Revised Research: 1848 Solar Storm, Not 1841, Caused Record Exeter Train Delay

Historical detective work by a team of space-weather experts has redated a significant geomagnetic event, proving that a solar storm delayed a train in Exeter, U.K., in 1848 rather than the previously accepted date of 1841.

The incident, originally reported in an 1871 edition of the journal Nature, described how a solar storm flooded the railway signals’ electrical telegraph network with current, causing a 16-minute delay. For many years, this was cited as the first known instance of solar activity disrupting human technology.

However, Jim Wild, a professor of space physics at Lancaster University and President of the Royal Astronomical Society, along with colleague Mike Hapgood from the UK’s National Space Laboratory, discovered inconsistencies in the original account. The Nature report cited an electrical disturbance on October 18, 1841, but the specific train line in question did not open until 1846.

“Our research has a hint of a detective story,” said Hapgood. “Piecing together a wide range of archived records to better understand a historically severe space-weather event” allowed the team to analyze railway timetables, newspapers, historical solar observations, aurora reports, and digitized geomagnetic data.

The analysis concluded the delay most likely occurred on October 18, 1848, coinciding with a powerful solar storm. This correction removes the Exeter incident from the top of the chronological list. The title of the first recorded disruption to electrical technology now belongs to a disturbance on the Midland railway network in March 1847.

Despite losing its status as the earliest example, Wild noted that the event remains one of the first clear demonstrations of solar activity impacting critical infrastructure. He emphasized the value of combining scientific records with archival documents when reconstructing historic space weather events.

The findings highlight that space weather has threatened technology since the advent of electrical systems in the 1840s. The most dramatic example remains the Carrington Event of 1859, which caused telegraph poles to spark and disrupted power supplies. While modern monitoring capabilities have advanced significantly since the 19th century, experts warn that today’s technologies are increasingly vulnerable to severe solar storms.

Solar Cycle 25 peaked in October 2024, and while activity is gradually declining toward a minimum expected around 2030, the potential for future severe geomagnetic storms remains a concern.