Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 41.djvu/685

Rh in a slanting position, plowing up the gravel, for about a thousand feet along the edge of a high embankment. The occupants of that car never forgot the awful sensation, like that of a violent earthquake with its resulting uncertainty of footing. A striking characteristic of this accident was that the engine and forward car were not thrown from the track. Another accident of this kind, equally unexpected, took place under somewhat similar conditions, when one of the driving-wheels burst with terrific explosive force, a solid piece of the iron crashing through the woodwork of a passenger car, after having shattered the glass of a door. This ponderous missile shot along the aisle between the car seats, unpleasantly near the heads of the passengers.

The sign on many car doors notifying passengers not to ride on the car platforms calls attention to a danger which is more real than may be at first supposed. Some people who easily lose their balance may be thrown off a train, owing to the sudden jar of the cars at the beginning of a sharp curve, and the same effect may be brought about by the stopping and starting caused by coupling cars. In one such instance a man was thrown from the rear platform as the train made a jerking movement forward. There is also the possibility of a fall due to dizziness or momentary faintness. But probably the most remarkable case recently recorded occurred during a very high wind when a passenger was blown from the platform of a car which was running across the wide, windy expanse between Jersey City and Newark, New Jersey.

There is marked danger in trying to board a moving train, as shown by repeated accidents; yet so irresistible is the temptation to do this that it would be difficult to find a man who has not taken the risk. The car steps, as related to the position of an ordinary station platform at the level of the rails, are too high to be easily gained, and the rails over which the wheels of the car are to pass are nearer the edge of the car steps than is generally supposed. If, owing to miscalculation, haste, or a stumble, the passenger's foot is placed under instead of upon the step, the result may be fatal, because the movement of the body when swinging from the perpendicular railing at the corner of the car is then toward a position beneath the car platform. It is probably safer to jump from a rapidly moving train than to board the same train. The extent of the peril in leaping from a moving car obviously depends upon the amount of skill shown in alighting upon ground that slants away from the track. Of course, the many serious accidents caused in this general way suggest the radical importance of waiting for a train to stop.

The rules pertaining to the safety of passengers using the great transportation lines seem at times needless. But the