AT RISK ON THE PERMANENT WAY 1890-1922
The author was prompted to put pen to paper on reading the sad news of the deaths of two permanent way workers near Port Talbot, South Wales (July 2019). Both men were wearing ear-defenders and did not hear the approach of the 9.29am service from Swansea to Paddington. The Daily Mail, 4th July, noted that “The tragedy comes after the Rail Accident Investigation Branch warned of ‘too many near misses in which workers have to jump clear for their lives’.”
During the nineteenth century, the necessity to keep a close eye on the permanent way was essential, and deaths and serious injuries to track men were frequent. The subject is broached by Frederick Williams, author of the classic book Our Iron Roads, first published in 1883. He noted that the permanent way “was open to numerous and strange contingencies which must vitally concern the comfort and even the safety of everything that passes over it”. Furthermore, “The road may be slowly undermined by springs, or slowly washed away by floods; the piers of bridges may be loosened or disturbed; the roofs of tunnels may cave in; or, if nothing worse, culverts and drains may get choked; the sleepers may be rotting; the keys may be loosened from the chairs,* the road may become unsteady; and the carriages may move restlessly and uncomfortably forwards.”
*The current author recalls (in the 1950s) a single man, carrying a heavy, long-shafted hammer, ambling along the local line and stopping every so often to clout a loose key (a timber block) between chair and the rail with a blow from the hammer.
Williams continues: “To avoid and rectify the damage to the track, the permanent way of every line is divided into portions according to the nature of the works – of from seventeen to thirty miles; is placed under the charge of an ‘overlooker’, and is subdivided into ‘lengths’ over each of which is a foreman and a gang of men... It was the duty of the foreman to visit his portion of the line every morning before the first train passes, to see that the keys which hold the rails in the chairs are driven home; that the rails are properly in gauge; and carefully inspect the line, the fences, and the works.”
If extensive repairs were needed, a gang of men was protected by a look-out man positioned on either side of the work site, armed with a red flag, horn or whistle to warn of an approaching train. The drivers of all trains passing through the work site were apprised of the work on the track and asked to reduce the speed of the trains. Signalling staff were also made aware of the
