leshall

This story was told to me more than fifty years ago by Les Hall to whom these events happened.

During the Second World War, Les was sent to work on the railways under the Man-Power Act that operated at that time. Staff shortages meant that promotion was rapid and Les was soon a signalman in sole charge.

There came a Sunday night when Les was on duty in a box on the North Island main trunk. The tablet machine was out of action and the trains were having to be operated by telephone. A dangerous practice on a single track since the purpose of the tablet machine was to ensure that two trains could never be on a stretch of track at the same time.

This was not the only problem that they were having. The Auckland to Wellington express was running extremely late and its whereabouts were unknown. There was a fairly large stretch of country to the north again of the box to the north of Les and it was thought that the express was broken down somewhere there and far from a telephone.

Coming north was an urgent goods train carrying equipment necessary for the war in the Pacific that had to be on a ship that was sailing from Auckland early the next morning. The goods was also way behind time. It was supposed to have long since crossed with the express several boxes to the south of Les. To claw back a little time, and because the express was apparently still well to the north, the supervisor had had the goods sent up to the box to the south of Les for a crossing there. It had been sitting there for some time.

The supervisor now rang Les. He was sending the goods up to Les and, when he saw it coming, Les was to ring the box to the north and if the express had still not passed that point, Les was to send the goods straight on up and tell the man up there that it was on its way. If the express arrived there first it was to be stopped so that the crossing could be made up there. The important thing was to get the goods north in time and this was appearing to be increasingly unlikely. The express had to come second.

When Les saw the goods coming up, he rang the man to the north and was told that the express had not been sighted there. And yet there was something strange about the way it was put which gave Les the feeling that something was wrong. It was nothing that he could explain yet the feeling was so very strong. He ran the goods into a siding and rang the man to the north again

Again the man tried to assure Les that the express had not passed him but this time rather hotly. Les was still not convinced and, in fact, more sure than ever that something was wrong. A minute later the supervisor rang. The man to the north had rung the supervisor to complain that, “Les won’t send that goods up.” The supervisor was wanting to know why not and Les, having no logical ‘why not’, was ordered to stop playing about and send the goods up.

Still he hesitated. Finally, he took the tablet which gave the right-of-way and went down to the yard to talk to the train crew. The guard appears to have not been present. What he hoped to get from them is unclear. They were frustrated with the increasing unlikelyhood of making up time.

The engine driver grabbed the tablet from Les’ hand saying, “I’m in charge of this train and I’m off.” His action hardened Les’ resolve somewhat and he snatched it back pointing out that, “When you’re between those signals, I’m in charge!”

He was walking back to his box with the tablet, now very unsure what to do and seeing himself as facing certain trouble, when the express appeared over the distant rise to pass through a few minutes later. Disaster had been that close.

It was kept quiet but there was an inquiry which found that the man to the north had been asleep when the express passed him. He was taken off signal duties permanently.

From then on Les lived in constant fear of making mistakes, since, as had been demonstrated, the simplest mistake on his part had with it the possibility of catastrophic results. He left the railways at the first moment that the Man-Power Act allowed him to do so.

Had the crash occurred, the rules for attributing blame would have changed. Being wise after the event would have prevailed. It would have been that Les should not have sent the goods out when he had such misgivings. This in spite of the fact that he had been ordered by his superior to do so. It might well be that he would now find that no such order had been given. Perhaps he would find that he had actually been ordered to the contrary. It would be only his word against two others as to the truth. There were no witnesses. The one incontrovertible fact would be that he had sent the goods out into the path of the express. At the very least a manslaughter offense.