EAILWAY ACCIDENTS. 



It is a peculiarity of railway locomotion, that the speed, 

 when not very rapid, always appears to the unpractised passenger 

 much less than it is. A railway train moving at the rate of a . 

 fast stage-coach seems to go scarcely as fast as a person might 

 walk. To this circumstance (which is explained by the extreme 

 smoothness of the motion) is to be ascribed the great frequency 

 of accidents arising from passengers attempting to descend from 

 trains while still in motion. 



On the 4th of July, 1844, on the Dublin and Drogheda 

 Eailway, a passenger jumped out before the train stopped, fell 

 with his hand on the rail, over which the carriage- wheels passed. 



On the 26th of August, 1844, on the Liverpool and Manchester 

 Eailway, a passenger, jumping out before the train stopped, was 

 killed. 



Similar accidents fatal to life occurred on the Grand Junction 

 Eailway on the 7th of August, 1846 ; on the Edinburgh and 

 Glasgow, on the 16th of February, 1846 ; on the South- Western, 

 on the 9th of January, 1847 ; on the East-Lanca'ster, on the 29th 

 of May, 1847 ; on the North- Western, on the 1st of February, 

 1847 ; on the Great North of England, on the 17th of February, 

 1845 ; on the Midland, on the 27th and 31st of October, 1845. 



The reports supply an interminable list of like casualties, 

 from which we have taken the preceding indiscriminately. 



12. Rule II. NEVER SIT IN ANY UNUSUAL PLACE OR POSTURE. 



Twenty-eight in every hundred of the accidents to travellers 

 resulting from incaution, arise from this cause, and of these 

 twenty-eight, seventeen are fatal. 



On some lines of railway seats are provided on the roofs of 

 the carriages. These are to be avoided. Those who occupy 

 them sometimes inadvertently stand up, and when the train 

 passes under a bridge they are struck by the arch. Guards and 

 brakesmen whose duty brings them to these positions, and who 

 are disciplined to exercise caution, are nevertheless frequent 

 sufferers. 



Passengers should beware of leaning out of carriage windows, 

 or of putting out their arm, or if a second-class carriage, as 

 sometimes happens, has no door, they should take care not to 

 put out their leg. 



The reports supply frequent examples of fatal accidents from 

 these causes. Outside passengers^ placed on the roof of the car- 

 riages of a train, happening to stand up, were struck on the head 

 by the arches of bridges, at the dates given below on the follow- 

 ing railways : 

 182 



