Albuquerque evening citizen., 1906-11-06

ing the units into various sidings des-
isnated by the man IN the overalls.
The man in the overalls is called a
"sWitchman."
In Great Britain and on the contin-
ent of Europe the switching or sorting
Of trains is done prlcipally by horses
or by gravity. In this countrv Il has,
as a rule. been done by locomotives
pushing or pulling the cars in and out
of sidings. AT some of the larger cen
ters this method is found too slow
and expensive, and the polling system
was devised The engine would run
alongside of string of cars, and by
means of 4 pole projecting from the
front would seize each car In turn by
the corner and give it sufficient i'm
petus to carry 1t into one of a series
of tracks laid out gridtron fashion,
where cars are located according to
destinations The polling system in
turn is now being superseded by the
gravity method In France the grav
ity yards were constructed with two
series of tracks, laid out gridiron
shape. attached to each other diagon-
ally so that cars would run from one
series to the other The modern
American idea is to have two sets of
tracks in the form of gridirons. coup
led together by two tracks forming
hump. which is laid between the
two yards on a grade of per cent.
Cars arriving in one yard are run up
the hump and drop down onto the
tracks on the other side, being sorted
''on the wing as 1t were according
to contents and destination.
In these large gravity yards, partic-
ularly, the switchman must he a man
of quick eye, fleet of foot, and of
sound and steady nerves. 1t is his
duty to seize the cars by the corner
es they drop down at the rate of -
or Is miles an hour, mount them in a
trice, and set the brake sufficiently to
reduce the speed materially within a
few hundred feet The occupation is,
therefore, the most hazardous in the
railway service. although modern
safety appliances have done a great
deal to reduce the peril In the old
days when link and pin couplings
were in use the switchman was re-
quired to go in between the cars to
couple and uncouple them, and many
| fatal accidents occurred through his
! failure to observe precautions If you
ask the old grizzled gentleman in the
| blue uniform, as he collects your rail-
way ticket, what became of the finger
| missing from his right hand, he will
PROBABLY say, Sir. left that finger in
drawbar when | was switching cars
at Kansas City, away back in the
! sos"
The switchman of today is not re-
| quired to go between cars, except to
uncouple air hose, and in many of the
large railway yards this duty is now
being delegated TO car inspectors.
There still, of course, remains many
dangers necessarily attendant on the
work of boarding cars on the fly, slid.
| ing along the running boards on a
| dark winter night, and riding on the
| footboard of an engine in slippery
weather On account of these perils
1t is only the more daring and reckless
| spirits amongst the railway employees
| who engaged in yard work and they
have earned the reputation of being
the most unsteady, unmanageable and
L
turbulent body of men in the bust
ness. There is no sympathy between
the road trainmen and the switchmen
and for several years the labor organ
izations representing the two bodies
have been at variance. the switchmen
at all large centers being subjected to
what might be termed a social boy
colt by the other classes of railway
men. AS a rule the yardmen are un-
married, are prone to wander from
one place of employment to another,
and usually end either by drifting into
regular train service and rising to
the position of conductor, or succumb
| to their regular habits or the hazards
of their occupation. They are paid
from 20 to 35 cents an hour, and
usually can earn enough to keep
themselves and family in decency and
comfort, but a real steady-going do
mesticated switchman is a novelty.
They have the virtues which go with
a stout heart and an independent
spirit in all ages and under all condi-
tions, and as class are remarkable
even amongst the big-hearted rail
readers for their generosity, charity
and loyalty to each other.s