Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1899-11-16


newspapers-unles it be on account OF
his death by accident-but who has
great responsibilities, and whose mis-
takes might cost many lives and great
damage to property. This unknown
man is the track walker. 1t is his bus
for broken rails, for sunken ties, for
distractions, for loosened bolts and
nuts and weakened bridges. No mat
ter the state Of the weather, he must
go, hour after hour, walking up and
down the section of the track under his
supervision, watching carefully every
inch of steel and wood before him.
Sometimes he pays the penalty of mis-
duty with his life, for more than one
track walker has been run down by
fast trains.
In the summer time the work of the
track walker is not very hard, but he
has to be attentive because on the
track, or rain may wash out a culvert
or weaken a bridge. Then, too, the
bolts in the rails are as likely to be-
come loose as IN the winter. In The
rainy season his labor is arduouS and
dangerous. In the fall it is. tiresome,
but in the winter it is what famous
American said war is. A track walker
generally has about six miles of track
to cover and carries with him a long
wrench for the purpose OF tightening
the bolts and nuts where such service
is needed.
With this wrench, too, he will tap a
rail occasionally to see if it is sound,
but as rule, he depends on his eye
to discover breaks. II a rail cracks on
tie, the break is not very PLAIN to the
sight, but if off a tie, one end of the rail
says down and the break is plainly dis
cernible. Then the track walker hur-
ries to the nearest telegraph station
and notifies the dispatchers. But if
he has not the time to do that, he
stands guard over the break and stops
any train that is due. He does no
track repairing, but he sees that the
track is kept in good order. When the
track walker discovers that rail has
sagged down, that there is low place,
he puts in Il Shin" which is wedge
of wood ranging in thickness from IN
eighth of an inch to six inches. This
raises the track and makes it level
Sometimes the track walker carries
the shin" with him, but generally he
has to hew it out, and often he does Il
great deal of good with that little block
of wood. This looks like a simple job,
but it has to be done skillfully. 1t was
only few years ago that terrible ac-
cident, in which number Of lives were
lost, happened Il few miles from In
dianapolis because the shin that had
been put under Il tie was improperly
inserted, and came out just as a fast
train struck curve. The horrors of
that accident are still fresh in the
minds of the people of this city, and it
was all due to a little block of wood
less than two inches in thickness.
The track walker is seldom seen.
Once in while the passenger looking
out of the rear window of the last car
on a train will see a man suddenly
emerge from the side of the road, wave
his hand at the train and go tramping
along the track. Many may suspect
him of being a tramp or others of being
Il farmer pedestrian. In most in
stances he is the humble track walker
and has inspected the track over which
the train is Numbering, and found it
all right.
A great many things are lost from
passenger trains, and most of them are
found b" the track walker. He is, as
rule, as honest as he is faithful, and
whatever he finds on the right-of-way
he turns over to the nearest agent, who
forwards it to the superintendent
office, where the owner can get it.
More than one poekethook with money
and valuable papers has been picked
up by the track walker and returned to
its owner. But he is never rewarded.
| If he saves a wreck he has only per-
formed his duty, and If he makes a
mistake, he is discharged. When a
plot was laid to rob train in the north
| pul \ vi bHS aNtlNI' AhS liltlb liOSI ~ AA'N
way was the track walker, who had a
section in which the robbery could hc
best carried out. On the night the
train was held up. the track walker
was knocked down and bound, and the
train ran into IA siding 1t was through
a description of his assailants that the
robbers were captured, and one Of
them Is now serving II years sent
ence in the Michigan City prison; but
the man who was instrumental in the
capture is not superintendent; he is
still walking the track, One OF the
things that track walker will not 10
is 10 talk about his business. He dis
covers many things that would make
the people who ride on trains shiver
but he never tells them. He argues
that what is past will not hurt them
and besides still tongue insures his
J job.
Not long ago fast express train,
nearly two hours behind time, was