The Board of Trade Report on the Aisgill railway disaster
was issued on Tuesday night. Major Pringle makes several recommendations. He begins by observing that some form of automatic train-stop is necessary, and, pending the acceptance of some satisfactory system, suggests that main-line signal boxes should be provided with an arrangement for placing detonators on the rail by means of a lever. He also recom- mends, as was proposed in the Spectator after the accident, that guards' vans should be provided with coloured flare lights to protect trains when stationary ; that carriages with wooden underframes should be withdrawn and replaced by carriages of stronger type with shock-absorbing buffers; that trains should be lighted by electricity and not gas, and he observes that the use of fireproof material bad not received the consideration it deserved by the railway companies gene- rally. He also suggests that doors should be so constructed as to be easily prised open ; that window-bars should be easily removable; and that surgical dressings should be provided with the salvage tools carried.
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