Page:The Working and Management of an English Railway.djvu/233

 for loading the animals up for forward transit. The sidings appropriated to the cattle traffic hold in all 140 waggons, and there are ample facilities for cleaning and disinfecting them after each journey, including twelve hydrants for the supply of water. During the year 1887, 76,700 cattle were transhipped at Holyhead to the various towns in England, in addition to 63,032 sheep, 27,110 lambs, 7,780 horses, and last, but not least, 157,411 pigs. The live stock shipped to Ireland from England is not considerable, but last year it included two lions and two elephants, although what these strange denizens of the far east were to do in the "distressful country," can only be a matter of conjecture.

When import goods are loaded into waggons, a kind of inventory is made of them, which is termed a slip, and as soon as the load is completed, these slips are compared with the invoices, so as to discover and rectify any mistakes, as for instance, goods loaded in the wrong waggon. A transfer book is also kept, as in the case of the export traffic, and in this is recorded the date and number of the invoice, particulars of the traffic, the weight, the name of the vessel by which the goods are received, and the number and destination of the waggon in which they are loaded for forward transit.

As the waggons are loaded, they are turned over turntables on to adjoining lines of rails, where they are marshalled. in proper order, labelled, and sheeted, and within a few minutes of the loading of the last waggon being completed, the train is ready to start. In discharging a vessel, as already mentioned, preference is always given to perishable and urgent goods, and these are despatched by express passenger trains within an