Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-29
THE WRECKERS' CREW
FACILITIES FOR CLEARING DE-
BRIs FROM RAILWAY TRACKS.
Train Always Ready and Men of Ex-
perience at Call-Methods
Employed.

The many railroad wrecks that have
been chronicled through the daily press in
the past several months remind me of the
facilities the railroad companies have pro-
vided for handling them" said an old rail-
road man this morning. Take the South
ern. for instance Over in Alexandria and
IN fact in other towns where there are large
repair shops, there are always In readiness
specially prepared trains ready to hasten TO
the scene of a wreck
The wreckiDg train stands ever ready on
a siding especially allotted to il. This must
not be used by any other train under any
circumstances. If a wreck occurs the track
must be cleared-from three to five min
utes being the time usually allowed for a
crew TO get under way during the day time
An engine ready to haul the train to the
wreck stands in waiting The water tank
IN It's tender is always full. Steam is con-
stantly Kept up, and engineer and fire
man are ever ready to jump TO work at a
minutes notice.
AS soon as disaster occurs the wreck
ing train is given the right of way over all
other trains. and the train runs at a speed
ranging anywhere from forty-five to seven
ty-fve miles an hour. The object is TO get
the rack cleared so the main end of the road
can be operated. No wreck ever happens
that does not pile cars over the main road
that goes without saying, for ii is within
the law OF cussednesS of things. And what
IL means to have a main line blocked only
an experienced railroader can saw There
are the thousands of cars filled with perish
able stuff, and score of freight trans and
coal trains many of their loads intended
for outgoing steamers that cannot wait
thousands OF persons are Inconvenience
and put out
ION the top of all this surface ANNOYANCE
is the danger of further wrecks by disor-
gan1zed system, the trouble of getting the
schedules. freight and passenger set up In
shape as they We're before the smash and
the added notoriety gained with every hour
that the road is blocked While at work the
wreck master is a man of more importance
than the superintendent himself
w nat happens when a wrecking train
reaches the scene of disaster depends en-
tirely on circumstances Just as no two
wrecks are alike. just so are no two meth
DDS of clearing the debris alike. As a rule
Ii the wreck included a passenger train and
persons were killed or injured the gruesome
work of saving the survivors and of rescu-
ing the dead has been finished Only the
actual work of getting the road back into
shape is what confronts the wrecker At
times he must exercise ingenuity and inven-
ton on the spot.
AS Money Savers.
"A good wrecking master and a good
crew can do much in the way of saving the
company money. You might look at a
smashup and think it perfectly gorgeous.
because to you every car on the train seems
as if knocked to smithereens. After all
judgments of this kind depend upon a point
of view. But TO a trained wrecker and his
men. all from the repair shops and used to
putting together and taking apart all sorts
of railway contrivances. much that is valua-
BILE will appear Here car roof intact and
even unScratched sticks out of the wreck
age. This can be hauled back to the shops
and used as if 1t were a brand-new one.
and SO on. Many thousands of dollars
worth of things are saved in this way every
year by an experienced crew
"A wrecking crew consists of twenty men.
which Is exclusive of a conductor. two
brakemen and two men in the engine. The
wrecking train consists of only four cars.
Everything that would add TO the weight
of the train without being necessary is left
behind. The first is the in which the
wrecking crew travels. In this part Of the
country this car is not so important. but on
the long stretches of road in the west the
car is fitted UP for the living accommoda-
tons of the men. In the front part of il
the kitchen is located. A cook accompa-
MES every wrecking crew the modern
railroads. The rear of the car is fitted up
as sitting room. Bunks are provided:
chairs and folding tables stand ready for
use. In short everything men want when
they require humoring to do good work is
ready and waiting for them Formerly a
wrecking crew depended upon picking up
its meals at neighboring house. the rail
road company footing the bill. But the plan
was unsatiSfac Glory. Wrecks often occurred
at considerable distances from human
abodes and at times the men had to go
hungry.
Tool Box on Wheels.
1.-The second car of the train looks like an
ordinary box car, but is really a huge tool
box on wheels In it everything is arranged
in order the same as the silver implements
in a high school girls manicure set You
cannot mention a tool that might be re-
quired in wrecking that you cannot find
here exactly in its place-axes, crowbars
shovels, saws picks, sledges hammers
blocks and tackle ropes. chains, jacks and
a hundred tools you never heard of are 10
be found in the car.
The third car is an ordinary fat car
loaded with several car trucks. Often in a
wreck the body of car escapes and only
the trucks are broken and twisted In a
case like this all that is necessary is to
raise the body of the car by means of lacks
and put substitute truck under it and
couple 1t fast so the car may be hauled to
the repair shop for permanent fixing up Be
sides the fiat car is used for taking home
iron work and whatever is and is not worth
saving, but would look bad and suggestive
lying beside railroad track
The last car of the train is the most i'm
portant of all. 1t is the derrick car This
car is built exceptionally strong. short.
stout derrick built on a ratchet turntable
stands in the middle of the car This is
capable of wonderful lifting power Once
the little steam winch on one end of the car
begins to squeal and puff anything fastened
to the derrick just comes. A derrick of this
could raise an end of the big
gest locomotive ever built and set 1t back
on the rails as neatly as you would set