Evening journal. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1907-1913, 1907-12-17
WORKED In LUXURY
FINE CABS FURNISHED FOR OLD
TIME ENGINEERS.
Railroads Spared No Expense on In
side or Outside characterization of
Locomotives When Rail-
reading Was New.


The railroad companies in former
days spared no expense when it came
to the construction or ornamentation.
of their locomotives, which were not
only the pets of the engineers and the
pride of the whole road but also daily
moving advertisements of the service.
In these twentieth century days of
black, pooled locomotives whose mas
tiers change every trip it seems far
cry back to the romantic days of rail-
reading, when every road tried to out:
do it's rivals in the way of dandy en-
gines, of which the engineers were
the absolute masters.
No one but certain specified en-
gineer was allowed to run one of these
engines under any circumstances, and
when it became necessary to place the
engine in the shop for. a thorough
overhauling the engineer quit work
until the machinists had got through.
Perhaps the best examples of all
dandy engines were two bought by the
New Haven road in the COS.
These engines, which were monsters
for those days, had driving wheels five
feet nine inches in diameter and cost
about $4,000 each. The cab was made
of solid walnut Inside the roof of the
cab was composed of narrow alternate
strips of mahogany and walnut. The
side windows were made of stained
glass.
Just as much expense was incurred
to make the outside of the engine at
tractive. First, the frame was made
of planed STEEL highly polished. The
drivers were all painted red, with a
tiny black stripe.
From the cab to the sand box every
thing was covered with brass, even the
jacket of the boiler, while from the
sand box to the stack the boiler was
covered with, Russian iron. Around
the dome and the sand box was a COW
ering of brass and the cylinders and
steam chests were enclosed with the
same metal Strips of brass were laid
along the edge of the running boards
and the hand rails were of brass pip
ing, with large bells of brass, eagles
or something of the kind at the end.
On the side of the headlight of No.
%, whose engineer was Edward Chat
terton, was painted the United States
coat of arms, while the tender of No.
"a had the same device on the side.
The tender was painted black and
enameled, while all the stripping was
made with gold leaf.
The engineer of No. 81, Maynard
Smith, always wore white duck, as In
deed did many of the other old time
engineers, and he was very exacting.
When he climbed into the Of Ms
engine just before starting on a trip
he would take out his white handker-
chief and wipe the different brass fit
tings in the cab to see if all had been
properly cleaned.
Many of the engines in use in the
early days were named instead of be-
ing numbered. On the New Haven &
Hartford road, which connected the
two cities before the consolidation, the
engines bore such names as andre
media, Venus, Orient and Adonis. Some
engines had landscapes painted on the
sides of the cab.
In those days the engineer was the
aristocrat among railroad men. AS
soon, as he reached the end of his run
he would take off his overalls, turn
over the engine to a hostler, wash his
hands at the tender cock and step
off right at the station, his work done
until the return trim
Ii any repairs were needed he did
not consider that his duty had been
fulfilled when a report had been turned
in. He made it his particular bust
ness personally to see that the repairs
were properly executed. Often an
engineer would spend hours of his own
time to get his machine into the very
best condition. Under the present
system the engineer gets away as soon
as possible and doesn't show up again
until ready to take out his run once