An accident on Dog Kennel Hill 31st July 1925
Dog Kennel Hill is one of the locations that was popular with many people who took photographs of London Trams. In the following document a full description of the location is given you can find it here on Streetmap.com It has been altered from tram days into a dual carriageway. This document was found in my fathers notes - unfortunately it is incomplete. But I have published it here as I was approached for information by someone who wished to construct a model of the location.
LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL TRAMWAYS
Ministry of Transport,
7 Whitehall Gardens,
London, S.W.I.
14th August, 1925.
SIR,
I have the honour to report for the information of the Minister of Transport, in accordance with the Minute of the 4th August, the result of my Inquiry into the circumstances of an accident which occurred at 8.21 a.m. on the 31st July at Dog Kennel Hill, East Dulwich, on the London County Council tramway system.
As car No. 226 was ascending this hill and had reached a point approximately coincident with the top of the steepest portion of the gradient, the power supply was cut off and the car commenced to run backwards down the hil finally coming into collision with car No. 1704, which was standing at the time near the foot of the gradient.
As a result of the accident there were 38 cases of personal injury, including the motormen and conductors of both cars. A number of the cases of injury were quite slight, 19 of the passengers complaining only of shock, and there were fortunately no serious cases.
The damage to the cars was as follows:
Car No 226. "B" end. Crown board and platform boards broken and crushed, and platform Upper Saloon. |
Car No 1704. "B" end. |
Car No. 226 was originally constructed in 1904, but has been rebuilt and reconstructed in detail so many times that little of the original car remains. It is of the top-covered, double deck, single truck type, the leading dimensions being as follows :
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The truck, which was built in 1904, is of the Brill 21E type. The two motors are of the Westinghouse 200 type, constructed in 1904. The controllers are of the Westinghouse T 2 C type, constructed in 1907, and fitted to the car on 13th June, 1925. The hand brake is of the platform ratchet handle type, with spindle and chain, and Brill 21 E type truck standard arrangement of wheel blocks.
The electro-magnetic brake, originally fitted in 1906, is equipped with special magnets of the Westinghouse 26 A pattern, arranged for use in con junction with the London County Council track brake, which was fitted in 1909. This track brake is operated by hand wheels on either end of the car, and utilises the electro-magnetic brake shoes as track slippers.
In addition to this brake equipment, the connections are arranged so that in the event of a run-back with the reversing key in the forward position and the controller handle in the neutral position, No. 2 motor is short circuited, and m these circumstances the energy necessary to generate the short circuit current acts as a brake in the reverse direction on the car.
The date of the last overhaul was 13th June of this year. A considerable amount of work was done during this overhaul, including the fitting of the controllers, new armatures and field coils for the motors, and other details of electrical equipment. In regard to the magnetic brakes, all the cables were remade to the freshly fitted controllers, the mechanical parts were dismantled, cleaned, reassembled and adjusted, and four new magnets fitted. Since this overhaul the car ran up to the time of the accident 5,890 miles.
Description.
Dog Kennel Hill lies north-west of East Dulwich Station on the route between Victoria and Catford. From the foot of the gradient near the station railway bridge the total length to the summit at Champion Hill is nearly 500 yards, the gradients being as follows
For 30 yards 1 in 35, for 26 yards 1 m 45, tor 31 yards 1 in 40, for 65 yards 1 in 35, for 51 yards 1 in 23, for 34 yards 1 in 16, for 193 yards 1 in 1116, for 19 yards 1 in 18, and for 44 yards 1 in 56. For the greater part of the distance the line on the hill is quadruple, the two tracks on the west side of the road being used for ascending, that is, inward bound, traffic, and the two tracks on the east side for descending traffic. The points between the quadruple and the double track at the foot of the hill are situated at the change in gradient from 1 in 40 to 1 in 35, and those at the summit of the hill are on the 1 in 56 gradient. Traffic in both directions is operated alternately on the outer and inner of the two parallel tracks, and no car is allowed to proceed over the facing points at the foot of the gradient until the preceding car on the track concerned is clear of the points at the head of the gradient. The minimum headway of traffic in this route is about one minute, representing therefore two minutes on each of the four lines over the section of quadruple track.
At the time of the accident car No. 1704 was standing on the inward bound track immediately south of the facing points at the foot of the gradient, and car No. 226, when it began to run backwards, was at the summit of the 1 in 110 section of rising gradient. Car No. 1704 was driven back by the impact a distance of about 78 yards, just beyond, in fact, the foot of the hill.
The alignment of the tramway on the hill is practically straight, though in the centre of the steepest portion there is a slight curve eastward. The system of traction is by bare conductors laid in conduit, both poles being insulated from earth.
Report.
1. The car was in charge of motorman Albert James, a man of 27 years' driving experience, for the last 20 of which he had been handling the Council's electric tramcars. The Victoria - Catford route, which includes this hill, is a very familiar one to him, and he has driven cars over it for the last 18 years.
On the morning of the 31st July James came on duty about 5.30 a.m., and took over car No. 226 at Camberwell Depot. He knows this car well, and has driven it often. He said that the equipment generally, including the brake gear, was in a satisfactory condition. On the Council's tramway system the magnetic brake is used for ordinary service stops, and is subjected, therefore, to constant work in the normal course of events. James naturally used it many times on the morning of the 31st prior to the accident, and found its behaviour quite normal. He used it, of course, only for forward braking, and had no occasion, up to the time of the run-back, to employ it in the reverse direction. From Camberwell Depot James worked the car to Catford, in which direction the hill is descended, and then returned to Victoria. The weather was wet, and a small amount of sand was required to climb the hill on this occasion. He then returned to Catford, and started back again on the return journey. The last service stop, made, as usual, on the magnetic brake, was at East Dulwich Station, a short distance from the quadruple line points at the foot of the hill. When the car reached a position, in James' estimation, about 10 to 15 yards from the points at the summit, he felt the power supply to his motors fail. After glancing at the circuit breakers at his end of the car and seeing them still in, James assumed, as was the fact, that power had been taken off the line. He then proceeded to take action to prevent the run-back as described by him in the following words:-
'' When the current failed, my controller handle was on the last notch of power, and I moved it to the neutral position, reversed the reversing key, and put the controller handle on to the brake notches. I went round on to the top notch. There was no effect whatever on the car. After running back three or four car lengths, about, I brought my controller handle to the neutral position. This should have given a brake of some kind, but it gave none whatever. When I found that this short circuit brake had no effect, 1 gave the car one notch of power in the forward direction. When I was on the first notch I felt the car check; I then went on to the second notch, and that opened the breaker. I immediately put the breaker in again and applied power on the first notch! This checked the car, but the breaker went out a second time. When the breaker had opened the second time, I left the electric controls alone and tried to stop the car with the hand brake. I had previously taken the slack out of this brake when I first went to apply the magnetic brake when the run-back started. The hand brake did not seem to have any effect at all. We were, at the time, going pretty fast, but I am no judge of speed and cannot say what it was. I was still trying to check the car with the hand brake when we came into collision with the car at the bottom of the hill." |
It should be added that, in using the magnetic brake initially in order to check the run-back, James was acting strictly in accordance with the Council's instructions.
2. The conductor of the car was Francis Cook, a man of 28 years of age, with 2 years' experience as conductor. He noticed the car begin to run back just before reaching the summit of the gradient, and shortly afterwards felt a check as if the brake had been applied. This check appeared to him to be only momentary; at any rate, not to be maintained sufficiently long to affect the speed of the car. Later on he felt a second check of the same character as the first; and finally was under the impression that the brake was applied a third time, and in a similar manner, shortly before the collision took place. Cook described these brake applications as occasioning a grinding noise similar to that made by an application of the magnetic brake. The Council's instructions to conductors require them not to take any action to apply the hand brake in the event of a run-back unless a signal is received from the motorman. Cook was acquainted with this instruction, and said that he did not receive any signal until the car was a short distance from the points at the foot of the hill, when the motorman sounded the bell. Cook then took what action he could to apply the hand brake, but had no time to do more than make a slight application when the collision took place. During the course of the run-back Cook took steps to prevent the passengers leaving the car, although, in fact, one of them did so immediately the run-back started. The car was fully loaded, and there were four or five standing passengers.
3. Joseph O'Leary, the driver of the standing car, noticed, as he came to a stand near the facing points, car No. 226 coming backwards down the hill at a distance of about 50 yards from him. His first inclination was to start his car over the other up track, but decided that he would not be able to clear the fouling point before the descending car reached it. He then decided to reverse to get clear, but had no time to do so before the collision occurred.
4. Mr. Cook, the car shed superintendent of the Southern System, heard of the accident at the New Cross Depot at 8.30 a.m. He proceeded to Dog..
The rest of this document is missing, hopefully the remainder will be found in due course
By - Unknown - ed. J. Wills
© Copyright John R. Prentice Software 2015-2023. Wills photo copyright TLRS.
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