Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1907-11-07
CONTROL OF TRAIN
WRITER URGES NECESSITY OF
AUTOMATIC SYSTEM.
Daneersof Engineer Being Stricken
with Illness or Death While in
Cab Is Very Real, as
Pointed Out.

On the physical and mental condi
ton of the locomotive engineer de
pend the safety Of his train and the
lives Of the passengers, says a writer
in the Literary Digest. What will
happen if he suddenly dies or is taken
i'll? This question is discussed sporad'
ically in the press, and certain types
of locomotive in which the fireman and
engineer are widely separated, leav
ing the latter practically alone in his
cab, have been condemned on this
ground. An editorial writer in the
Railway and Engineering Review
Chicago, July 30 regards it as re
markable that so few accidents have
happened from trains running with
out control, caused by the sudden ILL
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 employe be sta.
toned on each locomotive, like the
1OOhOuI Ou d 0alp, W1Ill Nv OSAASA ooSJ
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 lavor from prac.
tical considerations. Nevertheless,
every recurring instance of the sud.
den Interpretation of an engineer sug.
gests grave possibilities of an acct.
dent. 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 view of the
reasonableness of such thoughts.
During the early part of this month
we reported collision which occurred
on the Mobile & Ohio railroad caused
by the engineer of a passenger train
falling unconscious at his post, the
train running past station where a
stop should have been made, and the
fireman not discovering what was
wrong in time to stop the train before
collision with a switch-engine oc
Cured. Recently the engineer of a
passenger train of the Lake Shore &
Michigan Southern railway, approach
ing Cleveland, was overcome by heat
and fell unconscious at the throttle
Fortunately the fireman observed the
engineers condition in time to pre-
vent accident to the train. During
II
freight train on the Chicago, Rock Is
land & Pacific railway is reported to
have become suddenly insane, and rar
his train a considerable distance al
extraordinary speed, in fear of ar
imaginary enemy in pursuit, in spite
of vigorous efforts of his fireman tt
prevent him. Eventually the heat
brakeman returned from trip to the
rear, and he and the fireman over
powered the unfortunate man and as
sumed control of the train. Accord
ing to the newspaper reports this en-
| gineer had just recovered from {
| spell of sickness and had gone out OF
| his regular run without displaying any
| evidence of his mental condition. W.
| have not taken pains to verify thi.
| report, and while the account may b.
exaggerated, it is not nevertheless al
| unsupposable case; and an insane
man at the throttle might, for obviou,
reasons, be more dangerous at crit
ical moment than a dead man.
while known occurrences of the
character stated have been but few
comparatively speaking, yet they hav.
been numerous enough, it woul,
seem, to call for careful consideration
of means of protection. AS visible
signals alone would evidently be o
no avail in such eases, unless the fire
man CHANGED to notice the non
observance of them, the argument 70
automatic control of train fits suc]
emergencies with peculiar adaptable
| ity"