Who was the train dispatcher who sent a warning message to another passenger train in the December 6, 1917 Halifax maritime disaster?
Vince Coleman (train dispatcher) Patrick Vincent Coleman (13March 18726December 1917) was a train dispatcher for the Canadian Government Railways (formerly the ICR, Intercolonial Railway of Canada) who was killed in the Halifax Explosion, but not before he sent a message to an incoming passenger train to stop out of range of the explosion. Today he is remembered as one of the heroic figures from the disaster.
Salisbury rail crash In the Salisbury rail crash of 1 July 1906, a LSWR boat train from Plymouth's Friary railway station to London Waterloo station failed to navigate a very sharp curve at the eastern end of Salisbury railway station. The curve had a maximum permitted speed of 30 mph, but the express had been travelling at more than 70 mph. The train was completely derailed, and smashed into a milk train and a light engine, killing 28 people.