The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-03-11
ENGINE DRIVERS.
CAUTION DEMANDS NEW AIDS IN
 IHEIR TRYING YORK.

Ever-Increasins Necessity For Faster
 Travel Brings Increased Danger
 Man Can Do No More to Avert This
 Unless Assisted by Better Mechanical
 Devices.
 Published records for the last six
 months show an average of about
 ninety putting and rear-end collisions
 each month on the railroads of this
 country, or at the rate of something
 like 1000 year. The number Is likely
 to be increased rather than diminished,
 as the prosperity of the country and
 the consequent increase of traffic, in- creases the opportunity for overWork,
 misunderstanding or carelessness on the
 part of the locomotive engineers, who
 are the last in the list of trainmen to
 experience any curtalment of their
 nerve and soul-trying duties.
 On the other hand, their responsibili-
 ties have been increased by the addi-
 ton of devices calculated to improve the safety and operation of the trains
 they haul. The engineer is expected to
 watch carefully the steam, gauge, air pressure gauge and water gauge, be- sides the steadily increasing number ot day and night signals along the line of his road. His mind must contain an unblemshed photograph of the entire section of the road over which he runs
 He must also know the time card and rules of the road
 None but men most superbly equipped physically and mentally could meet these exacting requirements. While the conductor and brakeman are reclining upon upholstered cushions, the engineer is expected to be alert to all the varying mechanical and weather conditions which encompass his train. Upon no other single class of men are forced such onerous duties with the ' certain prospect of disaster or discharge { facing them if they are known to fail in any particular.
 It is true that the discipline of rail road employees, as well as the mechani cal perfection of the road bed and roll ing stock has been raised to point where little more can be expected but with the knowledge of these conditions before them the officers of the road are disinclined to accept any excuse for failure to make time. The wonderful success in meeting their expectations has constant tendency to cause the travelling public, as wei as the manage ment, to expect even greater results in this direction,
 An engineer makes 60 miles an hour 1 and the query is at once raised: Why | can he not make 70 miles an hour? Hav ing made 70 miles an hour for given | distance he is expected to increase the | distance, if not the speed, all for the | benefit of the public and the pockets of | the Stockholders, at an expense of that | which is most valuable to the engineer l if not to the railroad company, namely, | his vital energy That there must be | a limit to this expenditure of vital en- ergy Is without question-even en- gineers must pay the debts of nature.
 The automatic semaphore used upon some of our roads is rightly considered | a great boon to the engineer, in that it has eliminated to large extent the manual element in visual signalling, but even that most approved method of | visual signalling has it's limitations These limitations are most noticeable
  condition of the engineer is such as to limit his vision or dull his mental per ception, especially on trains travelling at high speed.
 Even with most perfect visual sys- tenn train running 90 miles an hour in dense fog is simply in the hands of Providence A train despatcher may err. An engineer may miscalculate dis +np fr. l something within his engine cab What is true of the fog may possibly occur in fair weather-in fact the published list of collisions within the last six months shows that there have been about 800 of these unfortunate occur rences, most of which have been the fault of the engineer
 Having elimina ted, as far as possible, the manual element in most branches of train control as we'll as the making up of trains 1t Is not unreasonable or vis- ionary to carry that effort a little further and bring the signalling feature into closer relations with the engineer by supplementing the visual system by some practical and efficient method of the motive power and means of overcoming the momentum of the train irrespective of the physical or mental condition of the engineer or, in other words, to do for the engineer In cases of emergency what has already been done for the brakemen.
 The conditions, however. which must be met are the absolute elimination of devices on the road-bed, sim plicity and strength of apparatus and above all non interference with the methods by which the engineer | controls his train. Once such system has been shown to be efficient, no important road can I afford to neglect it's introduction, or at least careful study of the details in- olved.--NeU York Sun. z