slowing to take branch points and the train was brought to a halt within 50 yards; some damage was done to the front coaches. Although there were many minor injuries to the colliers going on shift only 19 miners required the attention of staff at Sheffield Royal Hospital, one being detained with back and thigh injuries, and there were no fatalities. Many of the uninjured miners from Orgreave left the train and walked along the lines to their pit to start the morning shift, to avoid losing pay for the day. For miners working at Treeton it was too far to walk within the time and many were taken back to Sheffield by the railway. Commentary The Absolute Block System was implemented to prevent train collisions by ensuring that only one train could be in any railway route section at one time. The Permissive Block System was used in situations where goods and mineral trains needed to close up to previous trains in congested areas, but it was in general restricted to goods and mineral trains only, and restricted to a speed of 4 mph, and prohibited in foggy conditions. It seems likely that Permissive Block working should not have been in operation at the time of the Orgreaves collision; and that the Nottingham train should have run sufficiently slowly that it did not collide with the stationary train in front. When the collision took place, the guard of the Nottingham train should have run back down the line, exhibiting a red hand signal to place detonators on both the approaching lines (the Goods Line and the Main Line) to protect the point of the collision. It is not clear why these mandatory safety measures were not adopted. Footnotes References Sources "The Orgreave Paddy Mail Accident", "Forward", the journal of the Great Central Railway Society. Railway accidents and incidents in Yorkshire Rail transport in South Yorkshire History of South Yorkshire 1926 in England Railway accidents in 1926 1940s in Yorkshire Train collisions in England December 1926 events