It is a good plan to use horses to stop by notice, as it may prevent
accidents. In pulling up, the driver must pull the reins equally,
but rather those of the wheelers first. If this is attended with
difficulty, take the wheelers’ reins in the right hand, and pull till
they hang well on the breeching, or on the pole chains, thus increasing
the leaders’ draught so much that they will easily be pulled up.
When a young coach-horse is stopped, it should be very
gradually--allowing at least ten yards to do it in; for, if it be
attempted to stop him short, he will resist. A careful driver will
never keep his carriage standing in a great thoroughfare; but when
obliged to stop in a crowded street, the driver should, if possible,
avoid the spot where another carriage is stopping; should choose as
much as possible the widest part of the street; and draw up close to
the curb.
There is no part of stage-coach economy in which greater alteration
has been made than in changing horses. Unless business is to be
transacted--as taking fares for passengers, setting down, getting out
parcels, &c.--the average with fast coaches is three minutes for each
change.
ACCIDENTS, &c. TO HORSES.
A cantering leader, or one that frets, is generally mismanaged by young
coachmen. They are apt to pull him back, and endeavour to get him to
trot, by the bit, which generally fails, or makes him even worse, by
bringing him back on his bar. The right way is to pull him back by his
harness; that is, to keep the wheelers back, so that he may feel his
collar and bit at the same time.
A horse that kicks ought to be taken very short in his pole-piece,
and gagged; and, when he begins to kick, he should be whipped on
the ears--a punishment which should never be inflicted but for
vice.--Hallooing to a horse when he kicks, has sometimes an effect. A
hot leader is sometimes benefited by mopping. An experienced driver
says, “I once bought a capital coach-horse for twenty-six pounds,
because no one could drive him: and, as he had broken two carriages, he
was the terror of the neighbourhood. I mopped him, and could drive him
with the greatest safety, either leader or at wheel.”
In the case of a horse falling, a periodical writer, replying to
another, states, “In one of his letters on ‘the Road,’ he says, ‘If the
coachman be driving with the short wheel rein, and a horse fall beyond
recovery, he had better open his hand, and let the reins fall out, than
run the risk of being pulled off the box.’ With all due deference to
such authority, I cannot subscribe to this, as it frequently happens
that a horse falls, is dragged along the ground for a short distance,
and recovers himself the moment the coach stops, and then starts off at
full gallop, the other horses following his example. Now, if coachee
has opened his fist, and let the reins tumble out, and the above
occurrence should take place, I would certainly rather be on the top of
Cheviot than on the top of the said coach, as the catastrophe would not
be very difficult to foretell.”
On many horses, hot weather has a singular effect; and, therefore, it
often happens that a good winter horse is an indifferent summer one.
Coach-horses are subject to many accidents, of which one is peculiar
to them--namely, fracture of the legs in trotting on level ground.[77]
Fractures of the foot in draught-horses and others are common; but
fractures of the leg in coach-horses when trotting over level ground,
are probably caused by over-tension of the limb in the act of drawing.
It is said that a coach-horse’s leg is more frequently broken, when,
with a heavy load behind him, he snatches at his collar in a turn of
the road.
[77] When driving one of the Birmingham fast coaches, just entering
the town of Dunstable, my near leader fell with her off hind-leg
snapped clean in two, held together merely by the skin. On pulling
up to clear her from the coach, I found the cause of the accident; a
piece of flint, shaped like a hatchet, and with a blade as keen as a
razor, still adhering to the bone, against which it had either been
whirled by a kick from one of the other three, or had flown upwards
from the tread of the mare herself,--ED. Fifth Edition.
They are also subject to an affection known by the appellation of the
lick, which greatly injures their condition. In this state they lick
each other’s skins, and gnaw their halters to pieces. This probably
proceeds from the state of the stomach, caused by the excitement of
high feeding and work. It may be removed by opening or alterative
medicines.
They are likewise subject to a kind of vertigo, which on the road
is called megrims. This, of which the immediate cause is temporary
pressure on the brain, is often brought on by running in the face
of a hot sun; and, therefore, horses subject to megrims ought to
work at night. The attack appears to come on suddenly, though a
snatching motion of the head is sometimes observed to precede it.
If not immediately pulled up, the horse thus affected drops. Such
horses should have attention paid to the state of their bowels, and
have frequent antimonial alteratives. What is called “a megrim horse”
is always dangerous, especially near a precipice or ditch, as, when
seized, he rolls away from his partner, and, of course, takes him with
him.
ACCIDENTS TO COACHES, &c.
A necessary precaution in a gig is--never to sit with the feet under
the body, but always to have one, if not both, out before it. “I
had a passenger by the side of me,” says the driver who gives this
caution, “who was sitting with his feet under his belly, and who was
consequently thrown with much violence into the road. I had five miles
further to drive him, during which he took care to have his feet before
him.”
In stage-coaches, accidents no doubt occur, and no one will assert
that the proprietors guard against them to the utmost of their power.
The great competition, however, which they have to encounter, is a
strong stimulant to their exertions on this score. In some respects,
also, the increase of pace has become the traveller’s security: coaches
and harness must be of the best quality; horses fresh and sound;
coachmen of skill and respectability can alone be employed; and to this
increased pace is owing the improvement in these men’s character. They
have not time now for drinking, and they come in collision with a class
of persons superior to those who formerly were stage-coach passengers,
by whose example it has been impossible for them not to profit. A
coachman drunk on his box is now a rarity--a coachman quite sober was,
but a few years ago, still more so. On the whole, however, travelling
by public conveyance was never so secure as it is at the present time.
Axle-trees and springs do not often break now; and if proprietors go to
the expense, their wheels are made secure against coming off.
The worst accidents, and those which, with the present structure of
coaches, can never be entirely provided against, arise from broken
axle-trees, and wheels coming off on the road. The guard, therefore, in
whose department this lies, ought to examine the axle-tree every time
it is fresh greased. He should also remove it once in ten days, put a
string through the bolt that receives the linch-pin, and hang it up
and cleanse it; and he should then strike it with a hammer, when, if
uncracked and sound, it will ring like a bell--the coachman attending
to take care that it be again properly screwed on.
Reins also break, though rarely, except in those parts which run
through the terrets, the rings of the throat-lash, or in the billets;
and attention to these would make all safe, as far as accidents from
this cause are concerned.
Accidents happen also from want of attention to the security of
the bridles. The throat-lash, therefore--particularly of the
wheelers--should be as tight as can be allowed without injuring
respiration. There otherwise is always danger of the bridle being
pulled off. Accidents, moreover, happen from galloping coach-horses
down hill, or on even ground. If, indeed, a casualty then happen, it
must be a bad one. The goodness of a road is no preservative against
it: on the contrary, it is possible that if a coach begin to swing, it
may go over from the very circumstance of the road being so level and
so smooth that there is nothing on its surface to hold the wheels to
the ground. If, moreover, there be two horses at wheel whose stride in
their gallop differs much as to extent, the unequal draught invariably
sets the coach rolling, and, unless the pace moderate, the fore-wheel
passing over even a small stone, may, under such circumstances, cause
the coach to upset. In respect to lateral motion, however, much depends
upon the build of the carriage. In galloping coach-horses, if the
leaders lead off with two legs, the motion of the coach is considerably
truer, and the swing-bars are also much more at rest, than when each
horse uses the same leg.
It appears, then, that accidents to coaches are chiefly to be
attributed either to the want of proper skill and care in the servants
employed, or to what is still less pardonable, inattention on the part
of their masters. Road-coachmen, fortunately, are well aware that the
law looks sharply after them; and that for neglect proved against them,
they are equally answerable to their employers, as these are to the
public.
“If I were to go upon the road,” says an amateur, “I would be a night
coachman through a well-inhabited country. For six months of the
year, it is undoubtedly the pleasanter service; and I never found any
difference between taking rest by day or by night.” It is, however,
calculated only for a man in the prime of his days, as all his energies
are required. The night coachman ought to know his line of road well.
He must take rest regularly, or he will be sure to become drowsy, if he
do not go to sleep. He must also keep himself sober; keep a tight hand
on his horses; keep the middle of the road; and be sure to keep time.
The night coachman must cast his eye well forward, and get out of the
way of carts and waggons in time. Although, by looking perpendicularly
from his box or at the hedges, if there be any, he may always see if
he be in the road, yet if he cannot throw his eye some way before
his leaders’ heads, he is going at random. He will often get close
to things he may meet in the road before he is aware of them; and
therefore, as I have already said, it is essential that he should be
wide awake, and have his horses well in hand.
Chains and springs on the bars are good things for night-work, as they
prevent the leaders’ traces coming off. A narrow road, sufficiently
wide, of course, for carriages to pass with convenience--with no ditch
on the side--is much the best for night-work. Unless when the moon
is very bright, a dark night is in favour of safe travelling. When
it is what coachmen term “a clear dark,” the lamps give much better
light than when the darkness approaches to grey. In very wide roads,
particularly where there are no hedges to confine them, lamplight
is both weak and deceiving; and moonlight is often glimmering and
doubtful, particularly when clouds are passing rapidly. Lamplight is
treacherous, both in fogs and when horses are going at a moderate pace,
with the wind just behind them; for then the steam arising from their
bodies follows them, and necessarily obstructs the light. Sometimes,
from driven rain or snow, a coachman can scarcely open his eyes so as
to see the road to the extent of the light given by the lamps, in which
case a tight hand on the horses is especially necessary.
A heavy fog is the only thing which baffles the skill and intrepidity
of our night coachmen. In this case, lamps are of no avail as to
showing light forward; and, in the worst cases, the only use that can
be made of them is for the guard to hold one in his hand behind the
coach, by which he will be able to see whether the horses are in the
road or not. Lamps, however, are always useful in case of accidents;
and, except in very clear moonlight, a night coach should never travel
without them.
Accidents often occur from coachmen neglecting to light their lamps in
going into a town. It often happens that, when a coach comes down the
road in the morning, there may be no obstruction in the streets; but
rubbish from buildings, stones, or many other things, may be thrown out
by the time it comes up again at night. When an accident happens to a
coach, presence of mind is much required. Outside passengers should
never think of quitting by jumping, from the fore part, at least, until
she falls to the ground. From the box, indeed, a man may get over the
roof into the guard’s seat, and thence descend.
Among the various contrivances for dragging wheels, we may mention a
very ingenious one by Mr. Rapson. The drag is applied to the nave of
the wheel, with a chain attached, which is fastened to the breeching,
a small pin on each side going into the bar of the drag. If one of
these pins be taken out, the wheel will be dragged, and if both are
withdrawn, the wheels are both acted upon during the descent, by the
breech bearing against the horse.
[Illustration]
In the first of these diagrams we have a representation of the break
attached to the wheel, but inoperative, the jointed circle separating
the chain, _c_, and bolt, _b_, from the nave. In the second figure, the
entire frame _a_, _b_, _c_, is seen in direct collision with the nave,
and by its friction retarding the locked wheel. This, however, does not
occur till the breeching of the harness is drawn tight by the pressure
of the carriage upon it.