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Full Details

Surname
DUNN
Forename
Andrew
Day
31
Month
12
Year
1906
Age
48
Occupation
Gateman
Mine/Quarry Name
Garesfield
Mineral Worked
Coal
Owner
Consett Iron Co. Ltd
Location
High Spen
County
Durham
Details of Event
Died 2nd January, 1907. Between 9 and 1p.m. a locomotive, going funnel first, was pulling 20 empty trucks from the top of a self-acting incline to Chopwell Colliery, on a private railway which crosses a road, leading from Rowlands Gill to Chopwell, by means of a level crossing close to Garesfield Colliery. There were two gates worked by hand which alternately closed the railway and the road, and on the gate nearest the direction in which the locomotive was coming was a lighted red lamp which could ordinarily be seen from the locomotive when the gates blocked the railway. Just beyond the gates is a curve with an ascent, and it was usual to run over the crossing at a considerable speed so as to ascend the rise. Deceased who had a deformed foot, and had had a paralytic stroke some time ago, attended to the gates, and was provided with a cabin within a few yards of them. The engineman gave the usual signal by whistling that he was approaching when 800 yards away, and then came forward at the usual speed. He was in the cab, and could not see the gates, but his fireman stood outside and, as he stated at the inquest, his view was so obscured by steam that he did not observe the gates were closed until nearly on then, when he called to the driver who stopped the train when the locomotive and 4 of the trucks had passed the crossing. Both gates were carried away, and deceased, who appears to have been in the act of opening the first gate when the locomotive struck it, was dashed against one of the posts of the other gate and suffered concussion of the brain. He never recovered consciousness.