BRAVELY DONE.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume V, Issue 44, 1 November 1890, Page 19

BRAVELY DONE.

■QUITE recently, on a Belgian railway, a period of extreme -cold so affected a switch-bar that, when the switchman attempted to- move it, it broke in two. The accident prevented the switching apparatus from working. Two passenger trains were approaching, and the switchman saw instantly that, if the switch was not turned, a dreadful collision would be the result.

There was but one thing for him to do ; he must push the movable rail into place with his hands. This involved getting between the two tracks upon which the trains must pass. He decided what to do without hesitating a second. Throwing himself flat on the ground between the two tracks, the switchman moved the rail to its place with his hands, and then drew them back, just in time to escape the wheels of the locomotive.

He had a narrow escape, too, from being thrown upon the other track by the rush of air caused by the rapidly moving train.

He escaped, however, and the passengers whose lives his bravery and presence of mind had saved, did not even know that they had been in danger.