Omaha daily bee., 1919-12-21

the biggest corporation in a city.
They not only take this response
bility, which is based on a knowl-
edge OF mechanics, electricity, phys
les, Z vast volume of rules and a
maze of signals, but they go to bed
and get up at all hours, maintain
their homes at one end of the divi-
sion and rooms at the other, eat
vanished restaurant food half the
time, see their families somewhat
less than half the time and 60 up
against the widest extremes OF
weather, engine temper and nerv-
Gus tension ali for a weekly wage
ranging from $50 to SIS if they are
lucky enough to have regular runs,
or anything down to one-ffth less
than nothing if they are spare men
in slack seasons.
"Oh, yes, an engineer Is subject to
rheumatism and bad kidneys and
wornout eyes and such things that
go along with the eternal jouncipg
and sudden changes Of temperature" !"
says your friend with the dark blue
rubber collar, but, after all, where
can = man Of my education earn !
better livingi
Fast Trains Are Helpless.
II 10 true that every passenger en-
gineer does carry great responsible
ity a. he sits on his padded box on
q z00-ton locomotive skimming
around curves and ver-labyrinths Of
switches and out through hill and
dale, but once Z train has gained
high speed the responsibility for the
safety Of the lives OF passengers lies
largely with train dispatchers in
green eyeshades at the ends of the
divisions, track repair men with
bumped shoulders all along the line,
the strength of steel, the accuracy Ct
electric signals and the grace of God.
The engineer of speeding train is
as completely at the mercy of cir
cumstances as the frailest woman
riding seven cars back of him in 4
Pullman.
If a cross-over has been eareless1y
left open in front of him, he couldn't
see it until he had struck it and prob
ably plunged his train .into the
ground. If an obstruction had been
laid on rails by wreckers he would
never see it until it was too late to
stop. A. night, even with the me
dunn bright electric headlights used
on New England fast trains, he can't
see more than = train length ahead of
him. Thus the main responsibility
upon him is to remember his orders
and keep his eyes open for signals.
How It Feels to Ride Engine.
sSitting in your automobile and
watching a fast passenger tear
through with goggled eagle eye"
riding the right hand side of the
engine cab makes you Think the
business of running that train is
high-tension job full of electric mo-
nlents. Suppose you had a chance
to ride in the engine of fast train
to see. It's against not only a fed
eral law, but I standard rule on
every railroad in the country. But
Just imagine you were doing il.
There is no law or rule on imagina-
ton.
Let as say that you were some
dark night all logged out with over
alls and a bandanna around your
! neck meeting an engineer friend in
the yards half an hour before the
200 pulled out.
anyone would think you were
travelling engineer" your friend the
engineer observes.
whats 4 travelling engineers"
you ask him, resolved to learn all
you can in one night of railroading.
why he's 4 sort of locomotive
doctor or veterinary. When an en-
gineer has trouble and is losing time
on his run, the travelling engineer is
sent for to diagnose the trouble. 1t
may be the engine needs some over
hauling at the shops, or sometimes
the engineer needs a dose of advice
as to how to run it. The travelling
engineer usually tries making the
run himself with the regular man
along watching him. If he finds the
Engine cranky and can't get the
work out Of il, then he knows it
Isn't the engineers fault. But if he
makes the run in regular time with
out hitch, the blame rests with the
driver" -
You order some breakfast from a
sieepy-eyed waiter at quick lunch
counter and hurry to the round
house. Then you fish in your pocket
snd offer your companion a cigar.
About Smoking on Duty.
Thanks" says he as he stops in
a doorway to get good light and
then hurries on. II never smoke
except when I'm off duty. Some. of
the boys do, but I always maintain