Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1890-06-16
WALKING ATR,cK FORA LIVING.
IRIS A USEFUL THOUGH NOT A
PLEASANT OCCUPATION, AS
MANY MEN KNOW

er Some OF the old railroad tracl
q walkers can boast Of records con,
TO that Of locomotives in the uoipt !
miles which they have covered
= Engineers sometimes claim that the
e have ridden 200, 600 miles or 80, bu
Is the men who have walked that IA
a are not often heard Of. Still, Their
are plenty Of them in the branch O
u the railroad service to which tn,
i. track walker" belongs. They ar,
G the safeguard Of travel which IN,
public knows least about They pre-
, vent hundreds ofaccidents, but theil
= good deeds are rarely, If ever. re
/. warded, as is the case with tn,
2 faithful engineer or fiagman. AND
II IL peculiar fact that there Is nc
line OF promotion, consequently nc
: great Incentive 10 careful work.
I a reporter got some ideas about
5 their duties from Thomas Sesnan,
. now foreman Of a section Of track.
/ men in the yard Of the Grant Central
( station. Sesnan has been employed
on the track work Of the Harlem
, Railroad for fOrty-two years, and is
now looked upon as a patriarch
among the trackmen. He has had
charge Of n gang for the last eighteen
years; before that he was a track
man himself He says that he
helped to lay the second track of
the Harlem road in lsss, over
which the New Haven road first
entered the city.
every piece OF railroad" he
said, sis divided into sections Of
from five TO seven miles, If IL Is
single track, and from three 10 four
miles IL double. A foreman with
| gang Of five or six men keeps each
section in order. All bst one are
trackiuen, who are kept busy max
| ing repairs. That one is the track |
walker, who patrols the tracks all |
day long with an eye out for weak |
points and distractions which |
might cause accidents. OF cOurse |
there is n second track waiver at |
night who does the same work.
"Hhe track walkers outfit includes /
hammer, wrench, lantern, red
flag, n few tOrpedOes, bolts and
spikes. No, he doesn't walk at
pedestrian speed. His gait shouldn't
Ice more than two or three miles
an hour. A man might hurry over
the entire ground inside Of an hour,
hut he couldn't look at every bolt
and rail connection ~ his duties re-
quire. II it's a double track road he
walks on the track facing the direc-
ton from which the train i coming
aud examines only one track at 4
time. lie takes the other track on
the way hack. \ track walker gets
over the ground, as far As he is able,
just before the trains pass over his
section. But he keeps At work all
day long, and IL he has a double
track, divided into three-mile sec
tons, he ought 30 make about three
round trips n day over each track.
This would make a days average Of
twenty-fOur miles.
AN experienced track walker ..
can tell a loose holt Il a glance.
II will lie caused by a =
broken rail, aud he will see that the
.Uiuts DO not fit. Generally a loose
Uint will lie indicated 10y a disturb
Ince Of the eIrth, causing n creEice 7
between the sleeper and the rail. In
his case the track walker props the I
all with a thin piece Of wood, which .
nc must carry in his outfit. Fish y
,iates aud angle plates are distri5- :
Ited along the line, AMI the track y
walker sometimes has 10 replace Il
lsOSeH plates II there isn't time for
he section gang % come up before q =
rain is due. In case Of broken ! q
all or obstruction which he can't | /.
iandle, the track walker puts tor 4
ledOes on the tracks and uses his l y
Cd flag 10 warn n passing train. Il
hen he leaves his patrol and in Il
)rnls the fOremSn and traCkman as u
Don as possible. In emergency !,
asses ut night the track walker -
rraps his rel flag about the lantern ~
; a signal. TOrpedOes are used u
$50. IN
II ney er heard Of track walker u!
ring promoted 10 better paying m
osition. Once a track walker always ~
track walker" u
anybody can get such a job, af
zen, - suggested the reporter. h'
Not bit Of it, retOrted the W
striaTch. You couldn't, Tor in- ii'
anee. Ia like 10 see you bolt on IN
ne Of those angle plates; and you'd III
ave % DO il In case Of emergency.
man must have experience as nc
first. The foreman picks tlC
IS track walker cut Of the track on
len. Their pay Is all the saine- a
out Sl35 a day. But IL there is ol
ny promoting being done, the sIi
ack walker l. never the lucky one. =,
sme tracSmau gets the raise. The IN
ack walker must 20 back % the iI'
elton gang again il lie expects to no
I up in tie world. y
''As a rule, track walkers keep at %
all their lives. 4 man who worked u
lder me on the section between W
hIlmOnt aud CraryvilIe, on the ~
arlem road, trip six miles long, !
AIDE two round trips q day. He -
lrtcd from PhilmOnt at ARMAND
the end Of the first round trip Of IN
Ielve miles Il was noon and lie got
nner. Another trip, and he gave
ny 10 another man at 7. m. It,
ais man. Michael McGrath, kept vi
his twenty-fJur miles walk about Gu
cry day in the year for Is years.
eck0ning $50 days 10 the year, this
axes more than l55, 900 miles.
any track walkers have kept Il "a,
longer. 4 man on the Erie N,
Us he has walked more than o00,- n,
D miles. Ia,
. The unpleasant part comes in m,
my Or wintry weather. Ofcuurse no
the snow is six inches III,
ep on the tracks, the %
TEX walkercan see the rails. let i
me the loose bolts, and this is the "
ly time he gets 4 holiday. But 81 81
/. chances are that he will have 10 ="
m in with the rest Of the section Z,
ny and help clear the read. -
nc York .S,pt.