The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1904-11-09
0verworked Trainmen and Rail
road Accidents.

It is undeniable that many of the
accidens which occur are largely con-
tribted to, if not directly caused by,
the long hours of duty to which train
men are subjected. Gould we trace
the events to their first cause, we
should doubtless find that many of
those cases Of misreading, overlook
ing, or forgetting orders were due to
the fact that wits were dulled and
senses benumbed by lack of rest. In
the distressing wreck at Gleuwood,
ILL.,, last summer, in which a large
nubmer of excursionists were killed
and injured by freight train running
into a passenger train, the evidence
at the coroner,s inquest showed that
the freight engineer (whom, the Off
cials of the road said, "disregarded
plain orders and acted like crazy
many had been on duty more than
twenty hours. In commenting on
this case. it was pertinently said by
enc of the Chicago papers that the
officials Of the company might as we'll
Fill their engineers and iremen with
whiskey ordrug them with opium as to
send them out for fifteen and seven
teen hours continuous work expect
ing them to keep their heads, apply
intelliegntly the general rules of the
road, and give exact obedience to all
orders.''
It was pointed out on behalf of the
company in this Glenwood case that
the company rules permitted employees
to take ten hours rest after they had
been on duty sixteen hours. It is
universal rule with railroad COM
1pan;es to permit a period of rest after
"a certain period of duty before en-
ployees are called upon to 90 on duty
again. But the trouble is that these
rules are permissiye. not mandatory.
They do not compel employees to take
rest unless the employees themselves
think they need it, and as a conse-
quence, the necessities of the roads,
growing out of the movement of traf-
ic, coupled with the greed of the
men, who in many cases overwork
themselves in order to achieve big
months pay render the rules of little
or no effect.
Again, there is no well-organized
system of relieving crews on the road
after they have been on continuous
duty for an excessive number of hours.
It IS a common practice, when crews
ask for rest in the middle Of trip, to
run them into a side-t track out on the
road and let them sleep on the train
before completing the trip The sort
Of rest that men get while lying down
In a cramped position on an engine,
while fully clothed, is not satisfying,
and cases are reported in our bulle-
tins where men have pulled right out
a side track in the face of an opposing
train, after such a period of rest,
under the impression that the train
had gone Furthermore, the construc-
tion that is likely to be placed on
these rest rules of railroad paDies
is obvious from a quotation of the
rule in force on one of the most prom
inent roads in The country, as follows
"When train or yard men have been
over ten hours on continuous duty,
they will, after arrival at the ter
minus, be entitled to eight hours
rest without prejudice, except when
necessary to avoid delay to live stock
or rerishable freight It will be
noted that the period of rest is allow
ed only after arrival at the terminus,
and then only when it will not delay
the movement of live stock or perish
able freight. When it is considered
that in one of the accidents noted
above the train crew had been On duty
25 hours and 30 minutes, and had not
yet arrived at the terminus, it will
be seen how little relief is afforded
by such rules in many urgent cases.
From Railroad Accidents in the
United States,' by Edward A. Nose
ley, in the American Monthly Review
! of Reviews for November.