Page:A voice from the signal-box.djvu/15



experience has clearly taught me that our Railway system is at present very defective, and it is with a view of bringing into prominence the causes thereof that I venture to pen the following lines. I have had eleven years experience as a signalman upon one of our chief railways, and the greater part of that time at one of the most frequented and complicated junctions to be found in this country, situated within a hundred miles of St. Paul’s. My hours of duty are eight per day all the year round. Nearly five hundred trains pass my box in twenty-four hours, requiring the moving of four thousand eight hundred levers, and six thousand signals to be given on the block telegraph. If these are divided into three parts, it will be seen that I and my mates have each sixteen hundred levers to shift, and two thousand signals to give daily on the telegraph during the time we are on duty. This refers to ordinary times. In the busy seasons of the year, our work is increased by about one-fourth, and upon extraordinary occasions it is nearly doubled. I will deal first with—

On this Railway—I cannot speak for others—but, from what I have learnt from other companies’ servants, I believe it is the same elsewhere—the signalman’s training is very imperfect, considering his very responsible duties. In a few weeks, or it may be in a few months after joining the service,