Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-05-21
Railway DANGERS,

Blindness to danger produced by living among
1t with impunity seems almost universal. We
believe that the bes authorities recommend
that night watchnan In big buildings should
be frequently changed, because when man
has made certain round every night for years,
or even months, and has never found fire or q
thief, he becomes quite blind TO either OF these
should he chance 10 meet them later on. Sss
how THIS blindness would tell In the case Of
10 make journey Of hundred miles, and stop,
perhaps, three times, but has to pass thirty,
forty or more signals. II the traffic Is well reg.
ulated he may travel this road for months to-
gether without ever finding one of these signals
OF danger" but were he to get in condition
OF danger. blindness and not look out for these
signals the result would probably be that
go on assuming that every signal is at danger '
though never In his experience has 1t been
found to De so. He must also exercise patient
and untlring vigilance In inspecting and test
right for himself It Is really matter for
marvel that men are to be found to do this
WORK ana 1t becomes even more so when we
dea1 Wnat MI. Reynolds has to tell Of the
70 go through. After an APPALLING story OF
naro Work. irregular hours, and no little dan
g M ;h me- c goes on 70 say IT we were to sum
mand the regulator OF an engine it would read
thus-Iniles to run, 20O, 600; Goals to break no
ana no. put into the fre-oox in their proper place,
years; Sunday work, rs days Der Year: fnni,-
meIaole hair breadth escapes, eyes CONSTANTLY
on the roll, the mouth smut and the ears open.
an iron constitution, q whistle On the lips,
motto Wait" AS with the engtne,driyer. 40
with all the rest OF railway staff-they must
always assume that things are wrong until
they are proved to be right. Not long ago an
accident happened from signalman not hay
Ing proper railway mind. A train was In the
station waiting to go out; this signalman tried
TO Seke eTe5 oeke saa at hs ssn fo0
that the lever moving the points OF a Sid
ing was pulled over, thus locking the startine
signal; he tried to put 1t back, but could not:
he now made the fatal error OF thinking for
himself, instead Of acting as part OF the m !.
chinery; seeing truck on the siding he jumped
to the conclusion that the wheels were foul OF
the points, and that that was the reason
and without further ver1flcation sig
na:ed the train on by hand Nov, the
real reason why this polntlever would not
move was that the signal on branch line was
points and that OF the starting signal AS 80 %
as the mainline train. which had been SO
recklessy cent on, got wen on to the line, a
nal being down. DIG not stop, and ran into the
other train, doing great damage In many
instances It Ii possible to test the work OF men
ana machinery In unusual circumstances. Al
sea, Dire drill and imam overheard, drill ara
carried out, and In the military service false
alarms OF nre or attack are given TO exercise
the men In vigilance and promptnes5 of action
but on line Of railway this Is impossible
|. Punctuality in the running OF the trains is Of
the first importance, so that when something
gots wrong the stan must deal with it as ii
were BY instinct. and how well they do IL Is
obvious from tie comparatively few accidents
that happen. How danger Is often warded Oh
ov courage and intelligence the gene. al pup I
g. ldom Enthusiastically Revte,c.