Talk:Invergowrie rail accident

Wrong position
In this accident, the signal was only slightly in the wrong position, 4 degrees out of 45 degrees. Most drivers would surely have regarded it as a stop signal. The driver in question had slowed down for an earlier signal, which indicates that he was paying reasonable attention. Maybe he was distracted by something, which caused the fatal error.


 * Aye; in Danger Signals, Stanley Hall speculated that the driver may only have glanced at it for a moment, concluded that it was clear, then set off. Goose 18:09, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Similar accident
The operation of the Home Signal may have contributed to this accident, as will be shown with another accident in Scotland. Semaphore Home Signals have a weakness because they display 2 aspects when 3 are really needed, and it can be difficult to tell the difference. Ideally there should be one warning aspect (yellow) when the starting signal is at stop, and a different (green) aspect when the starting signal is at go. Because of the ambiguity, a driver may mistake the warning aspect for the clear aspect.

In the other accident, in Scotland, a train had failed because of sticking brakes, while the following train was experiencing mechanical faults which were distracting the attention of the crew. The following train arrived at the signalbox protecting the failed train, and had its Home and Starting signals at stop. As the the train approached the Home signal and appeared to be travelling slowly or slowing down, the signalman cleared the Home signal as he was entitled to do. But the train may have assumed the warning indication of the Home signal to be a clear indication, and kept on going, since the crew were still attending to the mechanical problem. The shocked signalman did all he could, placed detonators, waved the flag, all to no avail, and the following train entered the section and crashed into the train ahead that had failed.

See Ais Gill rail crash.

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WikiProject class rating
This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 05:09, 10 November 2007 (UTC)