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These are the only ways in which any part of a train can be turned from its proper course when passing through facing points. I think it impossible for the flanges of the wheels to strike dead against the thin ends of a pair of points, as the ends are so very thin, that a train travelling at great speed must take them either on one side or the other. Of course a vehicle may jump off the rails at points, the same as at any other part of the line; but in that case, it would most likely jump all sorts of ways, rather than run smoothly on to some other pair of rails; therefore, when a train is divided while passing through points, it has most likely been done by the shifting of the points under one or other of the above-mentioned circumstances. I should like here to express my sense of the inestimable value of Messrs. Saxby and Farmer’s great inventions in connection with points, particularly of their interlocking apparatus and locking bars.
Accidents caused through Engine-drivers not being able to see Distant Signals in Foggy Weather.
Accidents are often caused through engine-drivers being unable to see distant signals in foggy weather. Some of these signals are as much as forty feet high, or even more. How are they to be any guide to the engine-driver when he can hardly see three feet above his head? He might as well look for the “man in the moon,” as try to get the faintest glimpse of a distant signal under such circumstances. What is he to do? Is he to pull his train up and wait while his fireman or the guard goes back and climbs the signal-post to ascertain how the signal is standing? Just consider for a minute the position of an engine-driver with an express train, timed to run at fifty miles an hour without stopping! how many distant signals he has to pass in that distance which he never catches the least glimpse of whatever! and how many times he has to trust to chance, sooner than lose time! He knows that if he pulls his train up to be certain about these signals, he will be severely questioned for losing time, as
