IGNITING THE FLAME OF UNITY
THE HISTORY OF THE
BRIGHTON BRANCH OF A.S.L.E.F.
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A fatal accident that occurred to Mr. Piekersgill-Cunliffe, at the Caterham junction station, on Monday, the 22nd of September
1873. This station belongs to the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway Company, but is also used for the traffic of the
South-Eastern Railway Company running for five miles between Caterham and Caterham junction. The junction station is about
13 miles from London Bridge, and the line lending to it belongs to the South Eastern Railway Company from the London
Bridge station nearly to the Bricklayers Arms junction ; and thence, for 11 1/2 miles to the Caterham junction, it belongs to the
Brighton Company. The property in the immediate neighbourhood of the Caterham junction belongs to the Brighton Company ;
and the Caterham- junction station is used by the South-Eastern Company on terms into the details of which it is not now
necessary to enter.At the junction station there are two platforms, with two lines of rails between them ; and on the east of the
down platform there is a line connected with the Caterham branch. The station is employed, partly for passengers to and from
the neighbourhood of Caterham junction, and partly for passengers running through between London and Caterham. Certain of
the trains from London for Caterham run through the junction station on the down main line, and then back into the Caterham
branch, at the south end of the down-line platform.In other cases, the passengers have to change from the down main line trains
into the Caterham branch lines, using the down platform at the junction station for that purpose ; and such passengers are not
required to cross the main line. But there are, on the other hand, passengers who, arriving from the Caterham branch at the down
line platform, are compelled to cross the two main lines in order to proceed by trains stopping at the up line platform. There are
also Passengers who, arriving at the down line platform, are compelled to cross the two main lines in order to go to their
residences or places in the neighbourhood of the Caterham junction. There are also passengers who, arriving by the up main line
trains, have to cross the two main lines in order to proceed to Caterham by train.
On the south of the up-line platform there is a signal-cabin, which to some extent obstructs the view of persons crossing the
lines from the up side. The approach from the road (which is about 35 feet below the railway) is by means of steps joining the
up-line platform at the back of this cabin ; and passengers, on arriving at the top of the steps, are thus the less likely to see the
up trains approaching, in consequence of the position of the signal-cabin. The platforms were not originally constructed for the
large traffic which is at present accommodated at the Caterham junction station; and the down-line platform, which is 11 feet 6
inches in width, is especially inconvenient, considering the number of people it has to accommodate, the exposure to the
weather to which they are subjected, and the necessity for crossing both main lines in order to get to or to leave it. There is a
wooden foot-way forming a level-crossing between the up and down line platforms ; and in connection with it, there is a break
in the down-line platform, (forming also, as already described, the Caterham branch platform,) which is very inconvenient, and
even dangerous, to passengers getting in and out of the trains on that side of the line.
At 10.1 a.m. on the day in question, the station master was walking, from the door of his booking office towards the signal cabin
(which is 16 yards from it) when he noticed the deceased gentleman, Mr Pickersgill - Cunliffe (who he had known well for 15
or 16 years as a constant passenger), passing from the top of the approach steps, along the side of the signal cabin, on his was
across the two lines of the rails from the up to the down platform, as he was in the habit of doing every morning, for the train
leaving Caterham Junction at 10.9 a.m. for London. The branch train from Caterham had not then arrived at the junction, but
Mr. Cunliffe was evidently about to cross the main line, in order to join that train on its arrival, with the intention of getting into
one of the carriages destined for London, and of sitting in that carriage while it was shunted across from the Caterham branch to
the up main line, to be attached to the 9.50 a.m. train from Redhill, due to leave Caterham junction at 10.9 a.m. for London. Mr.
Cunliffe had a newspaper in one hand and an umbrella in the other, and was walking across, apparently watching a down
excursion train, which was passing the station while he was at the signal-cabin. As he was emerging from the signal-cabin, the
station-master noticed that before he reached the up line of rails, he suddenly threw his head and the upper part of his body
backwards, and at the same moment his legs were struck by a foot-step on the Brighton Company's 7 a.m. train from Hastings,
due to pass through the Caterham junction station without stopping at 9.54 a.m. The train passed on through the station at a
speed of about 40 miles an hour, leaving Mr. Cunliffe lying on the ground with his legs very much injured. Mr Cunliffe was
taken up and forwarded to London by the train, and was received as a patient at Guy's Hospital, where he died a fortnight later
from the injuries which he had received.
The signalman who was on duty in the cabin at the south of the up platform saw Mr. Cunliffe come up the steps and approach
the door of his signal-cabin.He handed to him the"Times”newspaper, which had been left for him by the newspaper-boy on the
station, and the boy was frequently in the habit of so leaving it when be failed himself to see Mr. Cunliffe. The signalman states
that on receiving the paper Mr. Cunliffe turned round again, as if going back towards the steps ; and the signalman, receiving on
his telegraph-instrument notice of the approach of a train in each direction, said to Mr. Cunliffe, "Look out forthe train ;" but
Mr. Cunliffe did not make any reply, and did not apparently hear what was said to him, because he was too far from the
signalman to do so. The signalman then went into his cabin to attend to his duties, and he did not again notice Mr. Cunliffe until
after he had been struck down by the engine of the up train. It appeared to the signalman that Mr. Cunliffe must have seen the
down train approaching, and have turned back towards the stops in order to wait until that train had passed.
The engine-driver of the 7 a.m. train from Hastings on the 22nd of September was approaching the Caterham junction station at
about 35 miles an hour, when he suddenly saw, as he was passing the signal cabin on the south of the up-line platform, a gentle-
man attempting to cross the up line. He noticed that he had an umbrella under his left arm, and a newspaper in his right hand,
and was looking down towards the ground as he walked. The engine-driver noticed that the engine struck him in passing, and
knocked his hat off. The steam was shut off, and the engine-driver whistled in the first instance for the breaks, after seeing that
the gentleman had been knocked down, but he afterwards thought it better to run forward to Croydon without stopping. He
therefore made a signal to the guard to take off the break again, and the train was not stopped short of Croydon, from which
station it proceeded to London. The engine- driver did not whistle in approaching the Caterham junction, and he states that it is
not usual for him to do so unless he sees special necessity for it, such as a train standing at the station, or people crossing the
line.
The fireman who was on the engine with the above engine-driver, was on the off side of the engine as it approached the
Caterham junction station. He heard from the driver, as soon as they had passed through the station, that a man had been
knocked down, but he saw nothing of it from the position in which he stood.
The train was composed of an engine and tender, 11 passenger-carriages, a carriage-truck, and two break-vans. The guard, who
rode in the break-van behind the tender, saw a gentleman walking from the signal cabin towards the engine as the engine
approached the signal-cabin. He noticed that he had an umbrella under his left arm and a newspaper in his right hand. He was
looking down, and he thought at the time that he was reading the newspaper. He saw the engine strike his legs, and also saw him
fall down by the side of the line. The guard applied his break in the first instance ; but the train, which was travelling at a speed
of from 35 to 40 miles an hour, was quickly past the station; and, knowing that a South-Eastern train was due shortly afterwards,
and thinking it would he better to proceed to London, he gave the engine-driver a signal to go forward to Croydon, and took his
break off again.
Mr. Roach, the station-master, who has been doing duty at the Caterham junction station for 17years, states that, as the traffic
has very much increased of late years at the station, so there has been greater risk for the public in crossing between the
platforms ; and that he has on several occasions seen very narrow escapes, and himself interposed to save people from being run
over by the trains. There has, however, never been, he says, any passenger injured at the station previously. He states that he has
frequently as many as a hundred people at one time from Caterham on the down platform waiting for the up main line trains,
and he is occasionally unable to get the passengers across the main lines before the arrival of a fast train not due to stop at the
station. In such case he is obliged to divide the passengers, passing a few of them across the main lines to begin with, then
allowing the train to pass through the station, and then sending over the remaining passengers to the up platform ; and this has to
be done in the dark as well as in daylight. He feels on such occasions very much the necessity for a subway, by means of winch
the passengers might get from the down to the up platform without crossing the main lines.
The signalman has been doing duty at the station for 21 years, and be also has witnessed a great many narrow escapes, and has
himself saved people from being run over by the trains.
There is no doubt as to how this accident occurred.Mr. Cunliffe was evidently about to cross the main line from the signal-
cabin. He noticed a down excursion train approaching from the direction ofLondon, but he did not observe the up train, which
was approaching at almost the same moment. In walking from the signal-cabin towards the main line, he was struck by the
engine of the latter train, and he received the injuries which lead to his death from the footstep of that engine. The station is not,
either in point of safety or as regards convenience, what it ought to be for the accommodation of the large passenger traffic for
which it is now employed. There is evidently much risk to passengers crossing from the narrow platform between the Caterham
branch and the main lines to the up line platform, and vice versa. And there is a special risk in such a case as the present, when a
passenger, approaching the up platform by the only means of access to it, up the steps previously referred to behind the
signal cabin, passes the signal-cabin, and proceeds directly across the main lines towards the down platform; and the risk must
of course be increased when the attention of such a passenger is attracted by a down train, and when an up train is approaching
the cabin from the south at the same moment or immediately afterwards.
In looking at the situation of the station, there would appear to be no great difficulty in providing a remedy for this state of
things.
The down platform is in much need of being widened, which might be done by extending it over one of the lines of rails at
present on the east of it ; and if it were so widened, there would be no difficulty in forming a subway under the main lines
leading directly from it to the present approach steps to the up line platform. In connection with such improvements, shelter and
other conveniences might be provided on the down line platform, and the position of the signal cabin might also be altered. The
only difficulty, indeed, that appears to exist in the matter is the question of what company is to bear the expense of such
alterations, or in what proportion the two companies ought to bear such expenses. The South-Eastern Company, although they
were informed of my inquiry, did not appear at the Caterham junction station. The general manager of the Brighton Company
attended with his officers, and pointed out that although the station and the ground in the neighbourhood belonged (to that
Company, the extra accommodation required was more especially for the passengers of the South Eastern Company using the
Caterham branch, and that therefore the larger proportion of the cost of such alterations ought to be borne by the South-Eastern
Company. It is not for me to enter into this question, but I have no hesitation in stating that in my opinion, such improvements
are urgently, required with a view to the safety of the public.
I hope to receive at a later date details as to amount of passenger traffic conveyed by each company to and from this station, and
to forward this further information to the Board of Trade as soon as it is received.
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