Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1906-09-21
CLEARING A WRECK
HARDEST WORK DONE BY THE
MEN OF THE RAIL.
Outfit and Complete Equipment Kept
W. Always In Readiness for Elmer.
gencies-Lessons That Ac-
cidents Should Teach.

perhaps it Is after a hard days WORK
on the rip tracks, repairing broker
down cars; for usually the wrecking
crew is made up of ten of the car re-
pair e
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 nre
and the rising steam pressure OF the
engine that is to take the outfit on
its errand of mercy.
This outfit If 1t is modern, con-
sists of a steam derrick car, with
steam always up, weighing In the
n~eighborhood of 100000 pounds, with
a lifting capacity of SIS tons.
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 a Acton ny
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 a q
range, a refrigerator. and a stock on
food that will keep. 1t 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 b 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.
: s"'The first thing a wrecking fore
man does after finding out 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 ths
, wreck is a bad n and there Is ths
4 chance a temporary track Is bull
around the mess hat traffic may b.
resumed as soon as possible.
Cars that are damaged to the ex
tent Of 800 are dragged into thu
ditch, all the truck and air brake rig
Q cling taken from them and the body o
the car set afire. All of the iron part
Q are afterward loaded on to fla cars
}. often even the boiler of the locomc
9 tive. This scrap is taken to the sho,
to be repaired and used over again.
n "One time we vent to pick up
o stock wreck of II cars. These, mex
q to passenger wrecks, are the wors
to handle. This particular wreck wa
n one of great confusion. The penne
% cattle were believing frightfully
On zach side and far over toward tn
fence lay dead or injured stock.
9. "Now there Is nothing that make
these western steers SO angry as tn
", smell of blood, and add to that injur
- and the terrible excitement of a wrec
- and you have a combination thu
- makes the poor animals fairly Graz,
Woe to the man who gets close
. O head or the heels Of a strugglin
beast. The cars were piled In sue
q way hat we were compelled to n
the tops off.
o. ''Then men crawled out along Il
wreckage, fastened lines about IL
horns, and with the aid of the derrie
dy the animals were finally draggt
10 loose . Those In the car that were ba
III " injured were killed by a blow {
by the head with a sledge. while Il
"a others we're rounded up by men
horseback and herded into the feel
1T to be finally driven to the first sto'
nd chute and there reloaded.
ng Eyes, passenger wrecks are, wit
III. out a doubt, the very worst-and
nv can be said of them, as Of war, tn
tt are anything but cool.
les "The lessons wrecks should tea
aid us?
Be- Never to take chances. New
make men work longer than natu
sed intended they should. Equip all roa
,al. with every safety device known
en- safe train handling. Make the ira
order system as simple as possib
Stop loading cars beyond their cap
IL fly and until they break down. e
,nd ploy only experienced men, and VIII
ink such men make mistakes and trout
tier is the result-keep them; do not sc'
his them, for nine chances out Of ten th
ore will never make the same mista
.ept again. We all learn BY experien