The following (long) article includes testimony from passengers and crew involved in the July 27, 1873 collision of an Erie Railway train and a Buffalo, New York and Philadelphia Railway passenger train at a junction between the two railroad in Buffalo, NY. It provides some interesting details on how the signals worked at the crossing and the rules around train speeds in the city.
Source: Courier & Republic, Buffalo, NY, 12 August 1873, p. 3, NYS Historic Newspapers.