The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-07-29
WHEN A TRAIN IS WRECKED.
E0REMAN or TEE WRECkING
GREW TELLS WHAT rs DONE.

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Always In Readiness First the injured
ART Taken Out-Next in Importance,
3 Get tho Track Cleared for Traf1o.
sYou want . story of how we clear away
Nreoksi
"well.' says the old wreoking foreman;
IN an article In The Iron Trda, perhaps
II Is after q hard days. work on the rip
tracls,' repairing broken down oars; for
usually tho wreckins orew lie made up Of
ten Of the car repair men.
Every man knows exactly where the
Nrecldng outfit is-on by the roundhouse
where tho night crew 10 doing all 1t can to
hurry along the fire and the riAng steam
pressure OF the engine that Ii to take the
outfit on its errand Of mercy.
'This outfit II 1t Ia modern, consists
OF q steam derrick car, with steam always
) up. weighing in the neighborhood Of 100 900
pounds, with a lifting capacity Of sixty
i've tons.
Behind the derrick cones the truck
car. Il contains extra trucks To be used
under derailed cars or car bodies who's Q
trucks have been ruined. Next comes
the blocking car, loaded down with all neces-
cary blocking and timber.
Then there IL the track supply car,
equipped with all the necessary track mate
tial, such as ties and rails. The tool car
30 the next In order. This carries jacks Of
all descriptions, from a Q inch pony jack
to . 10 ton hydraulic. It Is loaded
also with bars, chisels, hammers, wrenches,
dope buckets, packing spoons, lines, tackles
and blocks, night and day signals, tar
paulins for covering merchandise and
'stretohers, blankets and sheets for the In
jured and the dead,
3 Next 10 tho cook and bunk car and finally
the oabooee. The former has q range, q
refrigerator and Q stock OF food that will
keep. It has hunks for eighteen or twenty
men. This train, or outfit as it is called,
ts always coupled together and stored on q
the first thing that a wrecLing FORE
man does on being called Is to get into
communication with the chief train de-
epatoher and find out all the particulars
possible: IT. II Is q merchandise wreck,
empty freight cars are taken along into
which can be transferred such freight
and grain as can be saved.
He also finds out as near as he can Just
where the wreck lies and how badly It lie
piled. II il, is a passenger w~reck-why,
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dead and injured are and what new scene
of a~wfulness will be confronted.
The wrecking autht has the right Of way
pver all trains between the starting point
end the place where the wreck occurs.
tracked.
"A stop Is made at the station or siding
nearest the wreck. Here the steam derrick
Is switched ahead Of the engine, With the rest
Of the outfit coupled behind. On arriving
at the wreck a man Is stationed at the front
and NJ tina IRA ma UhOaa duty n Ia RI Ufvn
signals to the engineer OF the derrick,
whether to raise, lower OF to swing the
crane.
The first thing a wrecking foreman does
after finding out where the injured are
ing passaeeway through the wreck and re-
placing the track as the debris Is cleared.
II the wreck 10 q bad one and there IL the
chance q temporary track Is built around
the mess that trafhc may be resumed as soon
possible.
.Cam that are damaged to the extent Of
300 are dra gged into the ditch, all the truck
and air brake rigging taken from them
pnd the body OF the car set afire. All of the
Iron parts are afterward loaded on to fiat
cay. often even the boiler Of the locomotive.
This scrap Is taken to the shop to be re-
paired and used over again.
Even freight wrecks can present a ter
fible appearance. One Of the worst Of these
j ever saw was forty-five loads of wheat,
the products Of many a hundred acres, piled
forty feet high. and extending from right Of
y1ay fence to right Of way fenceTa regular
work to clear away. Carload after carload
of wheat hadto be loaded by basket into new
cars-while many tons Of bent and twisted
and heap upon heap OF ashes told a
silent story OF the wreck.
One time We went out to pick UP a stock
wreck OF eleven cars. These, next to pas
senger wrecks, are the worst to handle.
This particular wreck wal one Of great con-
fusion, The penned cattle were believing
frightfully. On each side and far over
toward the fence lay dead or injured stock.
Western steers so angry as the smell of
blood, and add to that injury and the
terrible excitement Of a wreck and you
have 2 combination that makes the poor
animals fairly crazy, Woe to the man
struggling beast. The cars were piled In
such a way. that we were compelled to rip
Then men crawled out along the wreck
agee, fastened lines about the horns, and
were finally dragged loose. Those in the
car that we're badly injured were killed by
Q blow on the head with a sledge, while
the others were rounded UP by men on
horseback and herded into the field to be
finally driven to the first stock chute and
-ti-t 2 tSiNS<1Ol.
yes, passenger wrecks are, without a
doubt, the very worst-and II can be said
OF them, as Of war, they are anything but
cool.
The lessons wrecks should teach usl
Never to take chances. Never make
men work longer than nature intended
they should. Equip all roads with every
safety device known for safe train handling.
Make the train order system as simple as
possible. Stop loading cars beyond their
~ ~ Ctfp aDl tNnttI kkA,r h.-,Ir I-rr. r..
ploy only experienced men, and when such
make mistakes and trouble is the
fe~sult-rkeep them; do not 'can' them, for
nine chances out Of ten they will never
make the same mistake again. We all
Shn ny saPeraence, tnersiose the man
for all concerned, than one who has not
CORNELL CREW NOT SLIGHTED