Evening journal., 1907-03-11
PENNSY WANTS
COLLEGE MEN
To Take Engineering Places
in Maintenance Of Way
Department

More college-trained men are wanted
in the service Of the Pennsylvania
Railroad and steps are being taken to
obtain them. The company's tremen-
dous improvements in New York and
great extensions all along its lines have
created new positions which must be
hlled by engineers and operating Off
cials of ability and judgment Some
employees who have not had technical
training will, Of course, rise from the
bottom to the top-because some men
can't be kept down. But, other things
being equal, the man who has gone
through a regular course OF training is
the one who will do the railroad most
good.
1t is the Pennsylvania policy to
employ college men almost exclusively
for certain branches OF the operating
and engineering departments. This
and the fact that the graduate receives
enough pay at the beginning to sup
port him, have proven powerful in
ducements to the sort Of workers the
company wants.
From Rodman Upward.
It is in the Maintenance OF Way
Department that the youth with a
diploma from a technical institution
finds a place. First he is a rodman.
Then he is sent TO the yards at Al
toona, Pa, which are the greatest in
the world-seven miles long-with 30
miles of track. There the candidate
for railroad honors learns to keep car
records and classify cars. to handle
switches. to manipulate signals and TO
do many another job that the proper
sort of railroad men must know all
about.
Next he is assistant supervisor "on
the road learning about steel rails,
ballast. crossties. bolts, tie-plates and
roadbed drainage. If he is apt he is
promoted to supervisor; after that
come the grades of assistant engineer
and superintendent. and when a man
gets to be superintendent he is quail
fed as a railroad expert.
At Altoona, where the shops and
yards Of the Pennsylvania compose
what is called "the greatest railroad
university in the world" there is a
special course for the college man
trained as a mechanical engineer. The
Especial apprentice" as he is called, goes
through four years of hard work
blacksmith shop, wheel shop. car shop
tank shop. and AL the rest. Three
months are given to firing an engine
on the road. The special apprentice
Is eligible to rise to be inspector, assist
ant engineer OF motive power, master
mechanic superintendent OF motive
power.
To Raise Age Limit 10 Years.
Another important step to be taken
by the Pennsylvania. II the stockhold-
ers approve It at their meeting March
12. is the admission to employment OF
men between S5 and As years old. Al
present nobody past 35 is eligible tc
enter the company's service. The rule
was made in order that every employC
Obliged to retire at 65 would have 81
years service to his credit and receive
"a pension Of not less than 80 per cent
OF his average earnings for his last ter
years of work.
But it is found that the 35-year RUE
has put too great a limit on the field
from which the company may draw its
labor. Many whose services are classed
under skilled labor" department OF
mechanics" etc. have to serve through
years Of practical experience and reacf
the highest degree Of efficiency after
passing S5.