The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1903-11-27
What a Locomotive Engineer Has to
Remember.

remember.
Officials who operate the fast trains
recently put on between New York city
and the west are Just now facing a
problem in philosophy which, on paper.
looks something like this:
How many iron-clad rules car the
human mind keep within instant recall,
If death is the penalty for forgetting p,
The answer Is supposed to lie some-
where in the cod or rules and signals
which the officials nave devised for the
operation of these fast trains. These
rules, of which there are about 700 for
each 125 miles between New York city
and Chicago, were made for the safety
of the public, but the public may look
askance when 1t learns thai one man
must remember 700 Of them, and that
a slip on any one rule may mean a
shocking loss Of human life.
These TOO rules are the average for
each division of the chief railroad lines
running west from New York. Each
set covers the work Of one engineer,
who drives his train until another en-
R1neer, with a fresh set Of rules and,
presumably, q fresh memory, relieves
him. In other words, eight men, the
average numbe Of locomotive egineers
who drive q fast train between New.
York and Chicago. must keep constant
ly in mind nearly 5000 different rules,
in order that patrons OF these trains
may travel without risking their lives.
What this means to the public, in.
twenty-four hours ride on one of these
trains, can be judged from the follow
ing list Of what an engineer on q GER,
tain 100-mile run has to watch, while
his locomotive is going at sixty miles
an hour:
Five hundred "~cross-over" switch.
lights, to learn whether they are red
or white. Fifteen %nterlocking"
switch lights, to learn whether they are
locking" switch lights, to know whether
they are red or green. Semaphore arms
at twenty-five way stations, for possi-l
BILE red lights. -Four hundred highway
crossings, to know whether they are,
Clear" Locomotives of a dozen trains
approaching on parallel tracks, for red
or green lights. Telegraph operators
at twenty-five way stations, who NAV
be waiting near the track with orders.
For a red flag at any conceivable point
In the 100 miles, displayed as q danger
signal. Whether one or two torpedoes
are exploded at any point in the 100
miles, signifying caution" or stop,
Whether his clearance lard is good for
each of the twenty-five way stations.
Whether there is enough water in the
engine boiler. Whether there Is enough
water in the engine tender. Whether
there is enough coal in the engine ten
der. Whether the steam pressure is
being kept up. Whether the fireman is
obeying another long set Of rules.
Whether the engine bell rings at 400
highway crossings.
By day the switch and signal lights
are replaced by signal boards and
BLOCKS" the color or direction of which
must be read as literally as the lamps.
The engineer who notes 500 Of these
signs from his cab window, and misses
the Tooth, has taken, In race track Ian
guage, a ZOO to / shot" with a train
load Of human lives.
The public has good reason to ask
whether the safety limit as not been
reached with both speed and rules.
There must be a point where the loco
motive is 80 large, and Its speed so
great, that n human mind cannot
safely control 1t, no matter how few
the levers are. A cotton passenger To-
connective going at seventy miles an
hour, and operated by one man inside"
it, is as much a psychological freak as
a 250-pound human athlete would be.
If turned loose with the brain of e.
S-year-old boy.-Leon Edgar Reed, in
HarDer'S Weekly.