The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1896-05-15
A QUEER SCHOOL.
The Air Brake Manual Taught in
a Travelling Academy.
An Old car tho schoolhouse and
Ranroad-men the Students


Bohoolhouae. An extraordinary coll
lection Of pupils. a breyity Of course,
and a restricted curriculum that the
clearinghouse air brake school Of in-
struetion" offers, yet it affords an edu-
cation TO It's graduates that may mean
safety 70 hundreds Of railroad travel
era whore, perhaps, had it not been
for some OF It's precepta, life or limb
might have been sacrificed.
The Westinghouse air-brake school
OF instruction has been the outcome
Of the new law requiring the general
equipment Of trains. Tho effective
handling and proper care Of the air
brake mechanism, like that of any
other complicated apparatus, demands
a thorough knowledge Of its oonstruc-
ton. In neglected state or by ig-
norant control the very object for
which It was designed may be defeated
aud bring disaster aud death. 1t
surely was a happy thought, this
''sohool" To bring all the railroad
employees in the country to a certain
point and there drill them TO a
thorough education was as impossible
as 1t was impractical, so the only way
out Of the dilemma was to take the
school TO tho employees, and that is
precisely what has been done. For
nearly three years the yellow painted
rather old-fashioned passenger car
''schoolhouse" has been rolling from
place to place throughout New Eng
land, holding daily sessions to earnest
classes Of pupils free-as far as the
students we're concerned.
In brief. the School" is car fitted
up with full-sized air-brake mechanism
of every kind, in full working order
and made capable Of easy dissection,
so that every part is in view and can
be examined and. handled. The car
has been at tho principal railroad
centres in New England for the past
few months, and is now working west
ward.
All engineers, fremen, conductors,
brakemen, train baggage masters, car
inspectors and all employees whose
duties require knowledge Of the all
brake receive official notice from
headquarters to present themselves
for instruction and examination
They are called into the car in classes
of about eight, and by the two in
structors in charge are given a thor
ough and minute explanation of ever.
working part of the brakes. They are
allowed to ask any and all question
at the proper time, and then are taker
into the recitation room, which com
prises a section Of the car about one
third Of its length.
Each is then questioned in regar
to what he has just seen and heard
While an engineer is expected t
know every detail in the whole syt
tenn, brakeman is not required t
be perfect on the parts which do nc
come under his actual care. Each ez
animation is duly forwarded to th
Office Of the general manager of tn
road
The car is the property of til
Fitchburg railroad, and is leased t
other corporations for 500 a day
is said.
To the laymen the laboratory end {
the car presents bewildering mass c
cylinders, pipes, guages and iron an
brass unnamable contrivanees I'll
instructors in charge are very court
GUS and have q ready made lecture ei
pecially adapted to the passenger.
In the instruction car all the worl
ings Of the brakes are in plain sigh
and the handling of the set Of freigl
brakes is particularly interesting,
movement of less than an inch Of I'll
engineers valve produces an insta
change, and the whistling of the q
from the sixteen sets Of cylinders
deafening.
The old yellow car is rolling alol
from place to place bearing its "ki
dergarten" of the science of safet
creating more and more of an int
est in the pieces Of polished steel al
brass which in wonderful combin