TRANSPORT BY RAIL. 269 



a matter of the greatest importance, and advance information should 

 always be wired to halting places, so that trains may be shunted at once 

 to their proper sidings and near the water supply. 



Feeding en route.— Y\.(^x^ again the fitting of the truck is all-important, Feeding 

 and in cattle trucks where horses are loose or tied to the sides it is waste en route, 

 to attempt to feed with hay, any thrown on the floor of the truck being 

 rapidly trampled up with the droppings of the animals. Corn and chaff 

 may be given in nosebags, one or tv/o men being left in the truck during 

 feeding. 



If for military reasons long journeys have to be made in unfitted 

 trucks, a special halt of sufficient duration to detrain, water and feed with 

 corn and hay twice every 24 hours (say a total of three hours) should be 

 arranged for, if the journey is to last more than a day, and horses are to 

 keep in condition. If the circumstances do not admit of so much time being 

 devoted to feeding and watering they will lose in condition, anditbecomes 

 a question for the commanding officer as to which is the most desirable 

 course to pursue. 



With fitted trucks as described below the necessity for long halts is 

 not so urgent, though advisable if time permits, and horses can be fed 

 with hay en route. 



The danger of fire when hay is used in trucks, owing to red-hot 

 cinders from the engine, should be explained to all attendants, and on the 

 same account all smoking should be prohibited. 



In India, all trucks for conveyance of horses are provided with a breast In India, 

 bar across on each side of the door. When the truck is in ordinary use 

 for goods this bar is sunk level with the floor or fixed near the roof, and 

 raised or lowered when required. The floor arrangement is most con- 

 venient. Four large or five small horses or mules are packed in each end, 

 and the breast bar having been adjusted their head ropes are tied to it. 

 The doors at both sides can then be left open and the space in the centre 

 is occupied by forage and attendants. Corn is fed from nosebags and hay 

 from a blanket stretched between the breast bars. It is a simple, 

 inexpensive arrangement, which admits of troop horses, performing long 

 railway journeys, being properly fed en route. 



