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waggons to catch them together; consequently, they will come into violent collision, and those he intended to attach will be knocked twenty or thirty yards along the siding, or sent crash against more waggons at the end. The engine-driver will feel the shock of this collision, and it will put him in fear of again moving his engine until the guard has traversed the whole length of the train to tell him what he wants to be done. The same thing may occur when the engine is backing with the waggons to the rest of the train left on the main line. Thus, as I have remarked, the rolling stock incurs serious injury. By the time the train is ready to start on its journey a passenger train may be due, in which case the goods will have again to shunt to allow it to pass. Perhaps it will be found that there is not room enough for the whole train to stand in the siding well clear of the main line by the length of, say, one waggon, and some minutes more will be lost in trying to make room. Probably the guard will have to divide the train, and run the first part a short distance a-head, so that it can be brought back with great force, and by this means crush the train by main force into the siding, clear of the main line. Thus more fractures may be caused to fittings in the rolling stock. While these things have been taking place the driver of the passenger train may have disregarded the signals, or the signalman may have taken it for granted that the goods train is clear of the main line; he may be in doubt of having missed seeing the guard’s signal, consequently the passenger train may rush forward to find, perhaps, the engine of the goods train only half way in the siding, and foul of the main line—a collision being inevitable.
There is another great danger connected with dispatching goods trains from stations with too many vehicles. To get them in motion the drivers are often compelled to start with a sudden jerk, and many times I have seen the coupling chains snapped in two under such circumstances. With shorter trains the engine would be able to start with ease, and this would greatly lessen the danger of breaking or fracturing
