The wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-????, 1906-09-07
CLEARING A WRECK
HARDEST WORK DONE BY THE
MEN OF THE RAIL.
Outfit and Complete Equipment Kept
Always in Readiness for Emer-
qencies-Lessons That Ac-
cidents Should Teach.

away wrecks?
Well" says the old wrecking fore
man, in an article in the Iron Trail,
perhaps it is after a hard days work
on the rip tracks, repairing broken
down cars; for usually the wrecking
crew is made up of ten of the car re-
pair men.
Every man knows exactly where
the wrecking outfit is-on by the
roundhouse where the night crew is
doing all it can to hurry along the fire
and the rising steam pressure OF the
it's errand of mercy.
''This outfit if it is modern, con-
sists of steam derrick car, with
steam always up, weighing in the
neighborhood of 100000 pounds, with
a lifting capacity of IS tons. 49,.
Behind the derrick comes the
truck car. 1t contains extra trucks
to be used under derailed cars or car
bodies whose trucks have been ruined.
Next comes the blocking car, loaded
down with all necessary blocking and
timber.
"Then there is the track supply car,
equipped with all the necessary track
material, such as ties and rails. This
carries jacks of all descriptions, from
a six-inch pony jack to Acton n.y.
draulic. 1t 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
stretchers, blankets and sheets for the
injured and the dead.
Next is the cook and bunk car and
finally the caboose. The former has
range, a refrigerator and a stock of
food that will keep. It has hunks for
10 or 20 men. This train, or outfit,
as it is called, is always coupled to-
gether and stored on side track.
"The wrecking outfit has the right
of way over all trains between the
starting point and the place where the
wreck occurs. Passenger, stock and
freight are all side 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
end of the crane whose duty it is to
give signals to the engineer of the
derrick, whether to raise, lower or to
swing the crane.
1.-The first thing a wrecking fore
man does after finding out where the
injured are and getting them loose is
to figure on working passageway
through the wreck and replacing the
track as the debris is cleared. If the
chance a temporary track is built
around the mess that traffic may be
resumed as soon as possible.
Gears that are damaged to the ex-
tent of 500 are dragged into the
ditch, all the truck and air brake rig
ging taken from them and the body of
the car set afire. All of the iron parts
are afterward loaded on to fiat cars,
often even the boiler of the lOcomo-
tive This scrap is taken to the shop
to be repaired and used over again.
Zone time we went to pick up
stock wreck of II cars. These, next
to handle. This particular wreck was
one of great confusion. The penned
cattle were believing frightfully
On each side and far over toward the
fence lay dead or injured stock.
3Now there is nothing that makes
these western steers SO angry as the
smell of blood, and add to that injury
and the terrible excitement of wreck
and you have combination that
makes the poor animals fairly crazy.
Woe to the man who gets close to
a head or the heels Of struggling
beast. The cars were piled in such
a way that we were compelled to rip
the tops off.
Then men crawled out along the
wreckage, fastened lines about the
horns, and with the aid of the derrick
the animals were finally dragged
loose Those in the car that were bad
ly injured were killed by a blow on
the head with 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 there reloaded.
Eyes, passenger wrecks are, with
out doubt, the very worst-and it
are anything but cool.
'The lessons wrecks should teach
us?
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 capac-
ity and until they break down. EN-
ploy only experienced men, and when
such men make mistakes and trouble
is the result-keep them; do not can
them, for nine chances out of ten they
will never make the same mistake
again. We all learn by experience,
therefore the man who has made a
mistake is safer man, for all con-
cerned, than one who has not