New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-09-08

dows through which peer the engineer
and his helper But on the other types
of electric locomotive. and on the mul-
tiple unit train. whatever the, train hlts
head on is more than likely 10 break the
window in TIE motorman's face If 1t
does not lodge right In the cab with INN.
This danger. OF course, is greatly ac-
centuated on railroad which crosses
numerous highways at grade. George
Iudlam. who for six years ran multiple
unit train on the West Jersey & Seashore
division OF the Pennsylvania. told the ar
bitration commissioners that in night
run OF 100 miles he flashed over go grade
crossings. only very few OF them pro-
tected by watchmen
The englneman on these multiple unit
trains" he explained, has got between
him and any obstruction only "A sheet OF
glass or thin board partition. 1t Is not
Ike a steam locomotive. lie hasn't ntty
or sixty feet Of steel ahead Of him. You
look right out of the window and down
on the track. There isn't anything there
10 check the shock from wagon or
horse or an automobile, or anything OF
that sort We have had cases where
pigeon has come through the glass
And Lewis y. Armstrong. assistant
road foreman Of engines on the West
Jersey & Seashore admitted that one OF
his multiple unit trains hit man once
whose body IL scooped up into the motor
mans cab. while Warren 5. stone, grand
chief Of the Brotherhood OF Locomotive
Engineers. contendcd that horse had
been deposited in motorman zap OH
this road I'm the same way.
II must be added however, for the oene-
III OF passengers with nerves that the
driver OF a multiple unit train must Keep
one hand on little lever at a certain
pressure all the time TO operate his train.
Should an automobile jump into his cab
and disable him, or should he merely
faint with fright at the prospect, his hand
would naturally drop this lever. the lever
would fly back the current would cease
and the brakes would set, all automati-
cally
In the case OF the Pennsylvania, that
stretch OF II, at least, between the $50
street station and Manhattan Transfer,
and I'm the case OF the New Haven, II
grade crossings I'm the path Of electric
trains and that the closer, more direct
view the operator has OF his track Is al
most clear gain. 1t would be hard to
imagine greater comfort In train opera
ton than that OF the engineer on Penn
sylvsnia electric locomotive, hauling
train through the clean, straight tube
under the Hudson and under Bergen Hill
out to Manhattan Transfer. He sits on a
stool beside his master controller in
little compartment taking up the very
front of his locomotive, with big win
dow in front OF him giving him an abso-
lutely unobstructed view of his track.
Six feet away. on a similar stool, In front
of a similar window, sits his helper. when
the latter isn't behind somewhere tend
inc the apparatus which heats the train
With his left hand the engineer pushes
the lever of his controller over carefully
and slowly 10 start the heavy train with
out blowing out a fuse. His right hand
he has free for the little handle with
which he applies his ''air."
The motor. anchored to its tonnage OF
Pullmans. gains momentum as does an
automobile. bounding ahead under its
driver as he notches up and swaying on
,ts sprjngs as an automobile will on the
smoothest road. Interlocking signals
guide II across the open station yard I'M