We greatly regret to record the worst railway accident which
has ever happened in the United Kingdom. Three trains were involved in the collision, which took place last Saturday morning on the Caledonian line at Quintinshill, a mile north of Gretna Green. First a troop train containing officers and men—in all two companies—of the Royal Soots ran into a local train, and then the Scotch express from Easton ran into the wreckage of both. The wreckage caught fire, and many persona were burned before they could be rescued. The number of persona killed was one hundred and fif ty.seven. About two hundred were injured. At the Board of
Trade inquiry the Quintinshill signalman frankly admitted that he had forgotten the local train. He had also arrived late at his cabin, and it seems that unauthorized persons made a practice of visiting the cabin, which may possibly have had a distracting effect. Although the human factor cannot be eliminated from signal work, there is a system of cheeks which ought to provide safety if the checks are not also for- gotten. In this case the checks were forgotten or neglected by the retiring signalman, so that there was nothing to prevent the lapse of memory of his successor from having disastrous consequences.
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