Life in a Railway Factory

Frequent spells of short time occur at the works, which are most certain to be followed by brisk and busy periods, as though the officials were anxious to make up for every mome...

There are two large fitting sheds at the works--for engine- and carriage-fitting. They differ in several respects but are on the whole consimilar, both in the nature of the work...

Whatever the trials of the day shift at the forge may be, those of the night turn are sure to be far greater. For the daytime is the natural period of both physical and mental a...

Adjoining the frame-building shed is the waggon smithy, where the thousand and one details for brake systems for the carriages and waggons, and other articles and uses are manuf...

West of the workshop the yard is bounded by a canal that formerly connected the railway town with the ancient borough town of Cricklade, eight miles distant. But things are diff...

A short way off in the yard, in a small space clear of the confusing network of lines that cross and recross here and there, running in every direction and connecting the variou...

The drop-stamps and forgers, together with the plant known as the Yankee hammers--so called by reason of their having been introduced from the other side of the Atlantic--are th...

Formerly, when anyone was desirous of obtaining a start in the factory, he tidied himself up and, arrayed in clean working costume, presented himself at one or other of the main...

Arrived in the shed the workmen remove their coats and hang them up under the wall, or behind the forges. If any shall be seen wearing them by the foreman when he enters they wi...

Sickness and accidents are of frequent occurrence in the shed. The first-named may be attributed to the foul air prevailing--the dense smoke and fumes from the oil forges, and t...

At an early hour the whole neighbourhood within a radius of five or six miles of the factory is astir; there is a general preparation for the coming day’s work. The activity wil...

The work produced on the night turn is greatly inferior to that made by the men of the day shift. It is impossible to do good work when you are tired and weary. One has not then...

The drop-stamps stand in the corner, close under the wall. They are supplied by three coke forges, and by the coal furnace before mentioned. A drop-stamp, or drop-hammer, is a m...

Two kinds of weather go hard with the toilers in the shed; they are--extreme cold and extreme heat. When it is very cold in the winter the men will be subjected to a considerabl...

The Stamping Shop is square, or nearly so, each lateral corresponding to a cardinal point of the compass--north, south, east, and west, the whole comprising about an acre and a...

“Yes, and you’ll be doing it directly! ’Tis all your fault. If you was to look after your work instead of acting about so much that wouldn’t have happened. Blasted well light th...

On the north the factory yard is bounded by a high board fence that runs along close behind the shed and divides the premises from the recreation grounds, which are chiefly the...

inconceivable but that other ailments must necessarily follow. The complete nervous system must in time be shattered, or seriously impaired, and the individual become something...

Someone once asked the Greek Thales how he might best bear misfortune and he replied--“By seeing your enemy in a worse condition than yourself.” He would have been as near the t...

PLAYS. (Second Series.) By Anton Tchekoff. (The Cherry Orchard, The Three Sisters, The Bear, The Proposal, The Marriage, The Anniversary, A Tragedian.) With an Introduction. Com...