be arranged in such a way that no engineman should be on duty during the whole of two consecutive nights. He also approves of the suggestions that speed indicators should be affixed to all engines, and that detonators might be more extensively used, by day as well as night, and in clear weather as well as fog, in order to make it impossible for drivers to pass a danger signal without receiving a reminder of their position. It is only right to add that the railway companies are admitted to exercise strict supervision over drivers of long-distance express trains, and that they inflict penalties on those who leave their lodging-houses during the time allotted to rest.
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