RAILWAY ACCIDENTS. 



Brighton Kail way waiting for a train, was crossing the railway, 

 and fell, it is supposed with fright, on seeing the train approach- 

 ing. The station-clerk, on perceiving her situation, hurried to 

 her assistance, and while endeavouring to remove her, the train 

 went over and killed both. 



On the 26th of March, 1847, a passenger on the York and 

 Newcastle railway, in crossing the line, had his foot caught 

 bet ween the points, and was held fast there, until a train arriving 

 passed over and killed him. 



On the 8th of May, 1846, a lady, on the Eastern Counties railway, 

 attempting to cross the line, in order to prevent one of her 

 children getting upon it from the opposite side, was run over 

 and killed. 



On the Darlington Eailway, on the 15th of June, 1846, a 

 passenger, waiting for a train, fell asleep on the edge of the 

 platform, and was struck by a goods train passing and killed. 



It frequently happens that while the attention of a person 

 crossing a line is directed to a train approaching from one 

 direction which he thinks there is time to avoid, he is run over 

 by a train, from which his attention has been withdrawn, coming 

 from the opposite direction. 



This occurred for example on the Caledonian railway, on 

 the 15th of March, 1847, when a passenger was run over by a train 

 while his attention was directed to another train coming from 

 the opposite direction. 



Similar accidents, attended with a like result, are recorded of 

 numerous other lines. On the 30th of December, 1847, a 

 passenger, on the Midland line, having left the train and 

 attempted to cross the line, was crushed by the step of the brake- 

 van against the platform and killed. 



16. Rule VI. EXPRESS-TRAINS ARE ATTENDED WITH MORE 



DANGER THAN ORDINARY TRAINS. THOSE WHO DESIRE THE 

 GREATEST DEGREE OF SECURITY SHOULD USE THEM ONLY 

 WHEN GREAT SPEED IS INDISPENSABLE. 



The principal source of danger for express-trains arises not so 

 much from their extreme speed as from their rate of progress 

 being different from that of the general traffic of the line. If all 

 trains without exception moved with exactly the same speed, no 

 collision by one overtaking another could occur. The more 

 they depart from this uniformity the more likely are collisions. 

 Now the speed of express-trains is both exceptional and extreme. 

 Inasmuch as it is exceptional, they are likely to overtake the 

 slower and regular trains, if these be retarded even in the least 

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