The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-24
RAILROAD NEWS.
Locomotive Engineers Are Al
ways "Seein' Things"
Imaginary Death Haunts Them
in Their Cabs.
NEVER COUNT CARS.
Engineers Break Away From
This SuperstitiOus Habit.
Other Items Of General Interest
in Railroad Circles.
NEVER COUNT CARS.

There are today living in Chicago
Ttrhaps some % men who have left the
cab of the locomotive for some other
employment and in some cases the rea-
sons for leaving are curious enough.
says the Chicago Tribune. 1t is hard
Il find drinker who will admit that
liquor hurts him, or user OF tobacco
who VIII agree with the doctors that
nicotine slowly and surely skaters his
nervous system. And it is harder stu
to find an engineer who will admit that
the long hours ceaSeleSS Vig1ls ana
rough riding have weakened his nerves
Still, it is a fact that many otherwise
strong men break Down and are assign
ed other work, because they nave
reached a point where they see thlhgs',
He was an excellent man for years,
said a station official as he pointed 10
d retired engineer lounging around the
Union station in Chicago, but the time
cllle when he ina gincd he saw Shad-
Ows and we had to retire him
"SaW Shadows?'' was asked
Yes. They seemed realities to him,
of course. but to others they were
phantoms. In the last year of his run
/ was on his train one night when we
stopped twice in IL miles for obstruc-
lions on the track. and yet there was
not SO much as a straw on the ral!s;
Another night he stopped dead still
at the end of a bridge, believing the
structure gone, and toward the last he
Logan picking up corpses at the cross
roads.
His nerves were Sc unstrung." ex-
plained the official, that when his train
dashed across a country highway on
dark night he would imagine that the
locomotive had struck farmers
wagon. and he would halt the train to
run back and investigate.
There are many men, however, on
the roads running out of Chicago who
are as good today as they were When
they entered the cab Is or 70 years ago.
Il all depends on their temperament:
The constant vigilance and burden OF
re responsibility are a terrible worry 10
some and no burden at all to others:
Then the motion of an engine would OF
itself tend to break down some men,
Three or four years ago the engl-
1.eer of a train began to chase a morse.
One night after LEAKING junction be-
low here q black morse jumped on the
track ahead of him and led him race
for several miles. 1t was only ms
imagination, but he was as certain that
ne saw a real horse as you are that
YOU stand there.
fsLJa not only ouarreled with his con-
-ductor and fireman about the matter,
hut he insisted that the superlntenQ-
ent should send some one to certlEy
his statement. l was selected. soon
after leaving town the horse appeared
not. of course. to my eyes, but to
the engineers. l saw nothing but the
black rails and the smooth roadbed,
but he saw the horse. He Identified
the color, marks and other PARTICULARS
ard in his eagerness to get closer to
the animal he ran the train past one
of the stop stations at the rate of 40
miles an hour. We had to take him
off his engine and give him other
work"
Not long ago the engineer of a train
runninQ ont of Chicago walked into
headquarters and asked for layoff
for three months. At first he would
give no excuse for his request, but fin
ally admitted that he was afraid of
killing some one on his run. He was
breaking down, and, instead of rae
ing with imaginary horses, he was
running over imaginary persons. He
is one Of the few engineers to admit
his nervousness, but this admission
was his salvation. He got a rest for
three months and then went back to
the cab with his old nerve restored.
But it is not only the engineer that
is superstitious. Trainmen in general,
If we are to believe those who ought
to know have their pet ideas. Par
ticularly is this true of the old-time
brakemen who considered it a bad
omen to have a woman the first pas
senger to board a train on its run. 1t
is bad luck, in "brakie's" opinion, to
allow a hunchback or cripple to be the
first to enter a~train. and he will de-
lay these persons with inquiries about
ticket or destination in the hope that
some Sound" man will be the first to
ascend the steps to the train. A one
armed man on train is viewed as an
omen of accident.
Engineers consider it bad luck to
count the number of cars in a train
while rounding curve. A careless
firemen sometimes allows the engine