The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1877-04-13
THE MAN AT THE THROTTLE.
A Confidential Talk with n Locomotive
Engineer-NO Law Against IncOmpe.
tent or Drunken Engine Drivers.

1
Confidential Talk with n Locomotive
EnRinecr-NO Law Against IncOmPe-
tent or Drunken Engine Drivers.
Have you ever thOughtas you entered s
railroad car how absolutely and complete
ly your life was in the hands of one man
Has it ever occurred to you as you re.
clined in a soft-cushioned seat in appa
rent security, with hundreds of Others OF
the train, how-every one of you might
be sent to an instant death by the light
est blunder or neglect on the part of one
weak human being? And did you ever
find yourself wondering if The man at
the throttle understood his duties and
was able to do them promptly and prop
erly, appreciating the enormous response
bilities resting upon fallible human ma
ture, and knowing what awful conse-
quences might result from a single mis-
take on his part?
Your correspondent confessed that
since the recent railroad engineers
strikes these dangers have oc-
Cured to him, and the readers of the
Herald would understand the reason
could they have heard the other day a
brief conversation in the cab of locomo-
tive. which an unusually intelligent and
trustworthy member of the guild of en-
gineers recounted a little of the true in
wardness of his calling.
WHERE IGNORANCE Is BLISS.
1" 1t is as WE'LL" said he, smiling
thoughtfully, "that the travelling public
don't know how the majority of railroads
are managed and what risks the passen-
gers often run. Why, to save a little
money they often fail to employ more
than one-half the number of engineers
absolutely needed for safety. Many a
time have | come in from long trip SO
| tired and sleepy as to be scarcely able to
stand, and been ordered immediately
out again without an hours rest. l have
been worked twenty-four hours at a
stretch when / have been so worn out
| that no power on earth could keep me
awake, and, standing with my hand on
the lever, have gone sound asleep. If
! you had fired of cannon at my ears /
could not have helped it. l have many
a time brought my engine into some
town at thirty miles an hour while
asleep, until the fireman or somebody
would wake me up.
Dangerous? Well, rather so for if
there is any post in the world where a
man should be excessively wide awake,
vigilant, incessantly watching ahead of
him with an unfaltering steadiness and
with good eyes, too, with his hand al
ways on the lever, prepared to check the
flying speed with which ne is flying
along, it is when he is in the cab of loco
motive engine. i don't know any work that
requires a man TO know what he is about
and TO see what he is about so much as
running the engine of an express train.
The engineer not only must watch his
engine and keep her up to her WORK, but
he must watch the steam gauge, watch
the time, watch the signals, watch the
track, watch the crossings and watch his
surroundings. To sum up in one word,
an engineer must be alertness personifed.
Dangerous You might as well ask if
it would be dangerous for man to fall
asleep sitting on a keg of powder with a
lighted slOwmatch attached to it.
BULL-DozING THE ENGINEERS.
"It is a common thing for an engineer,
after having come in from a long trip, to
be ordered out again Immediately, al
though he knows and the company knows
that he is not fit for further work with
out a rest, and that to fall asleep at his |
post is to endanger the lives of hun |
or he will lose his place. Suppose under |
such circumstances, an accident occurs. !
Isn't the company relieved from all re-
spOnsibility in the eyes of the newspaper
and the public if they show that the en-
gineer failed to see a signal? Who is to
know that the reason that the engine
driver failed to see the signal or the
switch was because he fell asleep from
everwork, and that he was compelled to
run while physically unable to do so in
safety?
A STARTLING STATEMENT.
"This is the cause of good many
railroad accidents, but l can tell you of
a still more frequent one. 1t is the en-
ployment by certain railroad managers
of half-taught betches as engineers, or
men who are nat of sober habits and can
not get into the brotherhood of engi-
neers (our trade society, and who will,
therefore, work very cheaply."
Why is this permitted?"
& / will tell you. In every state in
the union, so far as 1 know, there is a
law compelling the engineers who attend
to stationary boilers to pass an examina-
ton, at which they must show them
selves qualified, and receive license be-
fore they are permitted to work. You
would be liable to severe punishment if
you employed an unlicensed engineer to
run the boiler of your printing Office.
This law is, of course, an eminently
proper one, and III New York city, for
there is 4 bureau of pOliceHle-
partment whose exclusive duties are to
see its enforcement. A similar United I
States statute compels the engineers OF
10 20 | ,
still stricler examination. But no such
law is on the statute books of any state
in the union as regards locomotive engi-
neers, whose duties are even more deli
cate and dangerous than their brethren
who run factory or other stationary en-
gines. Whenever any bill requiring the
railroad companies to employ only com
petent men has been likely to pass leg
islature, the railroad lobbyists have de-
feated it, You will find no statute in
this country to prevent the railroads from
putting in charge of the train you in
trust your life to the veriest bOtch or
drunkard that can be found. If the
want to do a good work, let
them demand and secure the passage of
such a statute as will oblige the cOmpa-
nies to employ at least this simple requi-
site to spfety."
"Do not the best mana eed roads now
findit pays best to employ good, COM
petent men?"
Some of the companies are beginning
to fEd it out, but the majority of them
take on all the men they can pick up
who will work cheaper than a skillful
engineer. For instance, the Boston and
Maine railroad company, during the late
strike, employed men who were either
too ignorant of their trade or too much
given to drink to belong to the trade
society, and actually allowed these men
to take out their first trains at night.
Now, over one hundred trains day pass
over that road, and no conscientious man,
however skillful, would take his engine
over it at night unless he were thor
oughly acquainted with every foot OF
the track"
THE IDIOsYNCRACY OF A LOCOMOTIVE.
Is not travelling at night alway
more dangerous than by daylight" 2"
"Not always. Under tome circum-
stances 1 suppose it might be. But
would rather take my engine over the
road at night have run a night ex-
LIZ