The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1891-08-28

it up as tightly as he can.
Perhaps the dog" and ratchet are so
clogged with ice that they do not hold.
and just as he thinks the brake is Sc
cure it slips and around goes the wheel
with suddenness and force that, if he
be not on his guard, will probably cost
him his life by throwing him down be-
tween the ears.
Along the top of the next car he
crawls to repeat the operation. The
wind almost takes his breath away. 1t
is on down grade and the cars bound
from side to side. They almost seem
to jump clear of the track and then
come back with laundering crash.
A curve is struck, and the unwicldly
cars lurch and sway and threaten to go
over the bank. The ice and the cold
iron of the brake wheel have be-
numbed the poor bralley's hands so
that he can hardly use them, and all
the while the repeated calls for brakes
from the engineer urge him to do his
utmost to slacken the speed of the
tain.
Perhaps, as he tugs at some wheel
and swings his body clear Of the car in
his effort to tighten up the brakes the
chain gives way, and woe to him if he
have not presence of mind and strength
of muscles sufficient to retain his
grasp, for otherwise his body will be
shot down between the cars, to be
ground to pulp beneath the merciless
wheels.
The danger is tenfold greater, too, if
he be using Il club" as a lever in tight
ening the brakes Should the chain
give way, as not infrequcntly happens,
and the brakeman have the wheel torn
from the grasp of his single hand,
death or mutilation is almost certain to
result.
1t is always the part of brakeman
who understands his business to exam
inc the rods and chains on each car that
will be put in his charge before the
train leaves the yard. On some roads
the frcight-car brakes are kept in good
order by men specially detailed for the
purpose, but on many, especially those
which handle many cars from other
| lines, it is the duty of no one to look
out for these details, and the careful
brakeman will always examine the cars
| beforehand.
He will save himself much trouble
and possibly even preserve his own life
as well as those of the rest of the crew
| by finding out which cars have their
brakes in the best order and which are
not to be depended upon.
With the modern freight train
equipped with air brakes, as is now
often the case, the life of the brakeman
is far easier and the major portion of
the hard and dangerous work is elm
mated. The engineer can control the
| speed of his train without the constant
care of the brakeman, and all that in
dividual has to do is to hold himself in
readiness to respond to call should
the air brakes give out.
One can frequently see heavy trains
running at high speed over the roads in
this state without soul in sight on the
decks of the cars, while under the old
system it was never safe without the
brakeman at their posts every moment.
With the introduction of automatic
cOuplers on freight cars one of the most
risky portions of the brakemans duties
will be done away with. The number of
men killed or manned in this country
through the antiquated style of coup
ling still extensively in vogue reaches
into the thousands annually, but, hap
PLY, there is a promise that this fear
full sacrifice will be ended before long.
Anyone who has had experience in
m a f,.nir
style of drawhcad knows that p is a
matter of wonder, not that so many
men are killed or injured, but that so
few suffer
To have to step in between the cars
on a dark night, the ground slippery
with ice or mud with an engineer, per-
haps, who is areless or not good in
calculating distances and who sends
his locomotive back with crash, is
about as sure method of inviting
death or painful injury as can be mag
ined.
Yet it is the brakemans duty to do
this without faltering, and it is dis
grace if he fail to IN AXE the couplil
the first time. He simply must not
fail, and to do this he must take chances
that would make an inexperienced
mans hair turn gray.
Not only must he hold the coupling
link to the last fractional part of Sec
Ond necessary to guide it into the draw
head of the rapidly approaching train,
but he must have the coupling pin in
readiness to drop into place like a flash;
he must have his lantern in enc hand
or on his arm, and must be ready to
move back with the cars until he can
have an opportunity to get out from be-
tween them.
If the coupling be made where there
is a network of frogs and switches the
greatest care must be taken in the hur-
ried movement to keep pace with the
cars that the feet be not caught in any
of these man-killing devices, otherwise
death is sure to come in it's NEST horri-
BILE form.
But with the automatic couplers now
in use, and whose adoption most rail-
road men think should be made COM
pulsory, all this is done away with
With these and the general introduce
ton of air brakes, the life of the brake
man will have nearly every element of
hardship removed, and it will be no