knocked down by a tram

Railways, trams, buses, etc.
jim
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Post by jim »

From "A History of the Middleton Railway Leeds":-February 1812, John Bruce, about 13 years old, "notwithstanding repeated cautions to the contrary, persisted in running on the iron-rail-way" and was fatally wounded by one of the Machines.John Bruce is thought to have been the first member of the public to be killed by a locomotive."On 28th February 1818, 'Salamanca's' boiler exploded, killing the engineman." A full report of the inquest from the "Leeds Mercury" for 7th March 1818 also appears.I have been unable to find any report of deaths on the earlier horse worked railway, but feel sure they must have occurred,

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Leeds Hippo
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Post by Leeds Hippo »

uncle mick wrote: Manchester Evening NewsPage 4 AdvertisementManchester Evening NewsMon 13 Nov 1871Greater Manchester, EnglandThe driver of a Leeds tramway car fell oil his vehicle on Saturday evening and was killed, the wheels passing107 Words    “ of a Leeds tramway car fell oil his vehicle on Saturday evening and was killed, the wheels passing over his head. Leeds TimesPage 5 ArticleLeeds TimesSat 11 Jul 1891West Yorkshire, EnglandA LITTLE GIRL KILLED ON THE TRAM LINES AT LEEDS423 Words    “ GIRL KILLED ON THE TRAM LINES AT LEEDS. The Leeds Coroner, Mr. Malcolm, held mil Monday, at the Town Hall, an inquiry into the I death of Jessie Forrester, Aged 5Copied from British Newspaper Archive Excellent research - thanks Uncle Mick - I must have a look at the archive.

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Leeds Hippo
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Post by Leeds Hippo »

jim wrote: From "A History of the Middleton Railway Leeds":-February 1812, John Bruce, about 13 years old, "notwithstanding repeated cautions to the contrary, persisted in running on the iron-rail-way" and was fatally wounded by one of the Machines.John Bruce is thought to have been the first member of the public to be killed by a locomotive."On 28th February 1818, 'Salamanca's' boiler exploded, killing the engineman." A full report of the inquest from the "Leeds Mercury" for 7th March 1818 also appears.I have been unable to find any report of deaths on the earlier horse worked railway, but feel sure they must have occurred, Thanks Jim - hard to believe that was 200 years ago!

jim
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Post by jim »

I hadn't noticed it was the two hundredth anniversary Leeds Hippo!

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uncle mick
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Post by uncle mick »

Quote: Leeds HippoExcellent research - thanks Uncle Mick - I must have a look at the archive.It cost £££ that's why I only got the precis     

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liits
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Post by liits »

and this one... Having had a quick look through, it sems that people [children especially] beng run over by trams was not uncommon.

Tasa
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Post by Tasa »

uncle mick wrote: Quote: Leeds HippoExcellent research - thanks Uncle Mick - I must have a look at the archive.It cost £££ that's why I only got the precis      Uncle Mick, do you have a Leeds Library card? If so, you can access the British Library newspapers archive free of charge and see full newspapers and articles.http://www.leeds.gov.uk/page.aspx?pagei ... 8963Scroll down to Nineteenth Century Newspapers and use your library number to log in. You need to include the LDP as well as the number (no space between, e.g. LDP01234567)

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uncle mick
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Post by uncle mick »

Tasa wrote: uncle mick wrote: Quote: Leeds HippoExcellent research - thanks Uncle Mick - I must have a look at the archive.It cost £££ that's why I only got the precis      Uncle Mick, do you have a Leeds Library card? If so, you can access the British Library newspapers archive free of charge and see full newspapers and articles.http://www.leeds.gov.uk/page.aspx?pagei ... 8963Scroll down to Nineteenth Century Newspapers and use your library number to log in. You need to include the LDP as well as the number (no space between, e.g. LDP01234567) Thanks Tasa. I use this facility but on searching "Leeds tram accident"I only got 1 hit.The site is also useful for reading Times Online

Tasa
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Post by Tasa »

Yes, the keyword search facility is somewhat flawed! I remember doing a lot of research for the "infamous" Skulls thread on this site a few years ago and only found one particular article in the Leeds Mercury by searching for the author's name, despite all the main keywords I'd looked for previously (skulls, crown, court, kirkgate) being included in the article! I imagine that the newspapers were scanned and put through optical character recognition for the archive, so if the typeface or quality of print were a bit dodgy, the words wouldn't have been recognised for a keyword search.It's still an excellent source of information

volvojack
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Post by volvojack »

Phill_dvsn wrote:Trams were certainly fitted with people catcher guards to stop them going under the wheels. Another tram danger was motor cyclist and cyclists riding into the rail and getting stuck before falling off. I guess the number of tram accidents decreased over the years as people got used to them, but like cars today people still have accidents.Apart from the rattle of the tracks, trams were quiet compared to buses. I can imagine they could get a bit too close if you if you weren't being observant. I once pulled a girl away from going under a tram in Bispham, Blackpool. She was waiting at the tram stop as it pulled up, she had her back to it and suddenly stepped backwards into it's path, she didn't even know it was there, she'd have gone under no messing. All I got for my troubles was a dirty look as she wondered what the hell was going on, at least I got a thumbs up cheers mate from the relieved tram driver anyway                 
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Seeing this about a Blackpool Tram reminds me that in the late 1960s a neighbour of mine David and his pal Terry went on an outing to Blackpool and sometime during the day Terry went round one Tram and went under another. both his legs were severed above the knee. don't remember any more details only that they were partners in a floor tiling business and before what seemed many months had gone by Terry was back working supported on wooden blocks. Later after he had artificial legs fitted he used to be down in the Whip etc. with the lads, heart and soul of the party. Don't recall his second name but he was certainly a character. David told me that when they were on some tiling jobs Terry used to remove his false legs as found it more comfortable to work without them.

Don't think there would be many young men who would do that these days.

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