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	Individual Details		Individual Details

Age:	40
Died:	3rd May 1911
Accident:	3rd May 1911
Year Born:	abt. 1871
Colliery:	Arnagill (Sandstone)
Company:	H. Arnold and Son
Occupation:	Engine Driver
Notes:	crushed by a locomotive engine which fell into quarry
Buried:	[not known]
Category:	Inside the Quarries :: Miscellaneous :: Sundries

At Arnagill Quarry, worked by Messrs. H. Arnold & Son, contractors for the Leighton Reservoir in connection with the Leeds Water Supply, an unusual fatality occurred, whereby a locomotive engine driver lost his life. He was driving, accompanied by a fireman, a four-wheeled-coupled contractor's locomotive along a road on the quarry top where the bearing had been removed. After passing over the switches the road curved slightly round before reaching a straight rising gradient of 1 in 39. When the engine arrived at the end of this portion, and just before ascending a 1 in 20 gradient, the locomotive mounted the rails, and the front wheels ran for a distance of 6 feet before dropping on to the sleepers. Still ascending the 1 in 20 portion, the engine ran a distance of 54 feet before it finally toppled over the edge and fell a distance of 23 feet into the quarry, carrying with it the unfortunate driver, who fell underneath. The fireman, being on the other side of the locomotive, was able to jump clear. The brakes were afterwards found to be tight on, and from the distance the engine had run off the way on a rising gradient of 1 in 20, it was quite evident it had been running at too great a speed. The road was straight, in fair order, and laid with contractors' rails, the gauge being 3 feet and the sleepers 2 feet apart. The engine had only been overhauled the previous week and new tyres had been fitted. As the engine was short coupled and running light, there was considerable oscillation at the relatively high speed at which it was running, and this no doubt caused the front wheels to mount the rails. At the point where the engine left the rails there was a distance of several yards from the outside rail to the edge of the quarry, and in no case was the distance less than 3 feet.

• 1911 Mines Inspectors Report (Cd 6237) Where to find this report
• 1911 Mines Inspectors Report (Cd 6237), Durham District (No. 3) by A. D. Nicholson, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 48, Accident Number: 5 Where to find this report

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