The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1907-09-07
THE NAN AT rHz THROTTLE.

On the physical and mental con-
dition of the locomotive engineer de-
pend the safety of his train and the
lives of the passengers. What will
happen If he suddenly dies or is taken
i'll? This question is DISGUST sporad-
ically IN the press, and certain types
of locomotive in which the fireman
and engineer are widely separated.
leaving the latter practically alone in
his cab, have been condemned on this
ground. An editorial writer in The
RailzOay and Engineering RevieaO
(Chicago, July I'D regards 1t as re-
markable that so few accidents have
happened from trains running with
out control, caused by the sudden i'll
ness or sudden death of engineers at
their posts. He says:
Occasionally an instance of this
kind has occurred, and in times past
some one would propose, now and
then, that an extra employee ~6eNsta-
toned on each locomotive, like III
lookout on ship, with no other duty
than that of constantly watching
ahead for obstruction. Such a plan
would discover anything wrong with
the engineer in proper time, but the
idea has never found favor from prac-
tical considerations. Nevertheless,
every recurring instance of the sud-
den incapacitation of an engineer
suggests grave possibilities of an ac-
cident. How many of the accidents
from unexplainable causes might
have happened in this way is at least
an interesting thought to reflect upon.
The facts of experience are sufficient
ly numerous to uphold a view Of the
reasonableness of such thoughts.
During the early part of this
month we reported collision which
occurred on the Mobile & Ohio Rail-
road caused by the engineer of a pas
senger train falling unconscious at
his post, the train running past sta
tion where stop should have been
made, and the fireman not discover
ing what was wrong in time to stop
the train before collision with switch
engine occurred. Last week the en-
gineer of a passenger train of the Lake
Shore & Michigan Southern Railway,
approaching Cleveland, was overcome
by heat and fell unconscious at the
throttle. Fortunately the fireman
observed the engineers condition In
time to prevent accident to the train.
During the same week the engineer
of freight train on the Chicago,
Rock Island & Pacific Railway is re-
ported to have become suddenly In
sane, and ran his train considerable
distance at extraordinary speed, in
fear of an imaginary enemy in pur-
suit, in spite of vigorous efforts Of his
fireman to prevent him. Eventually
the head brakeman returned from a
trip to the rear, and he and the fire.
man overpowered the unfortunate
man and assumed control of the train.
According to the newspaper reports
this engineer had just recovered from
a spell of sickness and had Foue out
on his regular run without display
ing any evidence of his mental con-
dition. We have not taken pains to
verify this report, and while the ac-
count may be exaggerated, it is not
neverless an unsupposable case and
an insane man at the throttle might,
for obvious reasons, be more danger
Gus at a critical moment than dead
man.
"While known occurrences of the
character stated have been but few,
comparatively speaking, yet they have
been numerous enough, it would
seem, to call for careful consideration
OF means of protection. AS visible
signals alone would evidently be of
no avail in such cases, unless the
fireman chanced to notice the nom
observance of them, the argument for
automatic control of trains fits such
emergencies with peculiar adapta-
bility."
BIRDS EGGS.