Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1899-11-16

vice whose name seldom gets into the
newspapers-unless 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
mess to patrol the tracks and look out
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 a rain may wash out a culvert
or weaken 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 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 a 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
eernible. Then the track walker hur-
ries to the nearest telegraph station
and notifies the dispatchers. But il
he has not the time to do that, he
stands guard over the break and stops
any train that is due. lie does nc
track repairing, but he sees that the
track is kept in good order. When the
track walker discovers that a rail has
sagged down, that there is low place
he puts in shin" which Is wedge
of wood ranging in thickness from an
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 1t out, and often he does Il
great deal of good with that little block
of wood. This looks like simple job
but 1t has to be done skillfully. 1t was
tU a 10 hat Il,
cident, in which a number of lives were
lost, happened few miles from In
dianapolis because the shin" that had
been put under tie was improperly
inserted, and came out just as 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 little block of wood
less than two inches in thickness
The track walker is seldom seen.
Once in a while the passenger looking
out of the rear window of the last car
On n train will see a man suddenly
emerge from the side of the road, wave
his hand at the .rain and go tramping
along the track. Many may suspect
him of being tramp or others of being
a farmer pedestrian. In most in
stances he is the humble track walker
and has inspected the track over which
the train is laundering, 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
a rule, as honest as he is faithful, and
whatever he finds on the right-of-way
ne turns over to the nearest agent, who
forwards it to the superintendent
office, where the owner can get il.
More than one pocketbook with money
and valuable papers has been picked
mp by the track walker and returned to
its owner. But he is never rewarded.
II he saves n wreck he has only per-
formed his duty. and if he makes a
mistake, he ia discharged. When a
plot was laid to rob "a train in the north
part of the state, the man most in the
way was the track walker, who had q
section in which the robbery could h,
best carried out. On the night the
train was held up. the track walker
was knocked down and bound, and thS
train ran into siding. IL was through
a description of his assailants that tn,
robbers were captured, and one o
them is now serving ii years sent
ence in the Michigan City prison: bu
the man who was instrumental in IN,
capture is not superintendent; he /:
still walking the track. One OF thC
things that a track walker will not lC
~ to talk about his business. He dis
covers many things that would make
ste 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
job.
Not long ago a fast express train,
nearly two hours behind time. was
dashing toward indianapolis with the
right-of-way over everything. It was
loaded with passengers. Though the