The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1906-10-08
CLEARING A WRECK
HARDEST WORK nsNE o. THE
MEN OF THE RAIL.
Outfit and Complete Equipment Kept
Always in Readiness for Elmer.
qeneios+Lessons That Ae,
Clients Should Teach.

you want a story OF how we clear
away wrecks?
well" says the old wrecking fore
man, in an article in the iron Trail,
perhaps 1t 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 h car re-
pair men.
Every man knows exactly where
the wrecking outfit is-on by the
r%oundhouse where the night crew is
doing all 1t can to hurry along the IRE
and the rising steam pressure OF the
engine that is to take the outfit ON
it's errand of mercy
This outfit. if it Is modern, con
sists OF a steam derrick car. with
steam always up. weighing in the
neighborhood Of 100000 pounds, with
a lifting capacity of 50 tons.
Behind the derrick comes the
truck car. II 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 ali necessary blocking n
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 a lotion by
draulic. It Is loaded also with bars,
chisels, hammers. w%renchcs, dope
buckets. packing spoons, lines, tackles
and blocks, night and day signals, tar
paulins for covering merchandise and
stretchers. blankets aud sheets for the
injured and the dead.
Next Is the cook ard bunk car and
finally the caboose. The former has a
range. a refrigerator and a stock of
food that viii keep. IL has hunks for
is or 20 men. This train, or outfit,
as 1t is called. is always coupled to.
gether and stored on a side track.
The wrecking outfit has the right
Of way over all trains between the
starting point aud the place whore 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 az 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.
THE first thing a wreclting fore.
man does after finding ont where the
injured are and getting them loose is
to figure on working "a ~passageway
through the wreck and replacing the
track as the debris is cleared. If the
wreck is a bad one and there is the
chance a temporary track is built
around the mess that traffic may be
resumed as o O as possible.
Cars that are damaged to the ex-
tenn 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 atire All of the iron parts
are afterward loaded ON TO Nat cars.
often even the boiler Of the locomo-
tive. This scrap is taken to the shop
to be repaired and used over again.
"One time Nc went TO pick up a
stock wreck of II cars. These. next
to passenger wrecks. are the worst
to handle. This particular wreck was
pne of great confusion. The penned
cattle were believing frightully.
On each side and far over toward the
feace lay dead or injured stock.
Now 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 a wreck
and yOu have a combination that
makes the poor animals fairly crazy.
Woe to the man who gets close to
a head OF the heels OF "a struggling
beast. The car were piled in such
q way that we were compelled to rip
the tops Off.
Then men crawled out along the
w~reckage, fastened lines about the
horns, and with the aid of the derrick
the animals were finally dragged
loose.
Yes, passenger wrecks are. with
out a doubt, the very worst-and it
can be said of them. as OF war. they
are anything nut cool.
"The lessons wrecks should teach
us?
Never to take chances. Never
make men work longer than nature
Intended they should. Equip an roads
wgh 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 car
them. for nine chances ont of ten the9
will never make the same mistake
again. We all learn by experience.
therefore the man who has made a
mistake is a safer man. for an con.
cerned. than one 7ho has not.
CATTLE SHOW AT KANSAS CITY.