QSR1863/4/5/14

Depositions of Joseph Eckersley, locomotive driver of 14 Outram Street, Copenhagen Street, York Road, London. William Needham, Offord Street, Caledonian Road, London. Charles Gilbert, railway labourer of Wymmington. John Jeffery, travelling inspector of railways for the Midland Railway Company from Derby. In the case of James Mackness, aged 12 years, accused of negligently driving 2 horses and a wagon over a level crossing on the Leicester & Hitchin Railway, endangering the safety of persons conveyed upon said railway.

6 October 1863

From: 1863 To: 1863

Joseph Eckersley: he was a locomotive engine driver in the service of the Midland Railway Company. On 24 August he left London for Leicester with the 7.20am passenger train. The train as a government train and stopped at all stations on the Midland line between Hitchin and Leicester. The journey was made without interruption to Sharnbrook. Irchester was the next station from Sharnbrook. It was a distance of about 6 miles and there was a rise in the line from Sharnbrook for about 3 miles and then the gradient went in the other direction. About 2 miles before Irchester station, he saw 2 horses, drawing an empty wagon, coming upon the railway at a distance of about 200 yards from the engine. The team came from the right or East of the line on which they were travelling. He could see the team was in the charge of a boy who appeared to be on the wrong side of the horses. There was private occupation crossing on the level where the wagon was going. He used all his endeavours by reversing the engine and getting breaks put on to stop the train. He whistled. The train was running at about 30 miles an hour. They were unable to stop the train before reaching the place over which the wagon was passing and the wagon was not through the gate posts when the engine came abreast of it. The hind wheels of the wagon were about half way through then gateway. If it had been a fast train nothing would have prevented a collision. From the level crossing a person could see about a mile southwards in the direct from which the engine was coming. He reported the matter at the next station. He could not swear to the identity of the boy but it was a boy about the sixe of the prisoner. William Needham: he was a locomotive foreman with the Midland Railway Company. On 24 August he was fireman to Joseph Eckersley. They left London on the 7.20am train from London to Leicester. They reached Sharnbrook without any occurrence. He was on the footplate on the left hand side of the engine. When they were within 2 miles of Irchester station he saw 2 horses and a wagon, driven by a boy, come across the line. It was at a distance of little over 200 yards from the engine. He and the driver did all they could to stop the train by breaks and reversing the engine. He thought the horses were between them and the boy. They were only able to check the speed. There was no chance of them stopping in that distance. When they got abreast of the wagon, the wagon axle of the hind wheels was just opposite the gate posts. Charles Gilbert: he worked for the Midland Company on the railway and worked in Thomas King’s gang in Wymington parish. Mr Lathom’s level crossing was in his length. On 24 August he was working about quarter of a mile to the North of the crossing. He saw a wagon and 2 horses crossing the level before a government train came down. He heard the train whistle. It seemed that the train must catch the hind part of the wagon as it was passing. Thomas King sent him back to the crossing to keep the road clear for trains. On going back to the crossing he met Gilbert Church, a lad in the employment of Mr Lathom. Church was driving a cart and a horse to the same crossing. He stopped Church and asked if he was the boy with the wagon and the 2 horses. Church said it was young Jem Mackness. He saw Mackness afterwards and he was driving a horse with an empty cart. He asked if he was the boy who had gone through the line with an empty wagon and 2 horses and Mackness replied he was. Church asked Mackness if he went to see if there was a train coming and Mackness replied “No I never thought nothing about it”. John Jeffery: he was a travelling inspector for the south district o the Midland railway. He knew Lathom’s crossing in Wymington. He ascertained what distance could be viewed by standing on the eastern side looking southwards. An engine chimney could be seen a mile from the spot and the engine clearly seen from the gate for half a mile. The custody of the gate, and its safe keeping of the crossing, were that of the occupier of the adjoining land. Statement of the accused: he went to look but did not see the train.

item

Mackness, James,
Eckersley, Joseph,
Needham, William,
Gilbert, Charles,
Jeffery, John,
Church, Gilbert,
Lathom,
King, Thomas

driving offences, Leicester & Hitchin Railway, Midland Railway Company, railway inspector, train driver, railway worker, London, Derby, WYMINGTON, Irchester, level crossings