Railway accidents never fail to command attention, partly because of their comparative rarity (contrasted for example with road accidents) and partly on account of the massive damage which ensues. An express train in rapid motion possesses a kinetic energy which is frightening in its proportions, and is hardly matched in its destructive power. At first there were few accidents as the railway was little more than a line from A to B and trains were few and widely spaced, but as the system became more complex and trains multiplied in numbers, so did the number of accidents increase. The first locomotives were feeble enough, and the attention of the engineers was concentrated on obtaining more power. The braking of trains was of secondary importance. The method used on road vehicles was adapted, that is to say a train was brought to a stand by the friction of a block of wood against the iron tyre of the locomotive or vehicle. The pressure on the block was increased by a lever, and later more so by a wheel. The normal points of braking were the locomotive tender and the brake van at the rear, helped by brake vans marshalled in the train if necessary. Obviously, braking power was governed by the strength of the operator. In the 1840s and 1850s the number of collisions due solely to inadequate braking power caused engineers to seek some improved method, but another fifty years were to elapse before the ideal - continuous automatic brakes - was to be evolved.

Personal injury on the railway can be divided into two classes (1) accidents to fare-paying passengers arising from a mishap to the train in which they are travelling, and (2) the less spectacular, but no less tragic, accidents to persons crossing the line or straying on to the track for one reason or another.