Industrial heartland, and Harrow & Wealdstone wreck

[ExCon90]

By the way, I just noticed a slip I made in a previous post: the electrification in southern France is 1500v, not 3000.

[george matthews]

The main site where there is 3000 v DC is Belgium.

[Semaphore Sam]

This crash happened a long time ago, in the period after the second world war. The basic structure of the railway was still suffering from the long period of lack of maintenance, and was much run down. The main cause was a failure of the signalling system. Modern signaling makes it very unlikely such an event could happen today.

And BTW the use of steam locomotives, not yet on the way out, was a serious additional hazard in those days.

There was never an indication that the signaling system failed in any way. There was serious fog on the line ("fog working" had been in effect until less than an hour prior to the accident, which implies less than perfect visibility, but the signaler at H&W subsequently could see his "fog object", and was thus allowed to release the ground staff that manned each inbound signal, implying enough visibility to decipher signals). Whether the crew was distracted in some way, or some other cause, was never determined, as both footplate men were killed). Steam locos had always, for 130 years, caused problems with forward visibility; but to assert "signal failure" is dishonest. By the standards then in effect, the system should have functioned; why it did not, is still a mystery. Please do not invent causes without proof. Sam

[george matthews]

The driver's view of the track ahead - and signals - was much poorer than in modern (non-steam) locomotives.

[Semaphore Sam]

Different question, but totally agree with your point. Sam