Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1884-11-07
THE FIREMAN'S STORY.

| "VAAu SaiS ASt Jul aSluoRutdASSs OUT
we are usefu,-aS useful, perhaps. as
any other class of men; and certainly
| we have our full share of the hard, dis
agreeable things IN life, including FIRE.
quent peril and much exposure to
! weather.
Working up from fireman to engine
| driver-or engineer" as we are usual
| ~ called in this country-is often slow
! process. There are men on our line
( the Hudson River Railroad-who have
been firing eleven years, with no pro-
| motion yet; though they are no doubt
/ fully competent to run an engine. For
promotion depends almost wholly upon
vacancies occurring, o.. some special in
fluence at headquarters
A man ought to become thoroughly
familiar with locomotive in eleven
years. | thought that l knew every
screw in mine after firing two years.
| Yet it takes good deal of time to learn
| to fire well, so rs 10 get the most steam
out of the least fuel, and have the high
est pressure ut the grades where it is
most needed. Todo this man should
know the road, every rod of it, as well
! as the engine.
Ah1h SOAlCS itiS AL tuNlut
requires great deal of oil, as well as
coal and water. The fireman has to
keep in mind all those scores of bear
ings where oil has to be applied. Be-
tween oiling, shoveling in coal, shaking
and stirring up his tire-to keep il
steady and hot-and looking to his stock
of coal and water, he is kept busy, and
must needs watch sharply. But man
gets these duties well fixed in his head
in time.
Il is while firing that the practical
| knowledge of running an engine is
gained. A fireman is the groom, so to
speak, of the Iron horse" He must,
morning or evening, have the engine
polished, fired up" end ready for his
superior, the engineer, to step into the
cab and start off. Usually the engineer
does not make his appearance till the
moment of connecting with the train.
| Between the engineer and fireman there
generally exists an easy-going and
manly sort of friendship, though have
| known cases where the two men de-
tested each other
When l began to fire under doc
Simmons, | scarcely knew enough to
pullu SOOu lilC III CuOh SbONc, anu
could not have found quarter of the
oil caps. l must have been trial to
him the first week or two. But he
never gave me a sharp word, though
he often had to tell me things over and
over again.
'Doc"-as the railway men all called
him-was Il superior engineer. He
knew every pound of metal in a loco
motive; just where it lay, and how
much it was good for. He was one of
those men who seem to feel just what
there is in locomotive the moment he
takes hold of the levers and starts up.
He was good-hearted fellow and al
ways had a pleasant word, or n joke,
all along the line; and it is generally
the case that such men do not fail the
company, or the public, at a critical
moment.
went home and cried like n baby
the day "Doc' was killed. If it had
been my own father, l could not have
felt half as badly. | actually wished
that had gone to the bottom of the
river with him. 1t was the night of the
| We had mo. 117n then, and took out
IIlt L dCluC dtS IL W do
from New York City, up the line to
Albany. It was a bitter night, and the
line was frosty and slippery. The ex-
| press was always heavy train. That
night we had three baggage and express
cars and eight passenger coaches; and
we were late out of New York to begin
with-about fifteen minutes, think.
| Such cold weather is always democrat
izing to railroad. 1t is much harder
to make time; all metal works bad; and
though the fire appears to burn brighter,
| it takes more coal to make steam. The
train seems to hang to the line. Then,
too, the cutting wind is enough to freeze
| the marrow in mans bones.
1t might have been mostly fancy on
my part, but thought doc" had an
odd look in his face that night, as he
got into the cab. He was more serious
than usual; for we both knew that we
had hard run before US, and cold
one. Both of US were muffled up in fur
caps and old overcoats.
"Shove in the coal, Nick, and shake
her down smart. We want every ounce
of steam tonight" says Doc. Fifteen
minutes behind and eleven cars on!
Those sleepingicoaches are as heavy as
a whole block, too. I'm glad this is a
double-track line and all clear ahead. y
We pulled out, and from the way
Doc handled her, knew that he meant
to pick up that fifteen minutes, if it was
in the old machine to do it. / suppose
we made thirty-fve miles an hour, per-
haps forty, on the level stretches.
On we went, reeling off the dark,
bleak miles, with the sharp wind cut
ting into the cab, till near New Ham
burg station, where the line then crossed
Wappinger Greek on trestle-bridge
which had a draw in it. 1t was a
comfort to think that the draw would
certainly not be open on such night,
for the creek was frozen up, and that
there would be no delay there.
All, if it were only permitted to train
men to know just what is ahead on the
tracks on these black, bitter nights !
But we can only see what the headlight
shows US; and often the signals seem
strangely obscure in fog, or in the driy-
ing rain and snow.
One of these always possible "breaks,"
which may not occur for years, but are
vet constantly liable to happen, had
OCcuIT6u IudL hight Ouc VI LnS AcDutil-
bound night freight trains, running
down to New York, broke an axle and
got one of its middle cars off the rails,
before reaching the bridge. How far
they dragged the car in that condition
no one knows; for it was SO cold that
the conductor and all the brakemen
were huddled in the caboose behind.
But they found it out after time, and
slowed down just as the train got on TO
the bridge. As they came to a stand
still, two or three other cars jumped
the track; and one of these, an oil-car,
with long tank on il, broke its coup
lings and was showed over on to the up
line of track-our hne-wbere it stood
sidewise across the rails.
The accident made great confusion
with the men on the freight; but they
claimed that they got out their signal
lanterns as soon as they could and
that it was not minute before we came
up
As we shot along past the dark sta
ton and out towards the bridge, saw
the white steam of the freight train.
I'VE shall pass No. 10 right by the
bridge" Doc said.
Both Of us were looking, Doc on his
side and on mine. Suddenly, right
ahead, we saw q red lantern swinging
on our track, at the end of the bridge.
ss(.cd 40 r. ua Docf, shouted. ssfhe