The most dangerous job was Brakesman, with many young men being crippled or killed when walking along the tops of vehicles to manually screw down brakes, and when manually coupling cars using the highly dangerous link and pin couplers.
12.
Only at 5 : 10 AM did the Balvano station master realize a disaster had happened, after being informed by the last car's brakesman Giuseppe De Venuto who survived and managed to reach the station walking on the tracks.
13.
The most dangerous job was Brakesman, with many young men being crippled or killed when walking along the tops of vehicles to manually screw down brakes, and when manually coupling cars using the highly dangerous link-and-pin couplers.
14.
The front section, an open area between the tracks, was flanked by tall narrow structures, above the front of the track frame at each side, that acted as armoured cabs for driver on the left and brakesman to the right.
15.
Railway-type signals were used to indicate that an ascending wagon had been attached to the rope; the brakesman at the upper level then levered the descending, loaded wagon to the brow of the hill, and the descent and ascent began.
16.
Robertson's earlier view is not entirely the same : " The line was built to give a steady downhill gradient to the sea, even though this required the construction of a substantial embankment, so that loaded trains of waggons could be sent down by gravity under the control of a brakesman, and horses would only be required for returning the empties ."
