The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1907-11-08
When a Train is Wrecked.

tracks, repairing broken down cars; Tor
usually the wrecking crew is made up OF
10 of the car repair men.
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 fire and the rising steam
pressure of the engine that is to take the
outfit on its errand of mercy.
This outfit, if it is modern, consists
of steam derrick car, with steam always
up, weighing in the neighborhood of $780,
900 pounds, with lifting capacity of 60
tons.
behind the derrick comes the truck
car. 1t contains extra trucks to be used
under deraied cars or car bodies whose
trucks have been ruined. Next comes the
blocking car, loaded down with all neces-
sary blocking and timber.
ssThen there is the track supply car,
equipped with all the necessary track ma
terial, such as ties and rails. The tool car
is the next in order. This carries jacks of
all descriptions, from 6-inch pony jack
to a 40 ton hydraulic. 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 in
jured and the dead.
"Next is the cook and bunk car, and
finally the caboose. The former has a
range, a refrigerator and stock of food
that will keep. 1t has hunks for Is or 20
men, This train, or outfit, as it is called,
is always coupled together and stored on a
side track
''The first thing that wrecking fore
man does on being called is to get into
communication with the chief train dis
patcher and find out all the particulars
possible If it is a merchandise wreck,
empty freight cars are ken along into
which can be transferred such freight and
grain as can be saved.
''He also finds out as near as he can
Just where the wreck lies and how badly
it is piled. If it is a passenger wreck
why, of course, it is a case of get there
as quickly as possible, wondering all the
time who the dead and injured are and
what new scene Of awfulness will be con-
fronted.
THE working outfit has the right of
way over all trains between the starting
point and the place where the wreck oc
ours. Passenger, stock and freight are
all side tracked.
"A stop is made at the station or siding
nearest the wreck. Here the steam der
rick is switched ahead Of the engine, with
the rest Of the outfit coup lied 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.
''The first thing a wrecking foreman
does after finding out where the injured
are and getting them loose is to figure on
working passageway through the wreck
and replacing the track as the debris is
cleared If the wreck is bad one and
there is the chance a temporary track is
built around the mess that traffic may be
resumed as soon as possible.
Cars that are damaged to the extent Of
500 are dragged into the ditch, all the
truck and air-brake rigging taken from
them and the body of the car set afre.
All of the iron parts are afterward loaded
on to fiat cars, often even the boiler of the
| locomotive This scrap is taken to the
shops to be repaired and used over again.
Given freight wrecks can present ter
rible appearance. One of the worst of
these | ever saw was 10 loads of wheat, the
products of many hundred acres piled
40 feet high and extending from right-of
way fence to rigth -of-way fence-a regular
hill of gold which took one solid week S
work to clear away Carload after carload
of wheat had to be loaded by basket into
new cars-while many tons of bent and
visited iron and heap upon heap of ashes
old silent storyof the wreck.
Zone time We went ont to pick up IA
stock wreck Of II cars. These, next to
passenger wrecks, are the worst to handle.
This particular wreck was one of great
confusion The penned cattle were bel
lowing frightfully. On each side and far
over toward the fence lay dead or injured
stock.
''Now there is nothing that makes these
| Western steers so angry as to smell OF
| blood, and add to that injury and the ter
rible excitement of wreck and you have
a combination that makes the poor animals
fairly crazy. Woe to the man who gets
close to head or the heels of struggling
beast. The cars were piled in such a way
that we were compelled to rip the top off.
''Then men crawled out along the
wreckage, fastened lines about the horns,
and with the ait of the derrick the ami
mails were finally dragged loose. Those
in the car that were badly injured were
killed by blow on the head with sledge
while the others were rounded up by men
on horseback and herded into the field to
be finally driven to the first stock chute
and there reloaded.
Eyes, passenger wrecks are, without a
doubt, the very worst-and it can be said
of them, as of war, they are anything but
cool
1.-The lessons wrecks should teachs US?
"Never to take chances. Never make
men work longer than nature intended
they should, Equip all roads with every
safety device known for safe train handling
Make the train order system as simple as
possible. Stop loading cars beyond their
capacity and until they break down. En-
ploy only experienced men, and when such
men make mistakes and trouble is the re-
sult-keep them; do not 'can' them, for
nine chances out of ten they will never
make the same mistake again. We all
learn by experience, therefore, the man
who had made a mistake is safer man,