Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1890-09-19
WALKING A TRACK FOR A LIVING.
It's a Useful Though Not Pleasant Oc-
nation. az Many Men KNOW.

It's Useful Though Not Pleasant Oc-
patton, as Many Men Know.
Some of the old railroad track walkers
can boast Of records equal to that of loco
motives in the point Of miles which they
have covered. Engineers sometimes claim
that they have ridden 200,000 miles or SO,
but the men who have walked that far are
not often heard of. Still there are plenty
Of them in the branch Of the railroad serv-
ice of which the "track walker" belongs
They are the safeguard nf travel which the
public knows least about. They prevent
hundreds Of accidents, but their good deeds
, are rarely, if ever, rewarded, as is the case
with the faithful engineer or fagman.
And it is peculiar fact that there is no
line of promotion, consequently no great
incentive to careful work.
A reporter got some ideas about their
duties from Thomas Sesnan, now foreman
Of a section of track1nen in the yard Of the
Grand 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 gang
for the last eighteen years; before that he
was trackman himself. He says that he
helped to lay the second track of the Har
Haven road first entered the city.
every piece Of railroad" he said, sis
divided into sections of from five to seven
miles, if it is single track, and from three
to four miles, if double. A foreman with
q gang of five or six men keeps each sec
ton in order. All but one are trackmen,
who are kept busy making repairs. That
one is the track walker, who patrols the
tracks all day long with an eye out for
weak points and Instructions which might
cause accidents. OF course there is a sec
ond track walker at night who does the
same work.
'"The track walkers outfit includes a
hammer, wrench, lantern, red flag, few
torpedoes, bolts and spikes. No, he doesn't
walk at pedestrian speed. His gait
shouldn't be more than two to three miles
an hour A man might hurry over the en-
tire ground inside Of an hour, but he
couldn't look at every bolt and rail connec-
ton as his duties require. If it's double
track road be walks on the track facing
the direction from which the train is COM
ing and examines only one track at time
He takes the other track on the way back
A 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 if he has a double track, di-
vided into three mile sections, he ought to
make about three round trips day over
| each track This would make days av-
erage of twentyfour miles.
San experienced track walker can tell a
loose bolt at a glance. Sometimes it will
be caused by a broken rail- and he will see
that the joints do not fit. Generally a
loose joint will be indicated by disturb
81 ho NJ ho
| tween the sleeper and the rail In this
case the track walker props the rail with
thin piece of wood, which he must carry
in his outfit Fish plates and angle plates
are distributed along the line, and the
track walker sometimes has to replace
broken plates if there isn't time for the
section gang to come up before train is
due. In case Of broken rail or obstruc-
tions which he can't handle, the track
walker puts torpedoes Oh the tracks and
uses his red flag to warn a passing train
Then he leaves his patrol and informs the
| foreman and trackman as soon as possible
! In emergency cases at night the track
| walker wraps his red flag about the Ian
| tern as signal. Torpedoes are used also
81 never heard Of track walkers being
promoted to better paying position. Once
| track walker always track walker"
| ANYBODY can get such job, then," sug-
| gested the reporter.
| 'Not bit of it, retorted the patriarch.
"You couldn't, for instance I'd like to
! see you bolt on one of those angle plates;
| and you'd have to do it in case of emer,
| gency. A man must have experience as a
trackman first. The foreman picks his
track walker out of the trackmen. Their
| pay is all the same-about ST. IS day. But
if there Is any promoting being done, the
| track walker is never the lucky one. Some
trackman gets the raise. The track walker
must go back to the section gang again if
he expects to get up in the world.
| AS rule, track walkers keep at it all
| their lives. A man who worked under me-
on the section between Philmont and Crazy
| vile, on the Harlem road, trip six mile
long, made two round trips day. HI
started from Philmont at a. M, and b.
the end of the first round trip of twelve
miles it was noon and he got dinner. An
other trip and he gave way to another man
| at 5 p. m. This man, Michael McGrath.
kept up his twenty-four miles walk about
every day in the year for eighteen years.
Reckoning 800 days to the year, this makes
more that 155, 900 miles. Many track walk,
ers have kept it up longer. A man on the
Erie says he has walked more than 200, GOO
| miles.
| "The unpleasant part comes in rainy OF
wintry weather. Of course if the snow is
six inches deep on the tracks, the track
walker can't see the rails, let alone the
loose bolts, and this is the only time he gets
holiday. But the chances are that he
will have to turn in with the rest of the
section gang and help clear the road."-
| New York Sun.