ON LANDSLIPS. 



307 



As the west side had to cany the smgle line then opened 

 for traffic, and as this west-side sli^o went down four or five 

 times as fast as the other, it; caused great trouble and 

 excitement. Brunei was determined to keep the traffic 

 going, and arranged for train-loads of sand from Swindon to 

 be brought there between the passenger trains. The sand 

 was cast out by a crowd of men to keep the working line 

 constantly raised, but the slip went down still faster; so 

 large quantities of fagots were also brought down, and the 

 line raised by placing beds of fagots, close together, under 

 the sleepers, and then tipping sand over the fagots, to steady 

 them. 



I was on the bank night and day during the worst time, 

 and saw the trains over. We sometimes lifted the rails 

 quite three feet between two trains, packing the fagots under 

 the timber and then tipping sand among the fagots. It was 

 a " broad gauge " line laid upon longitudinal timbers, other- 

 wise it could not have been kept safe for the trains, and I 

 took particular care to keep the rails in a straight line, well 

 to gauge and level across. 



We could not keep the road up to its proper level ; and, 

 thus, at the worst times, it was 8 or 9 feet below its due 

 level in the middle of the slip ; but I eased off the gradients 

 at the ends to make them less steep, and in this condition 

 the line took passengers across for many days, until we 

 had succeeded in checking the progress of the slip by our 

 appliances at its foot. In the meantime, however, the 

 descent the trains had to go down was something fearful, 

 and most of the engine-drivers went at it so timidly that I 

 was afraid they would never get up the hill again on the 

 other side ; for if they had come to a stand there, they 

 would never have been able to get out again without 

 assistance. There was, however, one very plucky driver, 



