Page:The Working and Management of an English Railway.djvu/174

 waggons are complete and before they are permitted to run upon the railway, they are examined by the same official, and if he is satisfied that all the requirements of the specification have been faithfully complied with, be affixes to each side of each waggon a register plate, bearing the name of the Company, the registered number, the date of registry, and the maximum load to be carried. The waggon, with the plate so affixed, is free to work over the Company's, or any other, line of railway, the arrangement being a mutual one between all the railway companies in the Kingdom agreed to at the Railway Clearing House.

The registration in no way affects the right of any railway company to inspect a registered waggon, and if found in any way defective, to stop or refuse it, and when a waggon, which has been approved, is repaired, or any of the parts renewed, the work must be carried out in accordance with the standard specification. The owners of the vehicles are required to keep them in a perfect state of repair, and to have them thoroughly greased and properly examined before each journey, any station-master being authorised to detain a waggon which appears to him to be unfit to travel.

Careful precautions are taken to see that every waggon, whether private or belonging to the Company, is in a fit and proper state of repair and efficiency while running in the trains, and the instructions issued to the men who are charged with this duty are of the most minute character. A staff of 220 examiners and greasers is employed, and these men are posted singly or in gangs at every important station and junction throughout the system. They are held responsible for seeing that every vehicle on commencing its journey from their station is in good