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Introduction
Engineer George Stephenson was the principal shareholder in the Leicester and Swannington Railway, which opened in June 1832, not yet seven years after Stephenson’s historic Stockton and Darlington line carried the public for the first time. The L&SR had been running for just under a year when there was an accident at a level crossing, and Mr Ashlen Bagster, manager of the line, had a brainwave.
ON Saturday, May 4th, 1833, Driver Weatherburn reported to the Engine Superintendent, Mr Cabry, that “when driving the engine ‘Samson’ on the first train this morning, on approaching the level crossing of the road from Bagworth to Thornton at a point close to the Stag and Castle Inn,* I observed a horse and cart approaching. I blew the horn, lifted the ‘safety valves,’ and opened the cylinder taps, but failed to attract the attention of the man in charge of the covered cart.
“The horse passed over the rails, but the left-hand buffer of the engine caught the back corner of the cart. The horse was so injured that it had to be killed, but the driver of the cart, although thrown out, was not much hurt. The cart and contents were completely smashed up.”
Upon hearing the facts, Mr Cabry asked, “Were the gates shut across the road?”
“Oh, no,” replied the driver, “they were wide open, and I saw nothing of the gatekeeper.”
The matter was at once reported to the Manager, Mr Ashlen Bagster, who informed Mr Roger Miles, the clerk to the Company, and Mr John Ellis, one of the directors.
* A pub, built in 1832, at The Hollow between Thornton and Bagworth, which served as the ticket office for the nearby Thornton railway station. The station closed in 1865.
Précis
In 1833, a train on the newly-opened Leicester and Swannington Railway caught a road waggon a glancing blow on a level crossing. Mr Bagster, the manager of the line, informed his superiors that the crossing-keeper had failed to close the gates against road traffic, and that the waggoner had not heard the engine-driver’s frantic blasts on a hand-held horn. (59 / 60 words)
In 1833, a train on the newly-opened Leicester and Swannington Railway caught a road waggon a glancing blow on a level crossing. Mr Bagster, the manager of the line, informed his superiors that the crossing-keeper had failed to close the gates against road traffic, and that the waggoner had not heard the engine-driver’s frantic blasts on a hand-held horn.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: because, besides, if, may, must, or, ought, whether.
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