Percy and his staff could get very little information on the location of either train. The replies to their enquiries from the telegraph clerk at Wellow (who was only fifteen, and trying to do the work of the stationmaster who had gone for a drink in Midford) were vague. Those from the clerk at Radstock were apparently deliberately obtuse.
Percy and his team faced difficulties obtaining information about the train's location. The telegraph clerks at Wellow and Radstock offered ambiguous or evasive answers, respectively.