Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1897-11-11
RAILROAD SCHOOL.
Its Purpose Is to Teach Engineers to
Properly Use the Air Brake.

Its Purpose Is to Teach Engineers to
Properly Use the Air Brake.
A travelling schooIhouse is che of the
curiosities of modern railroading. 1t is
queer schoolhouse, and it cost $4,000
to build. 1t is filed with levers, air
chambers, cylinders, Whistles, gauges,
valves, cords and pipes, and at one end
is an upright steam boiler and air
pump, used in COMPRISING the air with
which the apparatus is operated.
No children attend this school. Many
Of the pupils are grizzled, grimy veter-
ans, who have been railroading for
years. Others are younger men, and
there is a sprinkling of boys from is
years old up. They are taught by a reg
ular professor, a graduate of ne
chanical college. His pupils have no
books. They listen while he talks and
watch while he demonstrates the work
ings of the air brake. His classes are
usually held from nine till eleven o'clock
in the morning and from seven till nine
o'clock at night, so that he can have for
pupils the railroad men who have re-
Gently come in off their runs.
The air brake is the one subject
taught. From IS to 25 pupils will
crowd into the small space on the side
of the middle of the room not occupied
by apparatus. The professor is usually
in his shirt sleeves and bareheaded, for
the atmosphere in the room is always
from 90 to 40 degrees, made so by the
steam boiler. The professor has only
one book, and while he is delivering his
lectures and talking about the possibili-
ties as well as the troubles of the air
brake he keeps this book in the hip
pocket of his trousers. After his lee
ture is over he takes it out, and it is then
found to be only a small blank book
In this he writes the names of the mem
bers Of the class before him. He will
then question the pupils, and jots down
opposite each name the percentage Of
correct answers given. Any who fall
below a certain mark have to come
back to school for another lesson. Some
times it takes three or four lessons
to teach man the principles of the
air brake; sometimes a man will thor
oughly understand the intricacies of
the system at one lesson.
The apparatus represents a 1ocomo-
tive and a train of II cars Each car
is represented by an air cylinder. The
professor shows how easy it is by the
proper manipulation of the engineers
lever to put all the brakes on at once
and to release them all at once. He
then shows how unskilled engineers
can and often do release one or two
brakes at a time, thus affecting the eff
ficiency of the service. He illustrates
the emergency application, in which the
entire II cars have their brakes set in
one second by the watch.
"This was what was done DIV the
drunken legislator" he said, "at the
famous Tarrytown disaster. Unfor-
tunately the legislator was on the for
ward section of the train, and when he
pulled the emergency rope it stopped
the train, and before the brakes could
be released the train following it
crashed into the rear coach"
The professor does not charge mis-
pupils tuition. He is paid by the road
TO teach the employees the use and abuse
of the air brake. The instruction car,
as this travelling schoolhouse is called.
belongs to the Chesapeake & Ohio rail
road and has been in Lexington for the
past week, and its schoolmaster, Prof.
Huntley, has instructed here full 100
of the roads employees. He travels over
the road the year round, stopping at
the ends of divisions for week or more.
as becomes necessarily. Y. Sun.