The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1889-04-12
THE FREIGHT BRAKEMAN.
DiSAGREEABLE FEATURES OF HIS
WORK IN STORMY WEATHER.

Tho Difficulties of Handling n Train on
Steep Gradcs Twenty Degrees Below
Zero-Eralsins in u Storm of Rain, sleet
or Snow.
The disagreeable features of freight
brnkemnn's life arc chiefly those depending
upon the weather. If he could perform his
duties in southern California or Florida in
winter, and in tho northern States in sum-
mer, his lot would ordinarily be happy
one, though tho annoyance of tralnps is al
most universal in mild climates, and in many
cases takes tho shape Of positive danger.
These vagabonds persist in riding on or in
the cars, while the faithful trainn,an must,
according to his instructions, keep them off,
In some sections Of the country they will
board train in gangs of dozen, armed
with pistols, and dictate where the train shall
carry them
The hnrdships of cold and stormy weather
are serious, both because of the test of en-
durance involved and the added difficulties
III handling train. The Westinghouse au-
tomato air brake, which has served so ad-
mlrably on passenger trains for the last If
teen years, has only recently been adapted
and cheapened so Us to make 1t available for
long freight trains, but it is now SO per-
lected that i'll u few years the brakeman
who now has to ride on the outside of cars in
freezing condition for an hour at time
will be privileged to sit comfortably in his
c"boose while the speed of the train is gov
erned by the engineer through the instante-
neous action of the air brake On the steep
roads of the Rocky mountains, and a few
other llhes this brake is already in use.
'BRAKING BY HAND"
but "braking by hand" is still the rule. In
running on ascending grades or at slow
speeds the brakemen can ride under cover.
but in descending grades. Or on levels when
the speed is high, they must be on the tons
OF the cars ready to Instantly apply the
brakes, for the reason that there are gene
rally only three or four men to long train
weighing from 500 to 1000 tons, whose mo-
mentum cannot be arrested very quickly, In
descending steep grades only the most con-
slant and sklllful care prevents the train
from rushing at breakneck speed to the foot
OF the incline, or to a curve, where it would
be prccipitated over an em,anlment and
crushed to splnters.
AS soon as the whole tra in has got beyond
the summit, and the speed is reduced to a
proper rate by the application Of the brakes
on, say, one-third or one-haf the cars, it will
perhaps be found that one or two brakes too
many have been put on, and that the train is
running too slowly. Some of them must
then be loosened. Or perhaps some are set
SO tightly that the friction heats the wheels
unduly or causes them to slide along the
track instead of rolling; then those brakes
must be released and some on other cars an
piled instead; and all this must be done
sometimes for un hour) when tho tempera-
ture is 20 degs. below zero, or the wind is
blowing gale, just us under more favorable
circumstances.
AN UNPLEASANT SITUATION.
a train moving ut twenty miles MI hour
against wind with Il velocity of thirty
miles increases the latter to fifty, SO far as
the brakeman is conccrncd and If rain or
sleet is falling the force Of it on his hands
and face is very severe If we add to this
the danger attendant upon stepping from one
car to another over n gap of twenty-sey to
thirty inches in IL dark night, when the cars
are constantly moving up and down on their
springs and are swaying to ono side or the
other every few seconds, we get some idea Of
though we cannot realize, the sensations
that must at such times fill the minds of the
men whose pleasant berth seems SO ENJOYABLE
on mild summers day.
And this is not nn overdraMn picture or
the worst that might be given; for rain and
snow combined often coat the roofs of cars so
completely and solidly that they are worse
than the smoothest skating pond, and moy-
ing upon them is attended with danger at
every step Jumping.-it cannot be called
walking--from one car to another is in such
cases positively reckless. The brake appar-
atus will in {, snow storm be coated with ice
SO rapidly that vigorous action is required to
keep it i'll working condition Even wind
alone in dry weather, sometimes compes the
men to crawl from one car to another, grasp
ing such projections as they may The
brakeman who forgets to take his rubber
coat and overallS sometimes suffers severely
from sudden changes Of temperature. In
spring or fall lively shower will be encoun-
tered ina sheltered valley and the clothing
will be completely drenched, and then within
perhaps half All hour the ascent of few
hundred feet brings the train into an atmos-
phcre few degrees below the freezing point,
50 that with the aid Of tile wind, famed by
the speed Of the train, tho clothes are very
soon frozen stilf--B. B. Adams, Jr., in
Scribner's Magazine