- RAILWAY ACCIDENTS. 



with some other carriages or waggons, or the escape of the 

 train, or some part of it, from the rails. 



The English railways are in general constructed with double 

 lines, the train observing the common rule of the road, and 

 keeping always on the left-hand line. The consequence of this 

 is, that, in regular work, all trains upon the same line move in 

 the same direction. The collision of one train with another, 

 therefore, can only take place by a faster train overtaking a 

 slower, or a train running into one which is at rest. 



It is evident, therefore, that, if all trains moved with the 

 same speed, and all stopped at the same stations, no collisions 

 could ever happen, except when a train should be retarded or 

 stopped by accident, or in the case of a vehicle being improperly 

 left standing on the line. 



The probabilities of collision will therefore depend on the 

 differences between the speed with which the several trains 

 travel, and the differences between the number of stations at 

 which they stop. 



But, on railways as worked at present, it is impracticable to 

 maintain uniformity of speed. Passenger and goods traffic 

 being necessarily worked on the same lines of rails, and the 

 latter being carried at less speed than the former, a source of 

 danger is produced. If the present enormous amount of trans- 

 port had been foreseen when railways were in an early stage of 

 their progress, it might have been a question for consideration 

 whether it would not have been advantageous to construct the 

 trunk railways with three lines of rails, reserving one line 

 exclusively for the goods traffic. This would have been infinitely 

 more politic than augmenting the capacity of the railway by 

 increasing the width of the rails, and, consequently, the magni- 

 tude and weight of the engines and vehicles of transport. But 

 the railways being constructed, it is now too late, and nothing 

 remains to be done but to adopt the most efficient precautions 

 against those collisions, the probability of which is augmented 

 with the frequency of the trains, and the differences of their 

 average speed. 



24. The accommodation of the public requires frequent 

 departures, great expedition, and means of arriving at numerous 

 intermediate points of lines. These demands cannot be satisfied 

 without calling into existence all the conditions which are pro- 

 ductive of the danger of collision. 



To satisfy the urgent call for great expedition, express trains 



are despatched at extraordinary speed, stopping only at chief 



stations. To satisfy the want of intercommunication with the 



intermediate stations, trains are despatched which stop at all 



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