Sight-testing on the Home Railways.

Railways all over the world rightly attach the greatest importance to the question of eyesight, so far as locomotive drivers and firemen are concerned. On the Home Railways a certificate of good eyesight, signed by the railway medical officer, must be possessed by every locomotive man. Examinations for eyesight are conducted on special testing grounds, and are usually made during the summer months, when visibility is at its best. The conventional form of testing apparatus consists of a set of about six signals of standard size and pattern, which have to be picked out at distances ranging from 150 to 1,000 yards. The signals are operated by means of a hand lever by a man who alters the position of the boards on receiving a ring on a bell from the officer in charge at the point where the test is being conducted.

It is interesting to note that, in the single eyesight test, it is usual to employ a light wooden shield, painted black, to obscure the vision of the disengaged eye of the man undergoing the test. This arrangement is adopted for, when a man closes one eye by covering it with his hand, it often happens that the pressure placed upon the eye is liable to blur the vision temporarily, thus producing a detrimental effect when subsequent tests are carried out with that eye. In addition to the tests outlined, all would-be drivers and firemen at Home have to undergo a stringent colour vision examination.