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some time to come, for no fault of his own whatever, as we have seen. On the other hand, suppose the man leaving be a good and useful signalman, going to better himself, and the man sent to learn the duties a careless man, who pays but little attention to what is told him: the former is quite ready to show him all he can, but yet he may plainly see that this new hand is not the proper sort of man to make a good and trustworthy signalman. His time comes to leave; he has done his duty, and he leaves his post in charge of his successor, pretty well convinced that without a slice or two of good luck the consequences will be disastrous. But this is no business of his; he is seldom asked any questions upon the subject, nor is it any part of his duty to make a report of what he knows to be the fact under the present system.
It is essential, therefore, that some good and experienced signalmen should be appointed to superintend the training of all new hands, remaining with them until they are able to give a favourable report to their superintendents, stating that the men thoroughly understand the responsible duties they are to perform.
Moreover, a signalman’s pay should be commensurate with his responsibilities. At present it is not so by any means, and I can emphatically assert that the dissatisfaction and inattention thus caused is a source of great danger.
Accidents caused by Signalmen being Removed from a Level Box to an Elevated one without proper Training.
The same causes which operate in preventing signalmen from learning their duties in the first instance, lead to the following important faults in connection with their work when they are removed from a box level with the ground to an elevated one. They may learn which levers to pull over to let a train pass, but that is not all; the question is, when to pull them; and when they have been pulled, to know whether the points have answered the movements of the levers. For
