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20 Officials have come round to visit me during the night to see that all was well, and report the same the next morning, who perhaps have never moved a signal or point lever in their whole railway experience; and, comparatively speaking, they scarcely know the difference between a signal and a pair of windmill sails. Suppose a signalman be taken ill, or seized with a fit while on duty, and trains are waiting to cross the junction, and a man of the above experience makes the usual call to see whether all is right, instead of being able to enter upon the duties at once, and keep the traffic going, he can do nothing, and the traffic must be kept waiting until a man is found who is competent to do the work.

This Inquiry System, which I shall presently explain, has its bearings upon a certain class of Railway Accidents, and mostly concerns engine-drivers, guards, signalmen, and foremen porters. At busy junctions it often happens that there are three or four trains, from different branches or directions, all signalled at once, and wanting to cross over the junction at the same time. It is simply impossible for the signalman to get all these trains across, and past, without detention to some of them; and a day or two afterwards he will have letters of inquiry sent to him, asking why such and such trains were detained at his “signals,” in something like the following terms:—

“Superintendent’s Office, __________, date __________, 7.45 p.m. Express from __________, stopped one minute at __________ signal, __________. This is very serious. Let me have your full report upon this matter.”

“Superintendent’s Office, __________, date __________, 7.40 p.m. train to __________, nearly stopped at No. __________ signal. This is very serious. Why was it?”