LNER 1935 Welwyn crash

[John Palmer]

I presume when the box originally opened in 1926 the original 'pegging' & non-pegging block instruments were 3-position GNR block instruments in origin but were later on replaced by L.N.E.R. Thompson 3-position block instruments that remained on the block shelf until the NX panel replaced the lever frame in September 1973.

Lt Col Mount's report on the 1935 accident includes a scale drawing of the WGC block shelf and its principal instruments at that time. From what little I know of Great Northern practice it appears that Up and Down Main and Slow lines were then being controlled by GNR combined block instruments. The original design of these had the bell suspended from an enclosure mounted above the casing that contained the pegging and non-pegging indicators. The drawing in the 1935 report shows that both of the Up line instruments had been modified by moving this bell and its associated housing to an adjacent case that already contained a bell and tapper, the reason for this change being given on the drawing as “Bell moved to improve view of illuminated diagram”. The Up and Down Main blocks were spaced from each other on forty-two and one quarter inch centres. The tapper on the Up Main instrument was used for bell signals to Welwyn North in respect of both Up and Down trains, with the result that, for a Down train, the WGC signalman would need to look at an instrument some three and a half feet from the one at which he was standing when operating the bell tapper in order to observe the indications pegged by his colleague at Welwyn North as a result of the bell signals exchanged.

[Mickey]

Thanks John I did see that drawing in the official accident report a number of years ago but thanks for drawing my attention to it again.

Those x4 L.N.E.R. Thompson block instruments that were at Welwyn Garden City box I presume must have survived after the commissioning of the NX panel in September 1973 (lovely polished wood and glass with brass surrounds) and I presume that possibly they either ended up in a private collection somewhere or possibly they may have found there way to York NRM and are stored away. A general observation is I presume many decommissioned signal box block instruments found there way in to private collections around the country over the last 50-60-70 years because many of those instruments were beautifully made and the same goes for the GNR single needle telegraph instruments as well.

[swhite01]

A quick note to thank Jonathan for posting the photos of the accident. They were taken the following day and were from two press associations. They are labelled on the reverse as being registered with the LNER press office. I purchased them on ebay for local interest reasons but also because of the detail of the coaching stock for modelling.
Thanks again Jonathan,
Steve

www.gnrsociety.com

[Mickey]

Basically in railway signalling parlance Fred unfortunately got 'two in a section' that is two trains in a (Absolute) block section where only one train is permitted under normal circumstances at anyone time although in Fred's defence he possibly was distracted by the station porter's two separate phone calls regarding the parcel left on the train from Hertford and having to ring Hatfield station up about it himself on behalf of the Welwyn porter. Also it is unknown how the letter regarding his no.1 disciplinary hearing may have also effected his mind with the letter waiting for him in the box when he took duty detailing his punishment in writing which was also noted by the author in his book. Another possible effect may have been tiredness (not mentioned in the book) because if it was a similar type of roster in force as it was in B.R. days usually a signalman would start his night turns on a Monday night (the accident happened on a Saturday night) and then work through until the following Sunday night (there may have been a rest night off?) so Fred may have already have worked five 8hrs night turns between 10:00 pm & 06:00 am since the start of that week although from personal experience of working nights in a relatively quiet signal box I usually found the first 2-3 hours were ok but I would usually start to feel a bit tired from about 12:30-1:00 am onwards no matter how much sleep one got during the day time until about 4:30-5:00 am when it would be getting near 'going home time' so I would start getting myself sorted out ready for the off soon after 6:00 am when my relief arrived. In Fred's case the accident happened in the first 90 minutes of him starting his night turn at 10:00 pm.

Also regarding the 'free block' that existed on the G.N/L.N.E.R. main line at that time before the 1935 Welwyn Garden City crash and the adoption of 'Welwyn Control' by the L.N.E.R. where until it's adoption by the company a signalman could give as many 'line clears' as he wanted to the signalman in the box in the rear so as to allow that signalman to release and clear his section signal to allow a second train into a Absolute block section that was already occupied by a train was to say the least a potentially dangerous set up to have in main line s/boxes that worked passenger lines.

[StevieG]

"In the picture above showing Welwyn box.

The box was extended at some unknown date at the south end (the door end) because from the outside you could definitely see the change in the colour of brickwork especially on wet/rainy days and I presume the reason for that extension was to accommodate the 20 lever 'Luton frame' which was basically redundant by around 1967/68 when a siding opposite platform no.1 (now days platform no.4) and its set of points and a couple of full-size semaphore stop signals outside the box were all abolished. The only levers that were still in use when I arrived at the box as a telegraph lad in July 1972 were two 'brown levers' at the extreme left-hand end of the 20 lever 'Luton frame' which both worked the individual Up & Down barrier arms protecting the barrow crossing across the four main running lines outside the box. .... "

IIRC, from old sketch diagrams Mickey, the box opened with only a 65-lever frame. with the Luton and Hertford branches remaining as plain Single lines, newly serving the outer platforms, to/from Hatfield, although WGC box was given just the basic Stop and Distant signals on both lines for both directions, I think.
If you knew that levers 1-6 were Spare before 4-6 were used for the new Down Slow/Down Back Platform signals and points (that were put in when the Luton Line from Hatfield was closed after the 'Wresters Bridge' fell in 1966), 1-6 were originally used for those simple Luton Line signals.

The box's main frame must've first been extended to its final 85 with the c.1940/'42 -
- conversion of the Hertford single line between WGC and Hatfield to be a 'Permissive' Up Goods,
- provision of the (presumably) new, Up Reception line and Up Yard, which had signalled motorised connections to the Up Goods at the south end of the yard, and
- the Up Back platform line becoming a 'loop' off the Up Slow : -
(total levers 51-69 IIRC).

Then (around 1960 -'62 ? ) the Luton Loop (no platform) was put in through the station (the later GF-op'd single-ended siding), with both the platform line and the loop signalled for both directions, and requiring the extra 19-lever 'Luton frame' [ 2 brown levers as you said, un-numbered (for the mechanical barriers of the main lines barrow crossing), and L1 - L17 ], of which sadly L1-L17 points, FPLs and signals didn't have many years' life.

[swhite01]

Stevie,
I hope the link below points to the Signal box diagram showing the "L" points and signals.
Steve

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pwayowen/ ... 36963@N07/