The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-03-28
RUNNING LOCOMOTIVES.

| An Essential Thing Why Machinists Are I'M
successful in Driving Fast Trains.
| st. Louis Globe Democrat.
| Comparing the capabiity of locomotive en-
gineers and snachinists in the actual running of
an engine, an old and experienced railroad of.
4 fetal said
| 1.-THE claim of machinists that they can take
| the places of locomotive engineers in case the
| Brotherhood should ever strike, in retaliation
for the refusal of the engineers to join the strik
ers, is all bosh. The best engineers we have are
| those who have been advanced from the fire.
| mans side of the engine to the coveted seat on
| the right-hand side of the cab. They know how
! to handle the machine as well as an experienced
| irnbued with spirit foreign to
| fear. They don't know the weak
points of an engine as well as the ma
hinist might, but this fact is an argument in
cir favor and one against the claims of the
achinist. 1 have sesn the experiment. tried.
and the result is an almost invariable failure
ON the part of the machnist to meet the re-
quirements. They lack the nerve, and knowing
that a locomotive has weak points, do not dare
| to take the risks the fireman. who has been pro-
NOTED, knows nothing of. nor does he as rule,
care to know It would be utter folly TO take
machinist out of the shop and put him on q fast
train. He couldn't pull it. His nerve would
fail him and he would be compelled to give IL
up, while the engineer who has gained his
knowledge in the cab readily assumes his new
duties and handles the throttle withouta thought
of fear entering into the discharge of his du-
ties"
''Can you cite incidents2" asked the reporter.
EYES," responded the official. ''It would be
manifestly unfair to give the name OF q man who
made failure, but there is an incident wildly
recoilect where a machinlst was ambitious to be-
come an engineer. He finally succeeded in get
ting freight run, and did so well there that he
was transferred to a passenger The change was
marvellous. His train was nearly always behind
time, the conductors were fretful, and innumer-
49, L. s.os~
eineer, good. reliable man, by the way, was
finally brought before his superiors, and, when
questioned, frankly admitted that he was afraid
of his machine Il can't do it, he said his ex-
preston of countenance verifying his words. 1T
makes me dizzy, and lose my confidence every
time attempt to make time. Ell have to give
it up. / wouldn't run a locomotive forty miles
an hour for a fortune. couldn't it would make
me gray in years time"
HE was relieved. and returned to the shops
and was the happiest man the day he returned
TO his old place within the entire building"
Can you recollect an incident of the other
sort9'
''Oh, yes, number OF them; but one particu-
larly-that of poor Woods, of the Panhandle,
who went blind, and was compelled to retire
from active life. / have sat on the same seat
with him in his cab, and he didn't know what
fear He was running the limited express
on the Panhandle, and was considered the best
engineer on the road. His train was never late,
unless occasioned by delays over which he had
no control 1t was always fascinating to me to
sit and look at Woods while running at the high
est rate Of speed. He was long. gaunt man,
with keen, piercing, black eye, and fierce
black mustache, giving him the appearance
Of an ideal bandit king. He invariably leaned
forward from his seat, with one hand upon the
throttle and the other upon the lever, every
muscle and nerve alive and active his eye
straight ahead down the track, and his en-
CINE throbbed and shrieked, and seemed to lift
itself clear of the rails, as it sped along at
terrific rate of speed, the motion of his body
making him seem piece of it. Woods could
stop an engine quicker than any man the
line, simply because his nerves were always at
their highest tension. and the strain upon his
system had much to do with his misfortune
saw him once, after noted Cincinnati ocnist
had informed him that there was no hope Of
saving his eyesight Woods was nearly heart
broken and died in very short time after he
was compelled to leave the road"
Isn't it little peculiar that the man who
builds an engine cannot run it as well as one who
has learned merely the operating of the machine
In the cabT
mot at all. The machinist knows how deli
cate the mechanism is, and knows inst where the
weak points are. 1t is this knowledge that un-
nerves him. On the other hand the fireman
gazes with pride upon his powerful courser, and
all he cares to know is the delicacy of control
which will induce the iron steed to make the best
time or pull the heaviest load He sees only the
strength of the engine, and does not permit the
weak points to prey upon and unman him. It ia
like any other business The machinist knows
how 1t ought to be done, but the engineer who
how it is done, and feels As much at home with
his hand on the throttle as the machinist does in
grinding his lathe"