Mohave County miner., 1890-10-18
ss,alnc- LOCOMOTIVE.
Tho siavtsh Lss Of tbs espsrniivs VINE
nees That Wat&

Dess Thst Wee.
Little has been written Of the loco
motive frcmas, says the Kansas City
Star. Like the nswspapsr reporter,
his identity Is sunk Id the greitnsss of
bis machine aad the prominence Of
bis supericrs. lie u ssldora heard
from unleis he ncglscts to jump IL ths
critical moment and bis name appears
In the lists Of the dead or wounded.
A passing notice u all he receives until
he serves the full period OF the slavery
cf d lotomotivs gangway and move.
from this ireman's box on tho left cf
the cab 10 the engineers boz, and then
he is fireman no longer.
Few OF the travellers gliding across
ahe country in comfortable passenger
coaches give thought to the motive
power that enables them TO visit two
or thres states 10 day, They cannot
realise that there Is any severe labor
attached TO the trip: They ses tbs
neatly uniformed conductor, who lsis-
urely tteads the alsles, the iudolent
brakeman lounging from one end Of
the train TO the other. and the white
jacketed colored porter, evidently not
suffering from oyerwork. These Wis
ions do not give the traveller any very
vivid impression Of hard work. But
while they are appearing and reap
pearing there Is one man who IL
learning his bread by the sweat OF his
brow" and that Is the fireman. Dirty,
begrimed and greasy from head 10
foot, the fireman is performing dutles
that no two Of the passengBrs In ths
train behind him would care ID tinder-
take were they capable OF 90 doing.
There Is very little poetry and vast
deal Of reality In an engine cab, espe-.
cislly the cab OF passenger engine.
The train Is running at high speed;
the engine is the motive power; steam
Is its life, and 1t deyolyes upon the
hreman to supply the steam. Many
people would say. "Why. that's easy
enonghi All be does is to put in coal"
"All be has to do Is to put In coalr'
II would be great sport to see the
authors Of such remarks put In coal"
IL would be interesting 10 watch them
clambering from the box TO the gang.
way and the gzngwav TO the box few
times while performing the double
duty Of firing" and watching the
track ahead.
Putting in the coal is all right, but
when the coal 10 put In every two or
three minutes II soon becomes monot.
onous, aud shortly fatiguing. cspe-
cially on twelve or fifteen hour trip.
The practical fireman becomes used TO
his work. however, and is able to keep
up during the trip. He not only puts
in fire" every two or three minutes,
but he is obliged to pu: it In rightly
and scientifically. 1t would be impos-
Sible for green fireman to keep up
the proper amount of steam for pas
senger engine, or to keep her hot.n
The fire-bOx Of locomotive IL o
treacherous thing 10 one not UNDER
standing 1t. The box Is from six 10
eight feet-in some cases ten feet-in
length, and four or five feet in width.
The bottom is composed Of two nova
bic CRATES. which are so placed as to
leave crevices at the ends and aides.
which are virtually conduits for the
draught. At the front end Of the fire.
box are the Hues. A fireman who
knows his business understands the
construction Of the box thoroughly.
He Is careful not 10 fire" too much in
front and thus shut up the fues. and
he feeds" to the ends and sides,
thereby closing up the creVices and
shutting out the cold air which would
speedily cool the fues and destroy
their steaming power. Not so much
attention is paid to the center, although
the coal must be evenly distributed
and in no case allowed to heap"
which would result In big cinders to
clog the CRATES. Nor must the fire be
heavy. Too much coal Is almost as
bad 40 none at all. The firing must
be light and frequent TO steam quickly.
A heavy fire would burn slowly. and
the steam would rise slowly. and this
would never do.
An ordinary fire" Is four or FIVE
scoop-fuls well thrown and evenly dis
tributed, and little high at the ends
aud sides.
The speed Of the engine depends up
on the ability Of tbs hrer' IN to steam
her. and thus the fireman is the i'm
portant factor In run: 'ng train.
Some engines steam" more readily
than others, but all Of them requirs
skill In firing and great deal of work.
An ordinary switch engine will burn
about three tons of coal in twenty-four
hours. while road engines will burn
from six 10 fifteen tons. The heavier
the load. or the greater the speed, the
more steam and coal is required.
But the freman's hardest lot is when
bis run is heavy and his engine gets
10 leaking" Engines poorly packed"
or loose In their joints will leak steam
with astonishing rapidity. and ii re-
quires constant effort to keep them up
to the working notch. The working
notch. or "when she pops" is, on an
average. about 1875 pounds Of steam.
Some engines are set at lao pounds
pressure before the escape valve will
raise aud the extra steam escape. On
an engine where the gauge reaches
1855 pounds the fireman aims TO keep q
pressure Of between 120 and l35
pounds. Sometimes, Of course. the
steam will run down to 40 or 100.
when the work Is heavy. but = good
fireman viii never let her run down
below that
In some eastern states the number
OF pounds of steam which an engine
may carry is regulated by law. but in
the western states little attention has
been paid to the matter. In copse-
quence some engineers who are pos
sessed of more ambition than judg-
ment will rate their engines as high as