Albuquerque citizen., 1908-01-04
ENGINES CARED
FOR LIKE
RACERS
An Army of Begrimed Stable
Hands Keep Them
GroOmed.

The busy little engine you may see
any day in the week pushing and
pulling strings of cars around in the
railroad yards in the city. or the
giant iron monster which hauls the
'ffiyers" across the country at speed
often exceeding a mile a minute, are
nore carefully groomed nor their
daily work than any race horse run
ming on any track in the country,
with the exception of the great
thoroughbreds says the Topeka state
journal
ANY railroad man will bear out the
assertion that roundhouses and shops
of the railroads can be compared
with the great training stables of the
Keenes, Belmonts, Whitneys and oth-
ers whose names have gone down
into turf history, and the resemblance
will be found to be striking.
The thoroughbred racer has an
army of .endants, rubbers and vet
erinar 4rgeons to watch over him.
The ssntest suggestion Of a limp,
distaste for his food, and every man
Jack Is busy trying to ascertain the
cause of the trouble and apply the
proper remedies. The men are there
and the needed remedies are also
there.
Are Watched.
1t is the same with the engines
the great iron horses of commerce
The slightest sign of weakness 1T
any part-a leaking flue heet, an all
pump which does not work properly
and the experts are at hand tc
remedy the defect. There are the
machinists. the boilermakers, the en-
gineer himself and the roundhous'
foreman, to say nothing of the wlp
ers and hostlers.
Yes, there are hostlers arount
railroads the same as around racinl
stables and the duties of the tive
classes are considerably alike.
The line of difference between TN
two establishments, however, /
sharply drawn in this one thing. II
a racing stable the breadwinner o
the bunch, the animal which goes ou
day after day and comes home wit
the money gets the most careful at
tention. Every stable has its "dubs,
horses not even good selling-plateri
and but scant attention Is paid t
them.
Every engine, big or little, fires
from the locomotive works or grow
old in service. receives the sam
amount of attention. Railroad me
cannot play favorites, as life or deaf
often hinges on the result.
"If the average man knew the wor
and trouble required to get that en-
gine ready to take her train out,
at the union station, "he certainl
would be surprised"
TO a railroad man an engine Is al
ways her" and a train Is she. Jus
why is not certain, unless II Is be
cause an engine is one of the mo:
fckle things which mankind has eve
devised for his own benefit, and som
cynics have said woman is the mo:
tickle thing man has ever been aC
corded as luxury.
When an engine, either passenge
freight or pony" goes to the rounC
house after the completion of the ru
or the work in the yards, the eng
neer runs her" down to the rounc
house, where a hostler and his help'
take charge.
The hostler has to understand no
20 handle the big machine, as he ca
ries "her" down TO the coal chu
where the big tank is heaped wit
the black diamonds, then down ov'
the cinder pit, where the real han
work OF the hostler and his help
begins All the fire in the big FIR
box has TO be shaken through Il
CRATES in the flooring into the a'
pan beneath.
Down below in the pit working
the heat and choking dust from Il
ashes, men are busy scraping, scra
ing continually until the last of Il
burning Goals have dropped throut
the CRATES in response 10 the vigoro
shaking of the CRATE bars by {
hostler and his helper, until the a
pan is cleaned out, and then the e
gine is run down on the turntab
balanced nicely, the helper turns
little switch at one end of the trac
the table swings around until [
pilot oh he engine points 10 the ST
assigned to "her" and the big m