Evening star., 1941-03-09
New Diesel Electric
Locomotives Reduce
Fatigue, Add Safety
Latest Type TO Go in
Service on Southern's
New Truin This Month

If Casey Jones, that famed en-
gineer of song, were alive today, he
probably would remark that the
promised land" has been reached in
the streamlined locomotives that will
pull The Southerners," the new
Streamlined coach trains which the
Southern Railway will place in serv-
ice sometime this month between
New Orleans and New York.
These new passenger trains will be
Diesel powered between Washington
and New Orleans by way of Atlanta.
Three powerful single unit Diesel
locomotives were built for the new
trains by Electro Motive Corp. at
La Grange, Ill.
Casey Jones would exult, too, In
the comfort and simple ease of con-
troll provided. Not that engineers of
today have gone soft" or are ex-
pected to. The greater comfort and
ease of controls in today's locomo-
tives are furnished as a safety meas
ure to prevent fatigue of engineers.
Auto Driver Understands.
ANY done who has driven an auto
mobile three or four hundred miles
in one day is acutely aware of the
technical reason for this. Muscles
get very tired, often cramped, if the
driver sits in approximately the same
position for several hours. If the
windshield is dirty the strain of
watching the road ahead becomes
greater and eyes tire more quickly.
The inceSSant drone of the motor
and tire noises tend ultimately to put
the average driver to sleep.
To a much greater degree. these
same conditions contributing to
fatigue are present in railroading.
Personal responsibility for life is
much greater. Stretches of sustained
high speed are longer, especially on
modern trains. Normally, the
monotonous noises in a locomotive
are much greater. Body positions
which the engineer must assume
ordinarily are not as comfortable as
those possible to the driver of an
automobile, and, having a schedule
to make, he can't stop, get out and
stretch as the motorist can do
when he feels such an urge.
The locomotives have the cabs
located high in the Streamlined nose,
the most advantageous position for
completely unobstructed vision. The
smoke and steam problem is elimi-
mated by the Diesel engines and the
electric transmission.
Cabs of these new locomotives are
so clean that engineers may, if they
desire, work in their regular street
clothing without getting dirty. An
amusing illustration of this was the
case of the engineer on a Diesel run
on Western railroad. He had been
invited to party in a town at the
end of his run. but was due to arrive
too late to change clothes before
the party. So he showed up for the
start of his run in freshly pressed
suit, white shirt with laundered
collar, neat dark tie, chamois gloves,
polished black shoes, dark blue over
coat with velvet collar and a care
fully brushed derby hat. At the end
of his run he brushed a little dust
off the sleeve of his dark coat, set
the derby hat at just the right angle
and, smiling pleasantly at the as
tonished engineer who relieved him,
climbed off the locomotive and went
straight to the party.
Cab Is Steam Heated.
Kept clear in bad weather by
powerful automatic windshield wipers
and by automatic defrosters like
those on a modern automobile, v
type safety glass front windows aid
in furnishing unobstructed vision.
The cab is steam heated in cold
weather and kept comfortable in
hot weather by "no-draft" ventila-
tors in the side windows.
Being located forward of the en-
CINE room. the cab naturally is run
ming away from the normal engine
noises, but even so an insulated
wall and door are placed' between
the engine room and the cab. The
rest of the cab has modern acouSti-
cal treatment which deadens track
and wind noises. The engineer and
fireman" sit about 6 feet from each
other and exchange signal observa-
tions and carry on conversations
with voices raised scarcely above
ordinary tone, no matter what the
speed of the train.
The engineer sits in a deeply up
holstered swivel arm chair, scien-
tiflcally designed to lesson fatigue.
His control levers are so placed that
he can reach them with the least
effort. His essential control levers
are exactly the same as on a steam
locomotive-a throttle, a reverse
lever and separate levels for straight
and automatic air brakes.
While running. the engineer must
keep his foot on an emergency pedal.
or press down with his hand on the
throttle handle. If one or the other
is not depressed the train will come
to a quick stop. This is a safety
provision in event the engineer
should become i'll or otherwise in
capacitated.
The easy operation of the con-
trolS takes less physical effort to
start ana STOP one OF these Diesel
locomotives than it does an ordinary
automobile.
Light Warns Motorists.
A light that warns by startling
motorists as it sweeps across the
tracks and into the air, tracing a
figure g. will be a safety feature
of. the locomotives.
The moving beam, directed to a
distance of 1000 feet from the loco
motive, reaches $50 feet on either
side Of the tracks and to a height
of l 900 feet as it follows its pattern
automatically. 1t is designed to re-
duce the after-dark grade crossing
hazard by arresting the attention
of drivers while they still have
ample time and distance in which
to stop.
The light, mounted Immediately
above the regular headlight, has
100000 beam candle power, and its