The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1883-08-22
Men VINO run the Engine.

queer aud asked wi ch eael. met thel
best approval III Is Tar I" say, was
the reply. 'All Of them are fire spec
mems Of workmanship. There ale iii r
ent varieties pullor-, p~uoheIs, cinter
aud 4 err .nere Wa a hne speclmeu
Of 40 English locomotive. 1t is all in one
piece, perfectly solid. - to speak. la q
country which is level. and on a road
tree from curves, | ave no doubt she
goes ike a I'd. Bat she wouldu DC
tor American roads, The grade and
curve would shake her all 10 pieces.
The engines used on the Pacific roads
and ia the west generally, arethe best en-
CINE. She will climb a mountain or ny
over a stream aud around a curve Of her
own length. She is built in pieces like
all Of our machines, SO hat one vince
may be in the air If necessary, and her
guard higher than her drivers, and keep
her balance all the time. She is a beauty,
true enough. Still, you can't tell any
thing about an engine until you are ac>
quainted with her"
How acquainted?' asked the report
er. who was unaware that engines have a
perso q It,.
NO two engines are alike-I mean
as regards their character
Locomotives have a character, then,
have they
They have, indeed. They have their
peculiarities and ways and their moods
also. On every railroad this fact is IN
der-tood, and each engine has its own
engineer. who finds the longer be drives
his iron horse the more he has to learn
about her. Sometimes she Is erratIc as a
woman. and for no apparent cause
sometimes t. high pressure is necessary
0 make her 90, sometimes under a low
h at she viii fly. And then again under
he same conditions, she kicks and spurts
i;Ee halky horse. have taken out my
machine and put her through the lun
one day at forty miles Ikea lady. The
next day it often happens she'll kick
and bump. and has to be forced into
Going. Its all according to the way
she reels. However, an engineer learns
h ; engine ~pcculiaritic~ aud knows how
t. cot troll them. and + she has any speed
tley yet II Out 81 her"
"~pcctiness." he continued. was.
after all, tle cardinal virtu" of IA locomo-
tive. ii is the common ambition OF en-
ginerr- 70 conduct the fastest locomotive
on then road. It's against the rules to
race. but if my road runs parallel with
another. and Il rival engineer invites me
To get To the end OF 1t first. | am not go
lng to refuse
is fast running any more dangerous
thaA slow
Not if the road is all right. It's a
good deal more uncomfortable. The
machine quivers and bouuces up and
down, but holds the track. when the
rails are stee! and the grades are not too
heavy YOU can pull the throttle wide
open and people on the train riding
smoothly won guess how quickly they
are rushing through space. There is a
good deal of fast running on all the
roads. \ schedule time of forty miles
an hutl : ~ rare. but almost every
engine ia sc.yice does that and more, in
places.
But fast or slow. it's a business of
chances. this railroading,' he went on.
No engine. however well built. nor en-
gineer but some day comes to grief. I
never heard OF one who had escaped dis
aster in some form
Instances are knowl. he. informed the
| reporter. Of these very practical men
Welding to superstition. and wearing
charms to guard against accident.
When | first began to run a pa>sen-
ger it wa on a branch road III Pennsll-
vania. For five years. was the only en-
| gIneer out OF Twenty-Five who never met
with a mishap. They called me tie
lucky IA and attributed my good for
une to Il certain anchor locket that |
wore. | was 50 confident in my luck
that | boosted ! would never have a
smash up. But my time came. One
night on rounding a curve that | was
Very cautious III doing. it was so sharp.
| say two men hurrying away into the
bushes. and felt my hair stand up as |
beheld their work-an obstruction piled
on the track. 1T was too late to stop.
wh.stled down brakes and jumped. The
engine and tender were ditched. and
| was laid up with Il broken leg and
fractured ribs for three months. 1t was
my first accident and the only attempt
1T Missouri business that had ever been
made i'll that part OF the country. Since
then | have met with every kind of
smashes. | have lun down misplaced
switches, t~hroughan open draw, collided
with IN oil train, been ditched by spread
ing rails and land slides. | am made
to see by my experience every time that
| pull out that no matter how perfect
the mechanical and human machinery
of q road may be in theory, in practice
faults occur where least expected. and
trackmen sleep or are unfaitlful.
If people knew half or a quarter of
the risks they encounter III railroad
travel more would walk Thar ride on
the cars. There is never a train but
graZes destruction in some form. Only
the mar in the cab knows what it really
means to dash ahead in the darkness.
and only he realizes that he is playing
on chances when he pulls open the lever.
Not one fraction of the accidents and
escapes are EVER printed or known. For
instance, l was bringing i'll al express
on a road leading into Chicago. Eighteen
miles out the road is crossed by another.
which is yelled by q thick woods. On
this occasion the crossing tender was
asleep, but his signal to come ahead
was swinging where he had left it, and
/ moved along. AS my wheels touched
the cross tracks | saw an engine coming
down on me at full speed. l turned
cold and was knocked in a heap, but |
managed to pull the lever open, and the
fraction of minutes it took to get my
train over the crossing seemed an hour.
Old No. Is was good for it, and the en-
CINE that might have cut into us and
killed a hundred people brushed the
platform of my rear car as it dashed bv.
Very few knew of that close call.
ITO handle an engine he said. turn
ing to companions, lis to AXE a hand
against death by fire, by water. on the
earth and in the air. with the odds ever
up. 1t IS a wearing and a hard life. but
a fascinating one. You grow to be fond
Of the dangers. and the excitement and