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circumstances, and there must be a corresponding strain upon the axles, journals, and tires. I have seen vehicles knocked over the “stop-blocks” by the violent way in which they have been struck in shunting, and perhaps afterwards dragged twenty or thirty yards over ballast rails and sleepers by an engine to some crossing to get them on the rails again. The greatest strain must thus be put upon the springs, axles, and tires, and it seems nothing but reasonable to expect that many small fractures, unseen at the time, are caused in this way. Nothing is more likely to fracture iron than a sudden jerk or a great shock, and fractures may be hidden from the eye of the “examiner” until the part affected in time becomes very weak, and when running at great speed over badly joined parts of the road, give way, causing a break-down. Therefore the greatest care should be exercised by railway companies with regard to the usage of their rolling stock, both for their own interests and for the safety of the public at large. It appears to me that the latter are somewhat to blame in regard to this and other classes of accidents for requiring the railway companies to run trains at too great a speed. The laws of the country are also in fault for allowing railway companies to do so, and Parliament would bestow a great benefit upon the people by passing a Bill fixing the highest speed to be allowed upon any Railway at forty miles an hour. Any persons wishing to travel faster than that not only endanger their own lives, but the lives of all who travel with them. If Railway Companies are allowed to go on competing in respect of speed, there is no telling where we may find ourselves in the end.
The majority of accidents caused by fractures to machinery occur to goods trains, and this goes far to prove my statement that a great number of such fractures are caused through violent shunting. It may not be out of place here to say a few words on behalf of the men whose lot it is to perform this dangerous duty. What with the vast number of “shunts” they have to make in marshalling the trains before starting, pulling them to pieces on their arrival, the short space of time
