Evening journal., 1898-04-21
rRAvELINe RAILRoAp soAooA.
Its PnrPOse Il TO Teach Engineers 20
prnncrIY Use the Air nrnf.e.

It's PurPOse Il TO Teach Engineers 60
Properly Use the Air Brake.
A travelling schoolhouse is one OF The
curiosities of modern railroading. 1t is
queer schoolhOuse, and itcost $4,000
70 build IT 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 compressing 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 sprinlding of boys from 16
years old up. They are taught by a reg
ular professor, n graduate of me-
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 nire
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 10 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 a man the principles of the
mir brake; sometimes a man will thor
oughly understand the intricacies of
the system at one lesson.
The apparatus represents a locomo-
tive and 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 ef-
hciency of the service. He illustrates
the emergency application, in which the
entire IT cars have their brakes set IN
one second by the watch.
"This was what was done by the
drunken legislator" he said. "at tn,
famous Tarrytown disaster. Unfor
tunately the legislator was on the for
ward section of the train, and when hG
pulled the emergency rope it stopped
the train, and before the brakes coult
be released the train following Il
crashed into the rear coach"
The professor does not charge nj
pupils tuition. He is paid by the roat
TO teach the employees the use and abus
= of the air brake. The instruction car
as this travelling schoolhouse is called
| belongs TO the Chesapeake G Ohio rail
; ! road and has been in Lexington for tn,
past week. and its schoolmaster, Prof
Huntley, has instructed here full 10
of the roads employees. He travels owe.
; the road the year round, stopping a
B the ends of divisions for a week or more
as becomes necessary.-N. Y. Sun.