Page:The Working and Management of an English Railway.djvu/180

 hour; slow, stopping, goods trains, for serving smaller towns and villages; and, finally, the heavy coal trains, running out of the great colliery districts to every centre of population. All these various trains, heavy and light, fast and slow, some stopping at the stations and others dashing through them at high rates of speed, have to be accommodated to a great extent upon the same line of rails, yet all to keep their time and fulfil their appointed functions—and, briefly, this is the great problem which railway management has to solve. Such a service cannot be carried on under all circumstances, whether by night or day, in fogs, in snow-storms, in wind or rain, and under all other adverse conditions, without entailing hardships and dangers upon the men engaged in the working; yet it is gratifying to be able to say that the vast army of men of all grades employed in the service of the various railway companies exhibit at all times a state of complete discipline and cheerful devotion to duty, which could not be exceeded by any body of men whatever, and which, although perhaps not so well understood or appreciated by the public as might be the case, reflects the highest credit upon them as a class. Bearing in mind the vast importance of the interests entrusted to their charge, and the serious consequences that might easily arise from any carelessness or dereliction of duty on their part, it is a fact upon which the travelling public may well congratulate themselves, that their lives and limbs, their property and interests are confided to hands so trustworthy and reliable. (See Appendix A.)

The train mileage run upon the London and North-Western Railway during the year ending the 31st December, 1888, was:—