The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1882-03-01
The supcrstitions OF Engineers.


storms and accidents, make passen-
ger trains late in arriving at sta
tions ?" inquired Post correspond.
ent Of Division Superintendent
Rawn, of the New York & New
England Road, at his office in the
Union depot the other morning.
SWELL, they are innumerable,
said Mr.. Rawn. "But there is one
cause of delay which is quite curl
GUS and almost unaccountable. Like
sailors, engineers are very supersti.
tious. l suppose they become SC
from the comparative solitude and
dangers of their positions. With
only a fireman as a companion they
are out in all kinds of weather, and
| can tell you it is no pleasant thing
for a man to ride at full speed on a
dark night, peering out of little
window into a blackness made more
black by the bright glare of the
headlight. On all sides is darkness,
and the little speck of monotonous
track ahead is all that he can see.
Certain engines, ike certain ships,
get bad regulations, and the men
hate to run them. They consider
them unlucky. and believe they are
bound to kill somebody, and SO viii
refuse to drive them at top speed.
This feeling is almost universal
among engineers. We have an en-
CINE on our road now which the
men very much dislike TO be as
signed to. / was once on a railroad
in the west which owned an engine
which the men were positively
afraid of, 1t was so unlucky."
On his way up town the reporter
called on Mr.. Davidson, of the New
York, New Haven & Hartford Road,
and in conversation upon the topic
he said:
eyes, all engineers are more OF
less superstitious their calling
makes them Sc. At one time one
of our fast trains from New York
kept coming into Hartford rom two
to five minutes late. At first |
thought this was due to some mate
rial cause, but at last, as the train
arrive in New Haven on time, | de-
termined to find out the trouble. On
the arrival of the train in New Ha-
ven the engineers were changes, and
as the time was all right up to that
point knew that time was being
lost between there and Hartford. /
couldn't understand it, for the road
is good ali the way and time should
be made up over it, instead of lost
/ went down there one day and ask.
ed the engineer what made him late
so repeatedly. He said he didn't
know, only the engine wouldn't
make time. He had always been a
competent man and was thought
much of on the road. | got into the
cab with him, and after short dis
tance had been passed found that
the engine was not doing its part
/ told the engineer to throw open
the throttle valve. At first he re-
fused to do so, but when l repeated
the order he did so and we reached
Hartford on time. After that ht
was never late because of the engine
The fact was that he had got scared
but after he had been relieved of al
apprehension the train came in reg
ularly on schedule time. Once
when ! was running 4 night train
between here and Springfield, l had
a queer experience. Ny fireman
was young fellow, who twice, wher
we reached the bridge over the Con
necticut at Windsor Locks, disap
peared from the cab. The third
time watched him, and noticed
that he had gone into the tender
and crouched down in the coal in
one corner. When we were vel
into the bridge | called out to him
and he came into the cal with a fac,
as white as marble, and he wa.
shaking all over. | asked him what
was the matter, and he said There's
some fellows up in the rafters there
and sometime they're going to chuck
rocks at us = You see the idea had
suggested itself to him one night
and being superstitious, he had car
ried it around in his head until he
really believed it."-Hdrtford Post