Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1883-10-11
WHY THEY LOSE NERVE.
RunninR an Engine Night and Day
An Engineers Visions.

"Oh, yes. engineers do lose their
nerve" said Old Throttle; especially
one who has n night run all the time,
You see in the night time an engineer 5
eyes, thoughts and all are confined to a
very small space; it's nearly or quite
dark inside the cab, and if his engine
is wor6in' all right, caIryin' her wa,
ter, good lots of steam, and the fire
man wide-awake and lively, that engi-
neer don't have much to do with his
eyes, only to look out ahead over the
little space made bright by the head
light. and his thoughts are naturally
confined to what his eyes take in. In
the daytime it's different, he can look
around and see lots goin' on. He no.
tees that this field of 'taters look good
and wonders if his little patch at home
will turn out as well; he sees feller
fshin', and remembers the last mess of
trout he caught in the Shohola; he
sees 4 woman and a baby in the little
white house near the big curve, and
his thoughts fly back to his home and
his wife and children, and he wonders
what they are doing just now.
And this he can take in, and be
'tendin' to business strictly, but in the
nighttime all is changed, and his Wis
ions and thoughts, as / said, are con-
fined to the small spot made visible
and distinct 10y the headlight, and his
ideas naturally follow the rails. lie
remembers that the culvert just ahead
is the very place that was washed
out last spring, and nothing left under
the ties and rails for ten or fifteen feet
true, his engine jumped the chasm,
and only five cars loaded with express
matter and baggage went down and
were smashed and piled on top OF each
other, but it might have been the ten
cars Of emigrants that were coupled
in the rear, and it isn't pleasant To
think of what might have been.
Just around the curve is the place
where his engine struck draw-heaI
some careless brakeman had left lying
on the track; his engine only turned
over on her side, and fortunately the
air-brakes had SO stopped the train
that no further damage was done, but
he shudders as he recalls the sensa.
tions he experienced while the engine
was turning over and crushing its
mad way through the ties, and 'tisn't
pleasant to think of it. He flies over
a huge embankment at pace of for
ty miles an hour, and thinks of the
feelings that were his on certain trip
last winter when a side rod came crash
ing through the side of the cab, while
passing over the same embankment.
"In the cut just ahead is where, on
the last trip, a watchman, intent on
watching train on the opposite track,
had forgotten the express was due,
and the horror and agony depicted on
his face as the pilot threw him high in
the air, will never be forgotten, Meth
er will his mangled and blood stained
body, picked up and cared for as soon
as the train could be stopped. And
so on every mile Of the road something
of this kind is brought to mind, as his
thoughts follow the circle of light
ahead, which flashes and changes con-
stantly, now shining on d bridge, now
showing an embankmcnt, flashes its
rays now on a house and through trees
and foliage, ald if the man is easily
worried or bothered he gets very ner-
vous indeed, and wishes he was at the
end of the trip anywhere off the rail.
"Why, I've known men to give up
the best trains on the road and big pay
because they had to run in the night
time, and take trains that were much
harder to run and poorer pay, simply
because the latter run in daylight.
Yes, engineers do sometimes get fright.
ened and lose nerve, and it is not to be
wondered at when we think of his
standing one hand on the throttle and
the other on the reverse lever, with his
thoughts going back to incident and
incident Of his busy and hazardous
life on each curve and straight line of
the road, as revealed by the headlight
of his engine."-Port Jervis IN. W
GGzette