Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1901-08-16
NERVE OF ENGINEERS
1T DOES NOT, AS A RULE, DESERT
THEM AFTER AN ACCIDENT.

Throttle VIII ut Times Take with
out Being Able to Give n sntisfnc-
tory Reason For His Action.
81 have been often asked why rail
way engineers disregard their instruc-
tons and the warning signals along the
line of their road" said the general SUI
perintendent of a railroad to man,
"and l have summed it up that it Is hui
man nature for men to take chances in
their business and that engineers are
no exception to the general run.
Sometimes they cannot give n salts
factory reason why they do so. 1 will
give you an authentic instance of this
habit which made me live 10 years in
80 minutes.
"On road was at the time connect
ed with was a long trestle over a bay
several miles in length, with draw
bridge in the center. The draw had
been opened, and as n tugboat was
passing through the bridge men heard
the rumble of a fast, heavily laden
passenger train as it struck the bridge
a mile away. Knowing that the red
danger signals were set with the OPEN
ing of the draw, they supposed that the
engineer would slow up or stop, as
might be necessary. Instead, to their
CONSERVATION, the train came along at
regular speed, and a frightful accident
appeared inevitable. They yelled to the
captain Of the tugboat to go at full
speed, and as the boat glided through
the draw In the darkness they exerted
themselves to swing the draw into the
locking bolts before the train could get
to the point where the rails separated.
The engineer, however, disregarded
the last danger signal, a few hundred
yards from the draw, and came on. By
a remarkable coincidence of time and
position the draw, which was of course
In motion, swung so that the rails Of
the east bound track were in juxtaposi-
ton with the west bound track, upon
which the train was running, and the
heavy engine and one Of the passenger
coaches, striking the east bound rails,
glided upon the draw and stuck there.
the remaining portion of the train be-
Ing on the west bound track, making
almost n figure S of the coaches.
IF the draw had moved the thirtieth
part of a second faster or slower, the
east bound rails would not have been
opposite the west bound rails at the
very instant that the great engine
struck them. and frightful disaster
would have resulted. When I got out
on the bridge n few minutes later,
fully expected to find the train in the
bottom of the bay and the draw smash
ed into splinters. l discharged the en-
gineer on the spot and asked him why
he had not observed the signals. He
admitted that he saw them, but could
not give a satisfactory reason for fail
ing to observe them. lie evidently took
his chances Of finding the draw closed
when he reached it.
The engineer of today is a sober,
steady, nervy man, especially on the
last express trains on the big roads. 1t
Is nerve that makes one man carry n
limited express train through the dark
ness of the night, fog, sleet and blind
Ing snow at GO miles an hour. The sto-
ries we read about of an engineer los
ing his nerve after an accident are
largely fiction. in 81 years Of active
railroad life have had but one or two
men apply to me for a transfer upon
the ground that their nerves had gone
back on them for running the fast
trains.
Il have had men who have been flung
90 feet over their tenders in a head on
collision and had dozen bones broken
come to me after they had been dis
charged from the hospital and ask to be
put back on their old run. You see, they
begin firing when they are about IS or
70, and the cab of an engine is their
home. If they run into a person or a
wagon load of people on the track, if ii
Is not their fault. they take a practical
view of it; they have to. If it Is their
fault, we discharge them, and they can
take any view of it they please then,
FOR we do not wish in our employ care.
less men. This Is true with all of the
big roads. and as a result American en-
gineers Of today are about as model a
set of men In their employment as can
be found. "-Washington Star.