This day in 1894 - report of fatality at Melksham

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From Facebook this morning

Caution: Descriptions contained below are not for the squeamish.

Bath Chronicle, Thursday, 11 October, 1894:

"Fatality at Melksham

An inquest was held on Tuesday at Melksham, before Mr Coroner Sylvester, on the body of Nathaniel Lewis, aged 45 years, a railway carriage examiner, and a resident of Frome. Deceased had come to Melksham to do some work, which, having completed, he was proceeding to cross the line over the metals to travel to his home at Frome by a train then standing in the station, when he was caught and cut to pieces by an up excursion train passing through at full speed from Weymouth to London.

With reports of a train "clipping" a passenger at Melksham Station yesterday, we are reminded that getting too close to a trains still dangerous.

The 1894 happening lead for calls for a footbridge - see full article above.   Perhaps yesterday's incident highlights the need for a simple yellow line to warn people to stand back from the edge of the platform??

[Timmer]

Very surprised to read there isn’t a yellow line on the platform at Melksham Graham, especially when from time to time you have non stop WoE trains passing through.

[grahame]

Very surprised to read there isn’t a yellow line on the platform at Melksham Graham, especially when from time to time you have non stop WoE trains passing through.

There are also non stop stone trains and other traffic too just about every day. Not just a passenger line!

Refused on the basis of the cost of keeping it fresh and clean ... and because trains have to slow down through the station because of the sharp(ish) corner.    With the much increased passenger numbers at Melksham, perhaps now is the time to review this safety measure?

[bobm]

Also worth remembering the incident yesterday happened with a train which was calling at the station - might have been very different if it was a passing train.

[paul7575]

The rules as published only require yellow lines to deal with aerodynamic effects of passing trains, not physical clearance, I expect neither passenger (required >100 mph) or freight trains (required >45 mph) are fast enough through Melksham. 

Paul

[stuving]

The rules as published only require yellow lines to deal with aerodynamic effects of passing trains, not physical clearance, I expect neither passenger (required >100 mph) or freight trains (required >45 mph) are fast enough through Melksham. 

Paul

The maximum speed through Melksham is 40 mi/hr, so there's no aerodynamic need for a line. But lines are being painted and used more widely than that. Dispatchers routinely expect everyone to keep that far back when a train is about to depart - and often berate anyone who isn't (e.g. at Reading). And announcements often refer to keeping behind those lines when a train is arriving.

But while the aerodynamic justification is documented, how official is this wider reason for having and referring to lines? As another example, at Wokingham there were lines at the back of the coping slabs (ca. 0.8 m?), replaced by new lines further back (ca. 1.2 m?) about ten years ago - and the speed restriction is just 30 mi/hr.

[IndustryInsider]

It’s an area where I’m surprised the rules aren’t stricter.  A passenger train at 90mph has more of a turbulent effect than a freight train at 50mph, surely?

The likelihood of passengers crowding at a place like Wokingham is much more than at somewhere like Melksham of course, and there’s the added fact that passengers often ignore them anyway, at unstaffed stations like Melksham especially, but even sometimes when harangued at staffed stations!