The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-01-02
Great Care Exercised by Roads
in Handling Motive Power.
Big Iron Horses Given the Same
Care as Racers.
HANDLED BY HOSTLER
Locomotives Overhauled and
Cleaned After Each Run.
Other Items of Interest in
Railway Circles.

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 flyers
across the country at a speed often ex-
ceeding a mile a minute, are more
carefully groomed for their daily
work than any race horse running on
any track in the country. with the
exception of the great thoroughbreds.
Any railroad man will bear out tho
assertion that roundhouses and shops
of the railroads can be compared with
the great training stables Of the
Keenes, Belmonts, Whitneys and 9TH
ers whose names have gone down into
turf history. and the resemblance will
be found to be striking.
Inc thorough bred racer has an army
of attendants, rubbers and veterinary
surgeons to watch over him.. The
slightest suggestion of a limp. dis
taste 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 q weakness in any
pump which does not work properly
and the experts are at hand to rem
edy the defect. There are the ma
chinists, the boilermakers, the en-
foreman. to say nothing Of the wipers
and hostlers
Yes, there are hostlers around rail-
roads the same as around racing
stables, and the duties of the two
classes are considerably alike.
The line of difference between the
two establishments, however is sharp.
ly drawn in this one thing. In a racing
stable the breadwfnner of the bunch,
the animal which goes out day after
day and comes home with the money.
gets the most careful attention Every
stable has its "dubs,'' horses not even
good selling-platers. and but scant at
tention is paid to them.
Every engine, big or little fresh from
the locomotive works OF grown old in
service, receives the same amount of
attention. Railroad men cannot play
favorites, as life or death often hinges
on the result.
IF the average man knew the work
and trouble required to get that engine
ready to take her train OUT said an
old engineer the other night at the
union station, ''he certainly would be
surprised, ,-.--- .-....-... 50
/ To a railroad man an engine is al
ways her. and a train is 'she.'' Just
why is not certain, unless it is because
an engine Is one of the most tickle
things which mankind has ever devised
for his own benefit, and some cynies
have said a woman is the most tickle
thing man has ever been accorded as
a luxury.
When an engine, either passenger,
freight or pony" goes to the round
house after the completion Of the run
or the work in the yards, the engineer
runs "her'' down to the roundhouse,
where a host1er and his helper take
charge.
The hostler has to understand how to
handle the big machine, as he carries
her down to the coal chute where
the big tank is heaped with the black
diamonds, then down over the cinder
pit, where the real hard work Of the
hostler and his helper begins. All the
| fire in the big firebox has to be shaken
through the CRATES in the flooring into
| the ash pan beneath.
| Down below In the pit, working in
| the heat and choking dust from the
| ashes, men are busy scraping, scraping
| continually until the last of the burning
Goals have dropped through the CRATES
! in response to the vigorous shaking of
| the CRATE bars by the hostler and his
| helper, until the ashpan is cleaned out,
| and then the engine is run down on the
| turntable. balanced nicely, the helper
| turns a little switch at one end of the
| track the table swings around until