Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1888-04-28
WINTER RAiIROADlNG.
Dangers Gr the Line Described by an Elk
perienced Engineer.

Dangers Gr the Line Described by an Ex-
perienced Engineer.
Our life is not one round of pleasure
at any time of the year / can assure
you, but in the winter season it be-
comes exceedingly hard. We are OK
posed to many dangers which only
those who have been there can realize
The sudden changes. from heat to cold
make the iron exceedingly brittle and
liable to break. This renders ex-
treme caution necessary on the part
of the train men. The winter brings
many other difficulties with il aside
from frosty iron. The strong head
winds which we encounter on many
of our trips make it almost impossible
to run on schedule time. Oftentimes
we have to face gale which would
more than cOunterbalance the addi-
ton OF two extra passenger cars to the
train. This difficulty we, of course,
have to meet by putting on ex-
ira steam and doing harder
work. In the winter months
it requires fully one-third more
coal and water than at any other time
of the year, and the handling of this
gives us just so much extra work.
Another reason why trains are late as
rule during the cold months is the
liability of the tires on the car. wheels
to crack. and thus endanger the safety
of the whole train. The engineer is
obliged to be very careful when start
ing the train if tho wheels are full of
frost The roadbed too. requires
care at this time. The section hands
are required to give extra attention to
the rails, so they may be sure that
each rail rests on solid found alton.
otherwise when a heavily-loaded train
passed over it when the rail is full of
frost, it would break as soon as it felt
the weight. The section men nave
also to be very careful about remov-
ing every particle of ice and other OBJ
structions which accumulate on the
rails at every crossing Unless this
is done q swiftly moving train is liza
bic to be thrown off the track by q
small piece of ice or little stone
which could get between the rail and
fiange of the car wheel Although
there are many extra dangers to be
met with on the railroads in the Win
ter season. yet by the extra
amount of caution used by
the engineers and section men. the
serious accidents to life and limb are
not more frequent in the winter than
they are in the summer But the most
dangerous time which we have to con-
tend with is in the spring Of the year
when the frost is leaving the rOadbed
At that time the rails and ties are con-
annually moving. and have to be looked
after with the greatest of care. 1t is
then that you will see the section men
constantly travelling along the line,
and every now and then stopping TO
drive 4 thin piece of wood or iron I'M
der the rails so rs TO bring it up TO Il
level and give it firm resting place
upon the tie. With the many new in
ventions for detecting trouble along
the line, the number of accidents on
the railroads has been reduced to u
minimum. On many of the roads the
rails arc connected ut every joint with
small wire, so that there is an I'M
broken circuit between signals placed
at the different stations and if u rail
should break the circuit is also broken,
and the danger signal is set thus
warning the engineer of the trouble
ahead. - Worcester (lMass.) Spy.