Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1895-07-04
LITTLE PEGS IN BIG BUSINESS.
They Stand for Locomotives and Give
Ezuch Information. About Them.


hzuch InfornatiOIs About Them.
Every locomotive on every road rum
ming out of Chicago has certificate of
character on file in the Office of the su-
perintendent of motive power. In the
Office of Superintendent Rhodes. of the
Burlington, at Aurora. Sere are 1--WE
hundred and forty-six of these certifi-
Gates, for instance. and in that of Mr.
Wilson, of the Rock Island, in this city.
Eve hundred and sixty-four. These
certificates are not on paper but metal
pegs. and these pegs are kept stuck in
holes in a board in the superintend-
ent's Office, much as are the pegs which
represent the fire engines in the fire de-
partment headquarters at the city hall.
There is a board for each division of
the road and each peg has strip of
color across the top of the head of it to
show to which division of the road it
belongs. On the head of the peg below
this strip of color is the humber of the
locomotive and below this number
letter, or P '.E'' means that the peg
stands for a freight engine and '.P''
that it represents engine in the pas
senger service. If this letter has a star
on the right it shows that the engine
has steam brakes on its driving wheels;
if on the left that it has. the usual air
brake appliances. Two stars mean that
it has two sets OF brakes.
But this is not all that this remark
able little peg does and says for the
superintendent OF motive power. By
pulling it out and looking at the fig
ures stamped on the shank he can tell
the dimensions of its cylinder and by
the number on the end the diameter of
the driving wheel. All this informa-
ton is valuable for various purposes.
If it is decided to increase the equip
ment of the road in the matteriof loco
motives the number of any given kind
in use can be ready determined. If
one division of the road has more
work than it's motive equipment can
take care of it borrows some help from
another division and a peg is Trans
ferred from one division board to an
other for every engine so loaned. The
colored strip on the head of the peg
enables the superintendent to tell at
glance just how many locomotives he
is short in one division and how many
extra ones are at work in another. By
this kind of generalship he can regu-
late the movements of his forces to the
best advantage.
/ A record of the achievements of each
engine is reported regularly by the en-
gineer and its record kept just as the
record of a mans capacities is kept
the amount it consumes in oil, fuel,
waste and talloW, the cost of it's re-
pairs and the wages of the men who
run it. These form the basis upon
which its capacity and the cost per
mile to operate it are estimated. In
In this way the superintendent soon
gets to know the ability of each of his
iron horses and always sets it at the
task for which it is best fitted, thus
prolonging it's usefulness and spending
the money of the road to the best ad-
vantage.
Each division board has Subdivisions.
One section is marked good" another
fair" another needing REPAIRS a
fourth ''in shop under repairs" In the
beginning, before the heyday of its
blood is tanned by hard work, the peg
representing new locomotive holds
its head proudly a1oft In the section
marked good" After awhile it drops
down into the one labeled fair.
When sleepless nights and long hauls
, have at length begun to make inroads
on its iron constitution it drops into
the needing repairs list, and shortly
thereafter is trundled off to the hos
J pital and some younger and lustier en-
CINE put to perform its daily tasks unit
it gets back again. A report of the
= location and condition of engines il
telegraphed to the superintendent
t Office every day and the pegs moved il
/ accordance with these advices.-Chi
cago Tribune.
J.