The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-18
MOST HUMAN OF ALL MACHINES
rs THE LOcOMoTIYE, SAY TEE
MEN WHO KNOW 1T BEST,
Instances showing the Curious Relations
Existing Between Locomotives and
Enkineers-Built ON Same Lines. Each
Machine Has individual characteristics.

Existing Between Locomotives and
EnSinecrs-B Built on Same Lines. Each
Machine Has Individual CharscteristIca
Locomotive engineers WI tell you that
Of all pieces Of machinery q locomotive
nearest to being a living thing.
Il may be slow or il may be fast. II
may be a good puller or a poor puller.
These things are beyond the power Of manu-
f~acturer or engineer to determine.
To get the best out OF her-to use the pro.
noun that engineers employ customary
in speaking Of q looomotive-she must be
humored. Her engineer must know just
what she can do and what Is her limit. TIA
strange engineer attempts to run her. he
naturally fails to get the best results from
her.
In former days the engine was a gorgeous
affair, glittering with brass from one end
to the other. Some engineers showed af-
lection for the machine by spending nun
dreds - dollars on brasswork. But all that
lis changed by modern practice on the big
railroads which makes the locomotive as
plain as possible.
The engineer studied his engine until he
knew every one Of her points, both good and
bad. And 1t ia right here that the locomo-
tive becomes almost human.
Build twenty OF them along exactly the
same lines, and yet each machine will be
different from all the others. This is one
of the reasons why the engineer becomes ab.
tached to his machine. He is the only ons
who knows her, and he can get from her
the best results.
The story il told Of an engineer who said
he would almost rather run over q friend
than reverse his engine. Reversing an
engine while moving at full speed has a
tendency to'shake her up some. The en-
gineer meant that he would rather risk
injuring a friend than his locomotive.
Down on the Missouri Pacific road was an
engine that had a record OF disaster. 1t was
a. passenger engine Of b most modern
workmanship, and from a mechanical point
Of view had no superior.
The fire n m had an easy job In keeping
stes n up on her, and il was said that the
engine could outrun and output any en-
CINE Of her build on the road. But she was
unlucky.
She had been in many srnashups and
every engineer who had run her had been
killed. Yet the last engineer who got
her became so proud OF her that he never
stopped talking about her good qualities.
To a friend he said one day as he was oil
ing up:
Il can't give this engine up. I havs
become 80 attached to her that I wouldn't
care to u any other. And yet l feel that
she'll get me one Of these days.
r-Wen," replied his friend, "if- you feel
like that you ought to quit running her
right away ,
Il don't care said the engineer. I'm
going to stick to her anyway
And he did.
And she got him. An empty car blew
out on the track one night while he was
going at full speed. and when the engine
was lacked up he engineer was found
dead underneath.
Riding over the Illinois Central the other
day in the cab Of ono Of the biggest pas
senger engines on III road a layman was
told by the engineer:
This engine is too fast for this run. re
too bad. we are not behind little, that I
could show you what she could do stHf
Just the same this was the fastest run
between Chicago and st. Louis on any OF
the roads, and the engine at the time her
engineer spoke was travelling not much
less than q mile q minute.
Watch her jump now when I use q little
OF the reserve power" continued the proud
engineer.
And then he pulled the long throttle
lever out to its limit-wide open. In railroad
parlance.
Jump she did. and began,to move at al
most redoubled speed.
why, this old girl could travel like that
right into st. Louis and not turn a hair.
a~ffectionately said the engineer, turning q
proud and pleased face TO his passenger
r. l.. h.I ~,.AaI &ko akunA.N. A-I.-
its normal. position.
The engine might have been too fast for
that particular run. but 1t wasn't any too
fast for him, that was very evident, and IL
any one had suggested taking her off and
substituting. a smaller machine that man
would have been as much aggrieved as il
one had suggested his separation from a
near relative.
or recent years on some OF the roads
there has been a change in the handling
| OF engines. Where in former years each
engineer had his own locomotive, which he
ran over a division Of a hundred miles or
so and then too a rest, now the runs have
heightened to $50 and 200 miles, and some
of the engines a v as many as three en-
g~ineers.
On still other roads there is q system
which is known as pooling the engines.
An engineer will have charge Of a machine
one day and perhaps he N get aboard
OF her again for a month. A new engineer
takes her back; still another brings her
out again, and 50 it goes on.
No one takes any special interest in the
machine, therefore. Under the old sys-
TEN of one engineer to one engine Inc
engineer will take 50 much interest in his
charge that he spends hours Of his own
time whipping the locomotive into shape.
anxious TO bring out the best she can do.
for she belongs to him, and his pride is
aroused. A good engineers reputation
does not consist wholly in his ability TO keep
his schedule time, but much of IL rests upon
his being able to keep his engine in good
running order.
But the pooling scheme has done away
with an this and no one can be held respou-
sible for the poor working Of an engine.
The moment the engineer finishes his run
he Ia glad TO quit work.
HUNT FOR A HANGMAN.