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he is sent to learn his future duties at a small station where the then signalman is, through some cause, about to leave or be removed. He may thus be placed at a very great disadvantage. Possibly, the man who teaches him has been called upon to resign through carelessness or inefficiency, and can it be expected, if he did not take any pains for his own benefit, that he will trouble himself for the benefit of others? The consequences are these:—
When the new beginner is asked the usual question by his superior, viz., “Are you able to undertake your duties?” he, for fear of being considered longer than others in learning, and, at the same time, hoping soon to get a small rise in his wages, will answer “Yes,” although he may be very little better informed upon the principal points relative thereto than on the day that he first entered the signal-box. He departs from the head-office a signalman in name, and amid doubts and fears, takes to his new post with the fullest intention of doing his best, no doubt; but, alas! on account of his inefficiency, he may deal out death and destruction all around him. There are “careful” and attentive signalmen, and under the present system of teaching them their duties, the careless man is not found out until he has made some great blunder, and the careful man has often to suffer for the careless one. Suppose the man leaving be the careless one, and the man sent to take his place the careful one; perhaps the latter, with good and proper training, would be the right man in the right place: but he may learn from his predecessor to make the following mistakes:—Not properly to place signals at danger after a train has passed, thus allowing another train to follow too soon; to let shunting take place across the main line when fast express trains are due; to neglect to telegraph to the next station on the passing of a train; and other irregularities too numerous to mention. Possibly none of these things have been pointed out to him in a proper manner; he may, therefore, make a mistake, and be sent for to headquarters, and most likely dismissed from the company’s service, his prospects being blighted for
