The Washington times., 1901-09-22
ENGINEERS With NERVE.
Running Trains Over Western
Roads Considered Risky.
Mountain Lines Have Great Trouble
in Securing Hands to Operate the
Throttle--A Few Trips Generally
Plenty Even for Experienced Men.

Mountain Lines Have Great Trouble
in Securing Hands to Operate the
Throttle-A Few Trips Generally
Plenty Even for Experienced Men.
"One of the greatest difficulties of the
real mountain roads. like the Colorado
Midland the Rio Grande Western, and
the Denver and Rio Grande, is in getting
engineers" said Charles A. Davidson,
City Passenger Agent of the Rio Grande
Western Road, this morning. Mr.. David
son is familiar with all the inter-moun-
tain roads, where the trains have to all
but fly to reach some of their destina-
tons
"One might suppose that all roads
would look alike to the experienced en-
gineer. but they don't. Along some of
the prairie roads an engineer can take
run on any new track almost as well as
one he has Travelled for years and knows
with his eyes shut. But here in the West
1t is different. Down in Colorado. where
are some of the greatest railroad monu-
ments to the railroad builder that have
ever been erected an engineer has to
travel over the roads sometimes for
weeks with old. experienced engineers,
who know the track. before he will be
trusted with train. 1t isn't question
of engineering ability; merely one of ex-
perience.
1T Is enough to take fellows nerve
to sweep around some of those mountain
curves and passes for the first time.
Some good men never take more than
their first ride. l have seen engineers
come from the East men Of silt-edge
character and ability. who lost their
rDlr fho fire
train for fiatter country. Dizzy reverse
curves. trestles that seem to totter In the
wind, precipices that seem to yawn for
fellows life and grades that are reve-
lation of horror to the newcomer crowd
in bewildering confusion on the view. and
unless a fellow is as stolid as an OK or
nervy as the devil he is apt to lose his
head.
You would be surprised at the num-
Der of young engineers who are on the
mountain roads. For one thing, man
does not last there as he does on less
picturesque, more prosaic run. 1t takes
youth and strength and courage of rare
order to stand 1t at all. The companies
are the most appreciative in the world,
for they realize how hard 1t Is to get a
good man, and they treat a good man
right royalty. But even this does not at
tract surplus of the right sort
1.-THE principal dangers are in the heavy
grades and in the sharp curves, though
landslides are far from unknown One
must know his train and his road like
book to get through with his life on the
Marshall Pass, for instance. where you
seem to plunge headloug down the mighty
hill. A rock on the track, broken wheel,
a runaway car or a failure of the brakes
to work would end in a smashup that
would startle the whole country. The hill
might be glare of ice or frost; it might
be wet or snowy. and if you set the air
brake too hard, 50 as to start the wheels
to sliding, down the hill you go like gil
gantic toboggan, with death and destruc-
tion at the end of the ride. The manage
ment of the air brake and knowing where
the curves and dangerous places are, is
the greatest part of an engineers educa-
tion in the mountains.
For my own part, knowing the dangers
as I do. l feel nervous after riding 100
miles over the widest parts OF the roads,
even as a passenger / rode through the
Royal George on the engine few weeks
ago. and was glad when the ride was
over. II makes a fellow feel trembly-
like to think what might be, though the
worst rarely happens. Such is the care
taken in equipment and in getting the
best men that the mountain roads have
as small proportion of losses as the
dead level roads of the plains. But it
takes a man of nerve to pilot a train
through some of the wilder regions.
"A freight train Is the worst, in that 1t
is much heavier than a passenger, and
is expected TO make almost the same time.
All the heavy stock trains gong East,
twenty-five to thirty cars, make passen-
ger schedule. A freight is so loosely
coupled as to be very unmanageable at
critical points. The stock trains are the
terror of the engine drivers and all the
trainmen.
when he throws up his job as engineer
over the mountain roads after seeing
what the dangers are. Not one passen-
ger in 10000 would assume the same dan
ger The position calls for absolutely
steady nerve, and one who feels that he
is likely to get ratified is dangerous to
himself, to the company and to all who
ride behind him. \ man must think and
act like lightning in the face of so many
dangers that he must be sure of his abil
ity to stand the strain. No one stays any
power to do so and be safe. a man may
be brave and willing and all that. but
these are not enough. He must be sure,
and proof against stampede. Such man
is worth everything to the companies, and
they treat him like a prince. Inter
Mountain.