Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1902-01-27

ability to be a conductor of passen-
ger train and not make mistakes
should have a far superior position
he should be president of the road. If
the railroad companies will give full
charge of each of their trains to one
competent man, and have him do moth
ing else, they will save millions Of dol
lars worth of property and many
lives
A locomotive engineer declares that
of the train men too much is exacted.
1--WE have heard from nearly all the
railroad officials how to prevent
wrecks" he says; now let us hear
what an engineer can tell about them.
These officials say that it is almost
impossible for a wreck to occur with
out some one disregarding the rules,
but at the same time they make a set
OF rules to govern trains that
an engineer canot live up to and hold
his position. For instance, there is a
rule calling for a reduction of speed
to fifteen miles an hour over all inter-
locking plants. A train leaves the
Chicago depot with seven or eight
cars. In the first eight miles there
are five interlocking plants and one
draWbridge, and the running time is
thirteen minutes. If man was to
have a wreck at any one of these
places and 1t was shown that he was
running faster than fifteen miles an
hour. who should be censured-the
engineer or the official, who says
make time or quit? This is only one
example of what a locomotive engineer
has to contend with. The officials
have a book Of rules to protect them
selves, which is made to be disre
garded as long, as everything goes
right, but as soon as anything happens
they pick up their little book and
show the public where the company
is not to blame, as there is rule
against fast running or otherwise, as
the case may be.
Recently one official said: old
1T is not encouraging to young man
starting in to life of hardship to
know he is to be thrown out when he
gets little old At the same time
these officials do not want to let a
young man pull any of the important
trains, simply because it would look
bad if anything should happen and
young man was on the engine. This
same official said: Employees should
not be allowed to go out with INSULT
cient rest Nearly all if not all the
roads give them the privilege of re-
fusing to go when tired, but often
subordinate official will discipline a
man for refusing to 60 At the same
time, if anything happens to them or
their train, the discipline would be
just as severe-they would be told
there was no excuse for their going
out without sufficient rest. If the
truth were known, a majority of the
wrecks are caused by too much econ
omy In fact, there have been sew
eraI that the slight expense of switch
light would have prevented The alb
sence of derailing switches at the end
of sidetracks has also caused some
bad wrecks. Since this subject has
been brought before the public, would
it not be we'll to get the opinion of
some of the men who know-such as
the engineers and conductors? They
are the ones who can throw a great
deal of light on this subject. | think
If this is investigated something inter
esting and instructive VIII be found"
Telephones on Railroads.
1t is said that the Illinois Central
intends to substitute the telephone for
the telegraph in controlling the move
ments of it's trains The same thing
has been attempted by certain lines in
the east, but without conspicuous sue
cess. Telephone communication
caves no record that can be consulted