Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1901-08-07
NERVE OF ENGINEERS
IT DOES NOT, As A RULE DESERT
THEM AFTER AN ACCIDENT.
n~..r.r.te Chances h Man 81 tne
m.....,. Will ut Times Take Witn-
mt Being Able to Give .
80 p...on For His Action

mt Reing Able to Give . set'ss
torv . For His Action
~ have been often asked why all
wav engineers disregard their instruc'
ions and the warning signals along tue
line Of their road" said the general su'
p%erintendent of a railroad 70 ma 49,.
"aud | have summed 1t up tina II Is w.
man nature for men to take II l"
their business and that engineers are
no exception to the general run.
"Sometimes they cannot give a sa'is,
foctorv reason why they do so. VIII
give you an authentic instance OF tnis
habit which made me live ~ years !"
80 minutes.
son a road was at the time
ed with was a long trestle over Il Day
several miles in length, with a draw
bridge in the center. The draw hau
been opened, and as a tugboat was
nossinc through the bridge men heard
fine rumble of a fast. heavily laden
messenger train as it struck the bridge
a mile away. Knowing that the reu
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 glidcd 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 a 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 a frightful disaster
would have resulted. When l got out
on the bridge a few minutes later, I
fully expected to find the train in the
bottom of the bay and the draw smash
ed into splintrrs. 4 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. He 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
fast express trains on the big roads. 1t
Is nerve that makes one man carry a
limited express train through the dark
ness of the night. fog. sleet and blind
Ing snow at 60 miles an hour. The sto-
ries we read about Of an engineer los
Ing his nerve after an accident are
largely fiction. In q 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.
II have had men who have been flune
90 feet over their tenders in q head on
collision and had a 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 sec. thew
begin firing when they are about IS or
70. and the cab Of an engine ia their
home. II they run into a person or a
wagon load Of people on the track. II II
Is not their fault, they take a practical
view of II; they have to. II It ia their
fault. we discharge them, and they can
lake any view Of it they please then.
Tor we do not wish in our employ care.
less men. This is true with all of rho
big roads. and as a result American on.
gineers of today are about as model :,
set OF men in their employment as can
be found."- Washington Star.