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Tue 13 Jan 1903 - National Advocate (Bathurst, NSW : 1889 - 1954)
Page 2 - THE LAPSTONE TUNNEL.
THE LAPS! ONE TUNNEL.
From timo to time attention has
been drawn to the danger which exists
to tho travelling public, and more
.particularly to railway drivers and
firemen, 111 tho Lapstone Tunnel under'
the present running conditions. The
. experience of the passenger train on
New Year's Eve has directed fresh
attention to the matter, and .shows
unless something is done, to^ improve
the running Of the trains the Railway
DeDartinent will be cop.ded into action
by a catastrophe which will probably
l j'osult in serious loss of life as well as
great expenso to the country. On
July 8 of last year Mr. W. W. Young!
the member for Bathurst, p&t to tho
Minister for Railways a series of ques
tions relating to the Lapstone Tunnel.
The questions were as follows
(1.) Will he state how many, trains have'
been stuck up in tho tunnel between Emu
Plains and Glenbrook during the last two
years, from 1st June, 1900, to 31st May,
1902; the ciuse- in each case ; and who is.
. responsible?
(a.) In how many eases hi\d,tho men to;be,
taken oft lh»« trainB, and other men found
to run the trainB to their destination /' ?
(3.) How many men have been compelled
to be off duty in consequence of the suffo
cating received in the tunnel?
... (4.) How many men have been compelled
.to undergo medical treatment through in
haling noxious gases while in the tunnel
. ;u uv»r uiu uj uitvu xtuuway.
Commissioners paid such mcdicil expenses,
or assisted to pay J
(5.) Have any eases of permanent Id jury
resulted to men ; and if eo. how many ?
To this Mr. Wadciell replied, the I
answers being of course furnished by '
departmental officors
(1.) 1 am informed that there have been
eight cases, live of which weic due to ht-avy.
loadg, two to engine slipping, and one case to
tho engine cot steaming freely. With one
exception in which the guard wis thought to
bo responsible, uo person was considered at
fault.
(2.) The Locomotive Department reports
one case.
(8, 4, and 5.) There is no rcconl of any
such eases.
Mr. Young was not satisfied with
these replies, and took occasion to refer
to the matter again when the estimatos
were under discussion on October 30,
when he said he knew there wore three
times as many cases as nau i,een enu
merated, though ho was uot in a posi
tion to give tho dates. Most of tho
' mishaps occur to goods trainy, and
stoppages are said to be of such fre
quent occurrence that they aro taken
almust as a matter of course. At all
ovonts, knowledge of them is coufined,
for the time being, to the Department
and it is only when a passenger train
is concerned, and the passengers- begin
to talk about their experience, that
public attention is aroused. One re
sult of the New Year's -Eve case,
at all events, is to give the Depart
ment a record of one case of a man
being off duty and compelled
to undergo medical treatment through
inhaling noxious gases or being suffo
cated in the tunnel, for the unfortunate
engine driver is, it is understood, still
in the Penrith hospital suffering |
severely. The cause of the stoppage
is no doubt being inquired into. In
fact a presumably inspired parrgraph in
yesterday's Sydney dailies an
nounces that 'the Commissioners who
went over the line' the other day have
made inquiries into the matter
and will keep a careful watch on fu
ture developments.' The paragraph
also says, after remarking that tho cir
cumstance is the first of its kind since
the tunnel was. opened and ridiculing 1
the idea . that -the vpntilation of the
tunnel is insufficient and its construc
tion faulty, ' the peculiarity of the 1
case in question is that the load on
the train which was stuck up was
a comparatively light one.' J t is all
very well to say that the circumstance
is the first of its kind. Possibly it is.
So was the Redfern disaster of 189-1.
But this does not make it any the. less
severe for the sufferers. Nor does it \
it render the Commissioner any less »
liable that in this instance a passenger j
train was stuck up in the day time, I
whereat in other instances only goods ?
trains have been affected. It is 1
satisfactory to learn that the f
Commissioners . will keep a careful
watch on future developments, but so
will the travelling public and they are
entitled to know what the Commis
sioners are doing to prevent a recur
rence of such mishaps. The ' Lithgow
Mercury,' after recounting the ex
perience of those in charge of a goods
train which recently was stuck up in
the tunnel, repeats the remark of a
certain gentleman that ' the Lap
stone tunnel is dangerous alright, and
the Commissioners know it. But a
man would get the sack if he was
heard saying that.' The paragraph
above referred to from the Sydney
papers leads us to the belief
that the Commissioners do not
really knoiv whether the blame lies on
the tunnel or the engines. If the
tunnel is dangerous the danger must
! lie in the steepness of the grade which
renders constant firing up necessary
on the engines, with the consequent
inorease of tho unpleasant conditions
which always prevail during the pas
sage of a steam engine through a
tunnel, especially on an up grade.
The inference is, if the load on the
passenger train in question was a com
paratively light one, that the engine
employed wa3 an unusually weak one.
The tunnel seems to be as well con
structed as any ordinary tunnel, and
it is only 722 yards long. Granted
that the grade (one in 33) is unusually
steep, it would seem that the remedy
lay in the hands of the.Commissioners
in adequately performing their. duty of
seein' that the engines- employed are
powerful enough, and in good enough J
condition to draw the trains through
the tunnel without stopping. In the I
course of his speech above referred to
on the estimates Mr. Young raid ,
It was said that, except in one case, no one
was to blame for these occurrences ; but
that was absurd. If a train' was stuck-up,
it must be from some cause, and some person
must be to blame. The persons to blame
were those who overloaded the engine.
When they teBted the engines, tbey took the
best engine they had uot, and then an old
crippled engine was expected to take the
same load as the one which had been tested ;
xiuuut; tut; up* , , ? xo woa uuiu
these inspections were more carefully made.
There would not bo so much sticking up if
the engines were kept in a better state. If
they would allow the driver, who knew
something about bis engine, to regulate the
loading, he could see some sense in it, but a
driver was not allowed to interfere.
It might be expected that the
engines attached to the mail trains
would be equal to the task, but it is
not so very long ago that the mail had
to ba divided in order to get through
the tunnel, being delayed a cwuple of
hours as the result. Looking at the
matter all round, it would appear that
the cause of the sticking up is the
weaknoss of the ongines, caused as Mr.
Young remarks, by insufficient in
spection. If this is so then the remedy
is easy, and the Commissioners should
apply it immediately. ? ? ;