A Tribute to Locomotive Drivers

In a recent issue of the “Railway Gazette” mention is made of a very interesting paper entitled “Signalling from a Driver's Point of View,” presented at a meeting of the Institution of Locomotive Engineers by Mr. W. J. Thorrowgood, Signal and Telegraph Superintendent of the Southern Railway. The figures given by Mr. Thorrowgood are eloquent of a degree of reliability on the part of locomotive enginemen deserving of the highest commendation. Mr. Thorrowgood, stated that the number of collisions during 1924—the latest year for which returns are available—due to drivers passing signals in the “on” position was three. There are 38,180 engine drivers in Great Britain, so that the ratio is one failure for every 12,727 men. There were three collisions due to enginemen failing to give effect to regulations or to misjudgments, and five due to divided responsibility, and if the whole eleven accidents are taken as applicable to drivers, then there was one collision to every 3,289 men per annum. A driver, it may be taken, travels 130 miles per day for 326 days in the year, thus the figures prove that one collision takes place for every 138,960,000 train miles run. This small number of collisions shows the high degree of efficiency of locomotive drivers and the care they take.