The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-19
AuERRIBIE STRAIN A MYTH.
Railway Hgineers Don't worry
NOut Passengers.
Frowthe New York Press.

AOut Passengers.
Frouthe New York Press.
n 'Oa JimJclark was seated in front of
: the sagleIotel Salamanca, n. Y. His
|, chair wa fitted back and his cigar was
: tilted upFhis was the precise pose that
/, .'Jim' Ok had taken every other even
ing in FONT of that hotel for fifteen
e wears IN the other evenings he posed in
/. | a sinB way at a similar hotel in Mead
d vile b.-the other end of his run
= and yhe thirty-odd miles away.
j IF ~ one ever carried the right to his
: a9al onate and venerable title, "Old jim
q CA had. He was old in years and old
IN he service. For thirty years he had
M in the employ of the Erie road. and
! Ehad served in every capacity in and
, jound an engine from a rubber" or
foom, in the roundhouse to the driver of
ythe Chicago limited.
1t is as driver of the Chicago limited.
between Salamanca and Meadville, that
"Old Jim" Is known now both officially
and among his friends. He has pulled the
fast train over the single-track division
until he knows the scars in every mile
stone and the rise in every grade.
It is when seated in front of the hotel,
with his chair tilted back and his cigar
tilted up, that "Old jim is given either
to philosophising or to "reminiscences. On
this particular evening ne INDUCED III
little of both.
1T does beat the devil" he remarked,
''how the public clings to that old-fash-
ioned WORKOUT notion that every rail-
road driver lives about six years, and
then, if he amt killed ON the road, dies
of nervous prostration or brain fever caus-
ed by the terrible strain he is under ana
the awful thought that the next minute
he may be waited into the beyond along
with four or five hundred passengers at
his back. That notion is as old as the
first locomotive ever built, and is just
about as much played out.
You never read story about ran
road engineer in your life that ne WASH
Just everlastlngly shaking in his overalls
at the thought of his terrible RESPONSE
bility' and of the thousand souls or the
precious freight that is entrusted to
him.
Now, I'll admit that it's all pretty and
sounds nice and brave, but the only trou-
BILE with it is there is nothing in H.
81 have no doubt the engineer would
think about the responsibility and worry
some about the women and children be-
hind him, if he only had time, and didn'
have to hustle so ALFRED hard every min
ute to pull his train in on time.
But you see he hasn't got the time
From the minute he jumps into his cab
aud pulls open the throttle, he is Kept
guessing to keep his Old machine going
fast enough under him to make the dis
lance within the schedule time. Nowadays
the railroads don't allow many minutes
for the passengers and crew to get on
and shoot jackrabbits, and the driver OF
a fast train over division has his nina
full all the time without going behind the
tender and worrying about what is going
to happen to the passengers If there is a
smashup.
Then there is the mechanical part OF
the game to keep your thoughts OIL the
passengers. How much coal is your fire
man burning?' Gould we pull up that hill
if burning less coal?' or save time by
crowding on the steam going down hill?
Every engineer wants to get the maximum
amount of speed out of his engine and
burn a minimum amount of coal. He
can't think about that and the passengers,
too. and SO he let's the passengers Slide
and take care of themselves.
you will hear them talk about the
drawn set face of the engineer as ne
climbs into his cab Does my face look
drawn or set? 1 guess not. And nave
been pulling railroad cars for the last
thirty years. Do you know the thing that
worries me when l crawl into that ola
iumping lack of mine? It's how am go
ing TO start the last coach.
II can get the baggage car started all
right and the smoker, and after consid-
cradle yanking the two day coaches move
along all pleasant and friendly, but 1t does
seem as if 1 never could get that onery
old sleeper a-comin. She just says PACK
and refuses to bulge. That's what's turn
ing my hair gray when the passengers
hack there are plying me so much pc
cause 1 am having nervous prostratlon
about them. a1.L
IT do not mean to say that an engineer
who is true to his duty does not worry
when there is actual cause for it, nor that
he will not hang to his post until he mas
had the life mangled out OF him, II he
thinks il will do any good. There are too
MANY cases on record where locomotive
drivers have sacrificed their lives; but l
mean to say that the popular notion that
engineers stay awake nights dreading the
responsibility before them is all wrong.
They get lust as hardened to the work
and callous to the dangers as a circus
performer, and they think no more OF the
risks that they are taking
81 know of drivers now hauling freight
trains who regularly go to sleep over GER
tain sections of their run. Most of them
are worked overtime. and when they
come to a hill they let the machine run
down and snatch a wink or two of sleep
before it strikes the lever. That's the only
way they can catch up, and I'll bet dol
lars to doughnuts there are dozens OF men
on this road who have slept in their cabs
to-day"
NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN.