 He had no means of applying brakes to the rest of the train; indeed most of the carriages had no brakes.Two or three of the carriages were brake carriages with handbrakes, each with a guard who would apply them when (and if) he heard the driver "whistle for brakes".In trials carried out after the accident under favourable conditions this was shown to bring the train to rest within 800–1150 yards when travelling at 40–45 mph.