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[quote user="K. P. Harrier"]Years ago I concluded that IF the engineer of the waiting passenger train in the siding HAD NOT tried to get the attention of the fireman at the UNLOCKED switch stand, everything would have been cool.  So, maybe if someone does something stupid, unless his life is in immediate, direct danger, it might be better to let it pass until such a time as the matter can be discussed in a safer situation.[/quote]   I concluded the same thing looking at it in retrospect, but there was no way that the engineer could have known that no lives were in danger, and that it would have been better to not try to communicate to the fireman.    It seemed that both men were drawn deeper into an error of misunderstanding by the actions of each other.  And that error was begun by the fireman.  If the fireman had not unlocked the treadle, or if the engineer had not reacted to it, or if the fireman had not reacted to the engineer’s reaction, the accident would not have occurred.       The misunderstanding was driven and energized by the dramatic demand of the approaching train.  Putting myself in the place of that fireman worrying about the correctness of the switch, I can imagine myself deciding yes, no, yes, no, etc. a thousand times in the last seconds as time ran out.
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