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The Exeter express delay linked to a magnetic disturbance probably happened on 18 October 1848—not 18 October 1841, as a later account claimed. The discrepancy came to light when researchers checked the railway’s opening dates and timetables against records of geomagnetic activity, auroras and sunspots. Their reassessment makes the incident a striking early example of space weather disrupting technology, but not the earliest credible one they identified.
Why the 1841 date cannot be right
An anonymous account published in Nature on 5 October 1871 said that a magnetic disturbance on 18 October 1841 prevented signalers near Starcross from determining whether the line was clear. The resulting delay to the 10:05 p.m. Exeter express was reported as 16 minutes. William B. Cade III drew attention to the story in 2013.
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The railway’s history rules out the incident as described in 1841. Parliament approved the railway in 1844, and the Exeter-to-Teignmouth section—including Starcross—did not open until 30 May 1846. The line reached Newton Abbot by December that year. There could not have been an Exeter express delayed at Starcross on that railway in 1841.
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The timetable narrowed the search
James A. Wild and co-authors used the reported 10:05 p.m. departure as a clue and searched local railway timetables. A train leaving Exeter at that time toward Starcross appears in timetables from 11 March 1848 through 26 July 1849. That makes 1848 a plausible correction to the impossible 1841 date, though the timetable alone does not establish the day of the delay.
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Three records point to the same date
For 18 October 1848, the researchers found a convergence of evidence: Greenwich magnetic observations show a disturbance; historical records include auroral reports from Britain; and Temple Chevallier’s journal entry of 19 October describes an unusually large sunspot group. Together, these records support the researchers’ conclusion that the reported Exeter incident likely occurred on 18 October 1848.
The team found no unusual magnetic activity in the Greenwich yearbook for 18 October 1841 and no English aurora report for that date in the historical catalogue they checked. They could not locate the original manuscript or source material behind the 1871 account, so the explanation that “1841” was a misprint for “1848” remains a compelling reconstruction—not direct proof of how the date entered print.
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What the corrected chronology changes
The Exeter incident remains one of the earliest documented cases of space weather affecting technical infrastructure, but it is not the earliest credible report in Wild and co-authors’ assessment. They point to a Midland Railway incident near Derby on 19 March 1847. W. H. Barlow reported that telegraph equipment experienced “spontaneous electrical currents” during a brilliant aurora.
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Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →The reports belong to a period when telegraph technology was spreading and solar activity was rising in cycle 9 from 1847, after a relatively quiet interval. Telegraph signaling relied on electrical currents, and geomagnetic disturbances could induce currents that interfered with its equipment. Those historical vulnerabilities should not be treated as a direct description of how modern infrastructure is affected: today’s systems have different vulnerabilities, even though space weather remains a concern.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why checking independent records matters
A later historical account can preserve a useful lead without being accurate in every detail. In this case, the railway’s opening chronology exposed the impossible date; a timetable offered a plausible alternative period; and magnetic, auroral and sunspot records supported a specific day within it. Comparing those independent records produced a stronger explanation than repeating the 1871 story at face value, while leaving the missing original source as a limit on certainty.
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