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quintinshill rail disaster
13
C . R . TRA I N REG I STER
The lack of a proper handover, the pressure of writing up the register,
while operating the signals
(minus the key safety collar)
and points levers on
what was an excessively busy section of line at that time,and the continuing
presence of Meakin, together with the brakemen of the two goods trains
in the passing loops, who were also, wrongly, hanging about in the signal
box until slightly before the crash, must all have contributed to Tinsley
forgetting the local on the wrong line, despite the fact that he had just
travelled to work on the footplate and it was parked only some 65 yards to
his left and below where he was in the signal box.
Certainly the combination of irregularities would not have helped in
creating the calm and professional attitude that should have prevailed
in a signal box on such a busy main line. One further contributory factor
may have been the design of the signal box. It was old and lower in height
than the newer ones and, unlike the majority of signal boxes, the‘frame’ of
signal levers was set back in the centre of the box rather than immediately
behind the front window. This window in turn, and unusually, did not run
the full length of the box.Part of it was a wall with a desk against it on which
the train register was kept. Thus Tinsley, concentrating on writing up the
late entries into the Register, could not see immediately to his front and,
in turning to change the unguarded up signal would not have looked down
onto the track as he would have on the more conventional layout with the
frame at the front. Additionally, due to the lower height of the box, the line
of quite high empty coal wagons parked in the up loop may well have at least
partially hidden the local train on the main line if he had indeed glanced to
his left.
Both Meakin and Tinsley were subsequently tried in the High Court in
Edinburgh in September. It was a short trial and the jury took only eight
minutes to reach a unanimous finding of Guilty of culpable homicide. The
Judge, Lord Strathcyde, Lord Justice-General of Scotland, saw room for
drawing a distinction in the case and sentenced Meakin to eighteen months’
imprisonment whilstTinsley went down for three years hard labour.
In the event Tinsley, after public pressure, was released at the same time
as Meakin and both were immediately re-employed by the railway, though in
lower grade non-signalling jobs.