Researchers revise date of early solar storm disruption to railway
Historical records indicate an Exeter train delay almost certainly occurred in 1848, not 1841, changing its place in the history of space weather.
A Lancaster University-led team has found that a solar disturbance blamed for delaying a train in Exeter, England, almost certainly happened on October 18, 1848, rather than October 18, 1841. The finding means the disruption no longer ranks as the earliest documented technological impact of space weather.
The study, published in Space Weather, examined an anonymous account that appeared in Nature in 1871. It described magnetic interference with railway signals that held up a train scheduled to depart at 10:05 p.m. for 16 minutes.
Researchers identified a problem with the reported date: the Exeter-to-Starcross line opened in 1846. Brett Carter, an associate professor and space weather researcher at RMIT University, said that discrepancy showed the earlier account contained a typographical error.
To establish the likely date, the team cross-checked newspaper coverage and railway schedules against solar observations, aurora reports and digitized magnetic measurements. Those records supported the 1848 date. The researchers now identify telegraph interference affecting Britain's Midland Railway in March 1847 as the earliest documented case.
Study leader Jim Wild, a Lancaster University professor, said the findings show that electrical technology was vulnerable to space weather from near its beginnings. He also said the investigation demonstrated how scientific measurements and historical archives can together help reconstruct past disruptions.
