The gag with Buster Keaton unraveling a newspaper while negotiating a steep bridge is a reworking of a similar gag from Keaton's silent short The 'High Sign' (1921). Director Gerald Potterton argued with Keaton over the danger of the gag, but eventually Keaton did it his own way with no problems.
(at around 4 mins) Just before meeting a train, The Man can be seen to nearly lose his hat. He manages to catch it before it flies off completely.