Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1872-05-31
For the journal.
A DAY ON A FREIGHT TRAIN.

"a DAA ON II hEIUHI TRAIN
Truly has it been said that one half of |
the world dOeSnot know how the other
half lives" and there are few persons who
really know what life on freight train is.
Our experience is with a g day freight. ,, as
it is called, that is, one starting early in
the morning aud not running much into
the night. The train in question was
composed of engine, tender, twenty freight
cars and a sharty car" This last term
is applied to the Car in which the hands
live; and the conductor rides and has his
office and bed. The ''shanty " Of our
train was an ordinary freight car, original
ly, but it had been divided by a partition
cutting it at about twO-thirds its length,
and giving the larger part to the "hands,"
while the smaller was for the officers of the
train. The larger part had small cook
ing stove near the centre, two chests for
provisions and utensils, four shelves
at the sides denominated 50 bunks,"
several loose boxes and blocks of wood for
seats, pile of wood, several ShackleS, pins
aud pieces Of chain and rope, and from the
constant smoke of the stove, was black
throughout with SCOT. The conductors
apartment was not exactly a Pullman
Palace car, but it had table hinged to the
partition with one shifting leg i'll the centre,
a shelf i'll one corner with a blue water
bucket on it and a tin cup over it, block
under it with tin Wash-basin OH the block,
remnants OF bar-soap lying about, and by
the side Of the whole hung an unna;nable-
colored cloth called (by courtesy towel.
In two Of the corners were hunks; two
chairs, one with back and one without,
completed the survey, II we except a tin
trunk on the table and small loOking-glass
hung at the side. Disposing Of our bag
gage in one corner we took the no-backed
chair and sat down. In q few minutes the
whistle sounded and we started. AS we
rounded curve shortly after starting we
| looked out TO take a survey. In the dim
morning light we could see the wrestling
thrOGs Of the locomotive rs she settled down
to her task of pulling one hundred and fifty
tons OF freight aud two hundred tons of
cars up the grade which brought her
to the Out3trctching road which lay
before her. On the top Of the train We saw
the four brakemen, each holding to his
wheel in the midst Of clouds of steam, Gin
ders and smoke, and through the open door
! that led to the front OF the ''shanty" We
! could STE the cook raising fragrant per-
| fllme of fried meat from the cooking stove,
whilst he held in his hands about six
! pound ball of corn-meal-dough ready to put
in the pans for baking, and he was giving
| it that peculiar tWirl and roll which none
! but good corn-bread makers understand
! The conductor was bending over his table,
we saw him take ont watch and time-table,
! give a glance at each, and then we realized
/ that there was to be no random running,
! but the powers that ruled were exercising
/ an influence from the start, destined to
! continue to the end. Then he produced a
pile of manifests of freight, commenced as
/ sorting them and laying them in small piles
OH the table this completed, he seemed
: to hnpnTf1n of of
senger, and turning, gave us cordial
''goOd morning" From that time onward
/ he seemed to have no rest. Every sound
| Of the whistle, every unusual jar in the
road, every movement Of E'hand," every
rattle Of the cars, seemed to attract his at
tentiOn and demand his care. Then came
a smell Of hot grease floating in at the open
/ door, and Immediately hand -
was sent off to look for hot jour
mails. Some wayside individual gave a
! shout as we whirled by, and he sur
veyed the whole train to see if everything
j was right. On the up grades, if the speed
j of the engine became slow, | could see him
! put his foot on the floor with Impotence
! on the down grades, if the speed i'll
creased too much, he looked to see if bis
I brBkemen were ready to apply the brakes,
if the engineer called Ebrakes," and alto
gether he impressed us with the idea that
he felt he weight Of responsibility resting
upon him, and was determined to do his
duty fully. We leaned back against the
side OF the car in perfect confidence that
4 unless something broke we should be safe.
/ We should meet ali trains where we ought,
8 and not be in danger of collision. The
i = shanty" having no more springs than the
freight cars was not an easy car to ride in;
being light il jumped from side to
side more than a loaded car, and being at
/ the rear Of the train it whisked about at a
furious rate, reminding one of lantern at
i the end of the tail of kite, so
! that ii our friends will take our advice they
will ride OH the first class cars of the pas
senger train in preference to freight train
- si2anty." Bones Of Mahomet how we
| achod next day { At the first depot we did
/ not 90 out to see the operations, as it was
a mere Way-side crossing, but On orr arri-
val at a depot where there was the
nucleus of a village, we landed and went
= forward. The weather was intensely hot,
and the cars like ovens, but the conductor
and hands plunged into one Of them, and
shortly the goods were tumbling out in a
hurry and into the warehouse they went
as quick. The conductor from the inside
of the car called and checked off OH his
manifest, the agent on the platform re-
sponded and checked. Presently out came
conductor and hands, the door was Slam
: mod to ard locked, signal Of the hand to
tile engineer and another car Was drawn
up cor backed DOWN to the platform un-
loaded, and SO the operation continued I'M
til all for that place was discharged. Then
came the reverse operation, loading, which
continued about the same time, end when
nearly ended, on an iQtilnation from the
conductor, we made for the g Shanty,"
then two hundred yards in the rear; the
last door was slammed and locked,
glance at lis watch, q wild wave of the
hand to the engineer, as if taking a final
farewell, and all hands plunged for the
train The NEGROES clambcred like monkeys
TO the top OF The cars; The conGucLOr scized
the sh;2nty as it passed, swung himself on
board, and We were away again. Poor
fellow, the pe:spifatiOn was streaming off
his face, his shirt was wet with it, and he
was covered with dirt and dust. Then
came into use that corner with the tin
basin, soap and cloth, after which the
lOOkinglass showed him his success in his
ablution5, and lie was call rioht.''
At the next station there was no unload
ing or loading to do bot the timetable called
for certain leaving time and we had to
wait Here tail, raw-hOned, dirty-faced,
woman approached the conductor, She
wore an old dirty hood, and had her gown
tucked under her belt until the bottom on
ly reached halfway between knee and
ankle; she was bare-footed and seemed to
have lust come through about six inches of
grey mud. ;: Captin' hOw's turpentine ."
was her first remark, and she draWled it
out as if it hurt her to talk. The. conduc-
tOrgava hep the quotations, and she contin-
Il ;,r-~