RAILWAY DOGS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 71, 25 March 1937, Page 10

RAILWAY DOGS

CLEARING THE LINE

Licences have just been taken out by the Great Western Railway Company for 25. sheep dogs, which are kept to assist gangers in keeping certain of the valley lines in the Cardiff, Neath, Newport, " and Ovvestry' engineering divisions of the. system clear of staying sheep, says the "News Chronicle."

The sheep come" down from'the surrounding' hills and. find their way through the fences into the railway cuttings in search of pasture, and, in doing so, endanger their own lives and delay trains. The duties of the railway sheep dog are described as being even more onerous than those of the shepherd's dog and guide them through an obscure opening which it has to find, but it also has.to acquire "track sense," so that it may be safe from passing trains.

1 The dogs are trained to answer the' verbal commands, sometimes given in Welsh, the whistles,' and hand signals of their masters from a considerable distance. But they do not always wait to be told what to dp and have often routed trespassers long before the ganger's arrival. They are also trained to know what the warning whistle of an approaching train means; they give warning to the permanent way men, and will not leave the line until all the men are clear. The' "track sense" developed by these dogs is said to be remarkable. If caught between the sets of lines while driving a sheep from the running lines they will lie down until the two trains have passed.

The dogs begin their training at an early age, in some instances before they are six months old, and there are.today many of them with more than seven years' railway service to their credit. They live with their masters, but the annual licence fee is paid by the company. All are mongrels of the sheepdog type.