"Four-foot" and "six-foot" in Inquest Report

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Hello Railway Experts

I have been reading a report of the Coroner's Inquest into the death of my great-great-grandfather, a railway platelayer, who died after being hit by a train on 16 January 1900.

It would help my understanding of the report if anyone can explain what the terms "four foot" and "six foot" mean.

With apologies for the long post, I will paste below parts of the report so you can see the terms in their context.

Many thanks
Ruth

Henry Kendal, of Nab, Mirfield, a signal charge man, stated that on Tuesday morning he saw deceased leave the pointsman’s cabin to go down the line. He walked in the four-foot, and a few minutes later witness saw the 8.10am main line passenger train from Normanton to Sowerby Bridge strike deceased in the right side and knock him into the six-foot. He was looking down at the crossing at the time the train came up.

John William Hall, the fireman on the train which knocked deceased down, said when they came near Ravensthorpe Junction the signal was against them, and they had to pull up to allow the 8.32 train to Normanton to pass. The signalman soon after allowed them to pass, and put them on the north line. On crossing over he heard a noise, and on looking out saw deceased laid in the six-foot.

[Peter Goodey]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_terminology

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Thanks for the link - that's a great resource.

So it sounds like he was walking down one track between the rails (on the four-foot) and the train knocked him into the gap between the two tracks (the six-foot). The train wasn't travelling fast because it had been waiting at a signal, so he wasn't killed outright - the train took him to the next station, from where he was carried home on a stretcher, where he died two hours later. Must have had internal injuries, poor chap. The Coroner basically concluded that it was his fault for not looking out for the train.

[Davran]

If it had been nowadays, his family would have sued the railway company for not having warning notices all over the place and the train driver for not hooting in time!