The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-05-14
MONDAY J j! a. MAY 7. 4 Il, 1905.
ENGINES AND MEN.

Locomotive engines and men are
very much alike in one respect, at
least, for there comes time in the
career Of each when they must he
relegated to the scrap pile"
Thus unused j. T. Gossett of Hous-
ton. q retired locomotive engineer who
gave, as he says, the cream" Of his
life to engine service. The remark of
Mr.. Gossett concerning men and en-
gines and scrap piles was prompted
by the fact that a greasy, wheezy and
wobbly old switch engine over in the
Central yards came careening along
just as he and a friend were looking
over the yards and discussing railroad
work.
See that old GIRL" said Mr.. Cos
sett. re ferring to the switch engine.
well. she will soon be ready for the
scrap pile. Not bit of doubt about
1t. See how she wobb1es. See how
she wobbles. See how she creaks. II
she were human II would be rheu-
matism. But in her case 1t is simply
friction.
Engines, after all, are very much
like men: No matter how hard one
tries. some person will eventually be
found to displace him. No matter
how much work an engine does, an
other eventually comes to take it's
place With an engine it is only a
step, and a very brief step at that,
from the limited to the SCRAP pile.
Ten or twelve years is the average
life of an engine in passenger service.
After that 1t is case of pull freight
trains. A season of putting and
screeching up and down grade at the
head of long lines of box cars of var
ious makes and styles, and then the
old engine is no longer fit for that sort
of mental duty.
Then 1t is back to the scrap pile.
And the same is true of the men who
run the engines. In the heyday Of
their usefulness, they run passenger
trains on the road and get good
salary. But time wears upon them the
same as it does upon the steel they
drive, and after a while they are what
the bright young railroad executives
OF today term a bit passe. Then it is
the man to the scrap pile, as well as
the engine.
in the case of man, the scrap pile
may mean one thing or it may mean
another. 1t may mean that he will
be put out altogether on account of
failing eyesight or some other physical
defect, or, If in more liberal hands,
he may be given some less responsible
positiOn-sOme easy job at crossing
or something like that, just to keep him
going.
But it is the scrap pile for all of
us some time or other. No way out
of it. But in going to the scrap pile,
we old-timers have one thing to con
sole us. We had the experience, and
we have the satisfaction of knowing
that many of our ideas are being used.
That doesn't actually buy usanything,
yet it makes us feel that after all we
have not lived in vain.
IF man is properly fed and clothed
and doesn't work more hours per day
than nature intended, and II in gen
eral way he takes care of himself, he
will live longer than the man who
'oyerates under the opposite conditions.
And 80 it is with an engine. Feed an
engine good coal, don't overw0rk it,
and it will last longer than It other
wise would last.
Gradually the railroads are putting
better engines into service, just as they
are striving to employ higher grade
of men to operate the engines. An
engine goes to the scrap pile quicker
nowadays than formerly. And when
it does go there, it is dissected and
only the best parts are saved. The
worn pieces go as SO much junk"
Mr.. Gossett is typical locomotive
engineer. For nearly a quarter of a
century he was in service on the Iron
Mountain and Cotton Belt railroad.
He is now out of the business, and
has been for the eight years he has
lived in Houston. Yet, once an en-
gineer, always an engineer, in heart,
if not in actual practice.
And that is why the old man goes
over to the railroad yards every once
in a while to see the wheels go round.
Houston Post