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The Armagh rail disaster happened on June 12, 1889 near Armagh, Northern Ireland. At the time it was the worst rail disaster in Europe, and it remains the fourth worst in the United Kingdom. 88 people were killed, most of them children, and 170 injured. June 12 is the 163rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (164th in leap years), with 202 days remaining. ...
1889 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...
Armagh is a city in Northern Ireland, the capital of County Armagh. ...
Northern Ireland is one of four constituent parts of the United Kingdom. ...
Notable historic train accidents: 1830s September 15, 1830 – England: William Huskisson becomes first ever passenger train death. ...
World map showing location of Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. ...
Armagh Sunday school had organized a day trip to the seaside resort of Warrenpoint. A special train was arranged for this occasion, carrying almost 600 passengers. To sell more tickets, three extra carriages had been added at the last minute - the extra weight from these meant that the locomotive had barely enough power to pull the train out of the station. Sunday School is the generic name for many different types of religious education pursued on Sundays (traditionally, though not exclusively, in the morning) by various Christian denominations, especially in the United States. ...
Warrenpoint (An Pointe in Irish, meaning the Point) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland, lying on Carlingford Lough. ...
Great Western Railway No. ...
Passengers bustle around the typical grand edifice of Londons Broad Street Station in 1865. ...
The train set off at 10:20 AM. As the train left Armagh, it was faced with a long uphill gradient of 1 in 75. The underpowered train almost reached the top, before the engine stalled 200 yards from the summit. The train's braking system was continuous non-automatic vacuum, meaning that all the carriages had brakes, but it was not automatic or fail-safe. In the 'non-automatic' brake system a vacuum had to be created in the system to apply the brake and allowing air to enter the system released the brake, whereas in the 'automatic' system the creation of a vacuum in the system releases the brake. When air is allowed to enter the system, for example when brake pipes are disconnected, the brake are applied. The vacuum brake is a braking system used on trains. ...
Safety engineering is used to assure that a life-critical system behaves as needed even when pieces fail. ...
To get the train over the summit, the driver decided to split the train in two. As the rear section of the train would be left without brakes, the train crew placed stones behind the wheels of this section, as well as applying a hand brake in the guard's van. Unfortunately, the engine had stalled with its pistons in the "dead centre" position, meaning that when it was restarted to take the front section of the train over the summit, it moved back slightly, crushing the stones. The hand brake alone was not sufficient to hold the rear section, which rolled away down the hill. The occupants were unable to escape as the doors were locked to stop entry by fare-dodgers. piston + connecting rod In general, a piston is a sliding plug that fits closely inside the bore of a cylinder. ...
Meanwhile, the 10:35 had left Armagh. Its crew were horrified to see ten carriages careering backwards towards them with people jumping off the running boards and children being thrown from the windows of the locked carriages. The 10:35 braked, and slowed to 5 mph, before being hit by the runaway carriages, travelling at 40 mph. The final three carriages and occupants were totally destroyed.
Lessons learned
As a result of the disaster, the UK Parliament passed a law, the Regulation of Railways Act 1889, which made continuous automatic brakes mandatory on British passenger railways, along with the block system of signaling and the interlocking of all points and signals. The debating chamber or hemicycle of the European Parliament in Brussels. ...
As a result of the Armagh rail disaster, the UK Parliament passed a law, the Regulation of Railways Act 1889, which made continuous automatic brakes mandatory on British passenger railways, along with the block system of signaling and the interlocking of all main line points and signals. ...
A signal is a mechanical or electrical device that indicates to train drivers information about the state of the line ahead, and therefore whether they must stop or may start, or instructions on what speed they may drive their train. ...
Similar accidents - Igandu train disaster
- Tenga train disaster
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