The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-12-14
RAILROAD NEWS.
The SWitchman--An important
Cog in Railroad Operation.
His Duties Are Hazardous to
Life and Limb.
ONLY EIGHT YEARS.
Average Life of a Switchman Is
Cut Short.
Other Items of General Interest
in Railroad Circles.

in Railroad Circles.
To TIE man who sits in front of
the fireplace and reads his evening pa
per, to the traveller who gazes out Of
| the observation car at the f1eetins icy
railroad yards. and to the average per-
son who does not come in touch with
the actual conditions in the railway SER
vice over the country, the life of a
switchman is Just an ordinary Job
and nothing else.
Especially at this time when the
swltchmen's union in this country is
| asking for an advance in wages, is the
real "down-to-grass" life Of a railway
yard switchman a feature that should
| be taken into consideration. 1t is not
| only the fact that the cost of living
/ has increased, the experience in the
| work is becoming more inclusive, but
| when the existence of a switchman-
| his work, his dangers, his environment
are taken as food for thought their
demands for higher pay do not look so
| commonplace
| In the first place it is well to bear
in mind that the average life of a
switchman in service, according to fig
| UreS compiled not long ago, is only
eight years. Before 1896 he only had
| five years to Live in accordance with
the death rate of his fellow workers.
For a man TO go to work with such a
| record to stare him in the face is
enough to create hundred strikes in
the country today. Then there are
| some insurance companies who will not
under any consideration insure the life
| of a railway switchman. They consid :
| er it far worse than any ether occu-
| patton.
A switchman must have brain, he
must be quick on his feet and athletic
| and he must not be cOwardly. Expos
ure to. all kinds of weather, working
under every adverse condition that
could possibly be placed in his way,
| guarding in many eases the hundreds
OF human lives that pass through his
| tools Of labor and finding himself re-.
| sponsible for much of the profit earn
ings of his company, the modern switch
man must be a man in every sense of
the word The job was not cut out for
81 weakling, for poet or for a man
| who is afraid of the dangers accom-
panying a slippery footboard.
| 1t is the engine foreman and his
! Switchnen in charge who make posi-
BILE not only the assembling OF the great
| freight trains out of the terminals but
who have to break them up in the vari
Gus yards over the country, kicking
two cars down this track. ona car down
| that one and finally distributing the
cars to their various trains. tracks and
platforms.
The most difficult work in connection
| with the duties of a switchnan is to
| learn :hc tangled. stringing maze of
tracks and switches in the modern
yards Of today. To know by his orders
just where a car is to be switched, to
find the right stand, to throw the
switch instantly and to jump first from
one car to another and then gracefully
stand in the middle Of the track and
fall on to the footboard Of a switch
| engine, is q trick that costs many lives
| in the undergraduate days and disables
hundreds of men over the country be-
fore they have become efficient in their
| work.
Above all a man must keep his head.
To lose his head m the hundreds of
tracks and switches that swim into a
| right mare at the beginning Of the
i work is the loss Of his position. Els
| recially at night when the red and
green lights dance all through the
| yards and look like a colored milky
way, a man must know his tracks, re-
spond quickly to a certain natural in
| stinct for a certain track. dart to a
switch stand and fling the lever like
lightning-then back again as the huge
black cars loom into sight, swisfH by
with a clatter and pass on into dark
| ress again.
Oftentimes sympathy for the brake
man who is seen shivering on the top
of a freight train. is heard. He finds
q. =
cause they believe his position on the
top of a flying. swaying, icy bcxcar is
dangerous and gives added exposure to
the elements. But here is where there
is a chance for rest and warmth. The
| front-end brakeman has the warm en-
CINE in which to rest and snatch sleep
The rear-end brakeman can spend his
spare time curled up in the cushions
of the caboose.
Theer is no warm engine and caboose
for the switchnian. The long lines OF
boxcars along through which the coolest
and fiercest winds blow are his only
shelter. Rain. Sleet. snow and wind
| always catch him out along the switch
cs, yanking at stubborn couplers and
straining every muscle to throw frozen
switch levers. The railroads must keep
Cd their traffic and their time and their
| machinery has little feeling for bad
weather.
Thus it will be seen that the life OF
a switchman is not to be envied al
any pay they might receive. Very few
switchmen. after a few years service
| are able to show you a perfect body
there is always finger, a hand, a foot
an arm or leg gone-to pay the price
for their hazardous undertaking. The
| railroads of the country turn out hum
| dreds of men every year-men who en-
| dured the strictest physical test at their
entrance into railroad work-and who
left their work unable to be of any
use in the world
! The average switchnan is a big
strapping gocd-natured fellow-and il
| they survive their lies work they Hv5
to good ripe old age. They are the
lowest paid men in the operative end