night and then stays up during the day time he is likewise bounced for not going to bed. He may be warned once of his faults, but a repetition costs him his job. Railroads must have not only clear brains but well-rested bodies. It wants every man at his best. Formerly the 'hail fellow well met' man was likely to rise in authority in railroading. This is no longer true. Conviviality is frowned upon everywhere in the service. Urbanity is expected of all, but debauchery permitted in none.

The railroads employ no green man after he is 40. It is considered then that he is too old to be taught the business. Every applicant is required to sign a statement showing where he worked for three years last past. Railroad men wear out faster than others, but are well paid and kept by the road that employs them to old age if their powers do not fail and so impair their usefulness. Good eyesight is especially required and good hearing is very important. Railroading has become a great profession or trade and a sure one. To men of broad ability it offers fine opportunities to rise to good positions of excellent salaries. Managing officials' salaries on good roads run from $2,000 per year up. But Darwin's theory of the 'survival of the fittest' finds inexorable sway here, and only men gifted for their respective duties go up to higher positions, while if only mediocre a man cannot even enter the lower ranks. The railroad service employs essentially picked men throughout. Mr. Richards says that nearly all managers and chiefs of departments are men who rose in the service with no training prior to entering it. But he expects the time will come when special railroad training schools will be founded and eventually recognized by railroad managers as efficient aids in laying the foundations of successful railroad careers. The trade or profession as such he expects to take higher and yet higher rank and thinks the grade of efficiency required is likely to rise gradually till the service has attained human perfection."

TRAIN DISPATCHERS.

There are a number of classes of employés at work on the lines of railway companies, particularly those on which many trains are moved, and extra precautions to secure safety thereby rendered necessary. Increase of traffic usually leads to a great increase of the importance of the responsibilities of signalmen, telegraph operators, and train dispatchers, as errors or omissions on their part may be attended with damaging or fatal results. The following sketch of the labors of the train dispatcher was published in the Philadelphia Times:

"His position in the railway service is unique. Were all trains running on time, and provided for on the periodical time table issued by the company, he would have no duties to perform; but trains will get delayed, and occasions will arise requiring extra trains, or trains without any specified time or rights, to be run over the road, and then his services are necessary to avoid hours of delay.

All trains on railroads are divided in classes, according to their importance, generally two, passenger and freight; and all trains of one class running in a specified direction have the right of road, or need keep no lookout for trains of the same or a lower class running in the opposite direction. Thus it is assumed that on a certain railroad trains running eastward have the right of way over trains running westward. Then an east-bound passenger train can run the whole length of the road in entire disregard of all trains. Another passenger train going west need only look out for the east-bound passenger train, while the freight trains must keep out of the way of both passenger trains and of the freight train which is running in the direction prescribed as having the right of road.

place which he thinks it can reach without difficulty, and he directs the opposing train to proceed to the same place and there pass the other train, and in that manner the trains are enabled to pass each other without any delay to either. His great responsibility consists in that he may have a dozen other trains in his charge at the same time, and in directing one train to go beyond its usual place to meet another he may neglect to give an order to the second train, and in such an event a collision would probably ensue, much property be destroyed, and probably lives be lost.

It will readily be seen that the slightest mistake of a train dispatcher might cause serious results, and in this respect his responsibility is probably greater than that of any other individual under whose charge the public are placed. A pilot on a vessel may lose his reckoning, but the fact soon becomes apparent to others, and his capacity for mischief is thereby lessened. Other railway employés may neglect their duties, and rush headlong into danger, but their associates generally realize the situation before any unfortunate results ensue; but the slightest behest of the train dispatcher must be obeyed without question, even though to do so would jeopardise the lives of those receiving the orders, though, of course, until an accident results the train men are ignorant of the fact that they have been given wrong directions.

Instances of oversight of dispatchers are extremely rare, much less than of neglect of conductors and engineers to adhere to the orders given to them, and while they perform their onerous duties almost entirely unknown to the people whose lives they have in their control, and, therefore, never receive the meed of praise due them, travelers ought at least be made acquainted with their duties, and the important part they play in the rapid and safe movement of passengers."

LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS.

There is no class of railway employés in whom a deeper interest has been manifested by the public, or upon whose skill, discretion, and fidelity, as displayed from day to day and hour to hour, more depends, than the men variously styled enginemen, engineers, engine drivers, locomotive engineers, locomotive runners, and train runners. In the selection and management of such important assistants, and their assignment to different duties, it is necessary that good judgment should be exercised; and it is still more necessary that in conducting their labors they should display the peculiar combinations of mental and physical qualities which secure the best results.

As a rule all engineers undergo a protracted preliminary training as locomotive firemen, and a large number of the firemen begin their railway careers as brakemen, a position from which advances are made in several directions, the most common being either towards promotion as a fireman or as a conductor. Systematic training for service as a locomotive engigineer usually forms part of the labors of firemen, and it is generally preceded by a considerable amount of incidental preliminary training, either as a brakemen or as an assistant in cleaning engines. Labors of the latter class precede an appointment as fireman in England.

In all countries protracted experience and numerous proofs of capacity in running freight trains precede advancement to the position of engineer of a passenger locomotive. Progress is comparatively slow. There is much to be learned thoroughly. Formerly a large amount of knowledge in regard to the construction of the locomotive was considered necessary, but now the chief requisite is a thorough mastery of the art of running a locomotive. This includes, in addition to all that must be known of the details of the machine, and the manner in which it must be handled to obtain desired results, a thorough know

regulation of brakes, variations in grades, defects in track and their probable effect, the art of being on time, and sundry other matters. Ability to control the machine must be combined with self-control, and an avoidance of excitability in the presence of actual or prospective danger. The working capacity of the best of engineers is quickly weakened or destroyed if they become nervous or fidgety. One authority says they "are neither born nor made; they grow." Another says "they are not made; they are born, and unless nature designed

They were all bad breaks, and any one of them would have caused a wreck." "Did you have any narrow escapes your self?" "I did one time. If I hadn't jumped down over an embankment the limited express would have knocked me over. I felt it strike my coat-tails, but the spring I made saved me. But I always kept my ears open, and though often I got sleepy on my walk, I never relaxed my vigilance. Sometimes, on hot summer nights, I would have to bathe my face in water to keep myself awake. No, there was never a wreck on my walk caused by any trouble with the track. But sometimes I made discoveries just in the nick of time to save a wreck."

CLEARING AWAY RAILWAY WRECKS.

As disasters will occasionally happen, in spite of all the pains that may be taken, and as they are sometimes caused by gross neglect, it is desirable that effective means should be provided for the prompt removal of all obstructions. The following description of a representative labor of this kind, which has had many counterparts, was forwarded to a western journal by its New York correspondent:

"A gentleman tells me that he has seen one of the most extraordinary pieces of executive dispatch in his life. 'I was coming down the Hudson River road,' he said, 'two or three days ago, when the train was stopped by a wreck near Hudson. A freight train had been thrown off the track. The engine was lying imbedded in a hole, one car was lying across the track, another had lost its trucks and was flat on the track, and the tender of the locomotive was also deeply imbedded. We had

waited there an hour and a half or two hours, and twenty trains had been stopped. They had yanked one of the cars up on jack-screws, as if to run trucks under it, and then get it out of the way. It looked as if we were going to stay until night, and we began to think about finding a steamboat or buggy or something to get on to New York, when all at once an engine and wrecking car heaved in sight. Before the engine had come to a stop we could hear the road master's voice ring out, giving his orders before he had seen the situation. He seemed to be as familiar with everything on the spot as if he had been there all night. There was an engine off at some distance, but doing nothing. He called out to the engineer to come up and make fast to the buried locomotive. In half a minute the engine was attached and pulling to get the other out of the hole, and at the second effort the great mass of iron came up sullenly, and was hauled out of the road. 'Pass that rope over the top of that car and make fast to that tree yonder,' he cried. It was done. 'Now five hundred of you lay hold of that rope,' he shouted. The entire little army, under the inspiration of that voice, laid hold of the rope, using the tree for a purchase, and they pulled the car across the track square out of the way by main strength. 'Come on here with that engine,' he cried again, and make fast to this truck.' With another tremendous pull the whole thing came out of the ground like a tree by the roots, and was rushed off. 'Now start that first train,' cried the man. In less than two minutes from the time of his arrival what looked to be a week's job was out of the way, and the passengers went on."

WE

E are frequently told that a railway is a public highway and in one sense this statement is quite correct. We are also informed that an operating railway company is a common carrier. This is also true. But before the days of railways operated under present systems, although there was an abundance of highways, and a large number of common carriers, there was no such thing as a combination of the ownership or control of a superior highway, with the control of the movements of all the vehicles passing over it, and it is only such a combination and the use of superior vehicles and motive power that has made the swift modern passenger trains and heavy freight trains possibilities. The railway companies that send them daily and hourly on their errands are something more than owners or lessees of highways and common carriers. They are manufacturers of transportation, and the moving train is the product of labors infinitely more varied, exacting, intricate, complicated, and expensive than those undertaken by any other class of manufacturers.

The headquarters of divisions of important railways are great workshops, where various grades of mechanical talent are marshaled under a master mechanic and a master car builder, and aside from these shops, there are central shops, frequently of great magnitude, where much new construction, including locomotives and cars, is ordinarily progressing, in addition to an immense amount of repairing. All the great old standard trades applicable to transportation have been subdivided into numerous branches, and the railways are liberal patrons of them all. One of the greatest of modern changes arises from the extent to which such subdivisions have been carried. It would be hard to say how many departments of industry are now represented by labors that could formerly have been performed, if at all, only by a blacksmith. It is estimated that American railways use at least half the iron produced in the country, and the country now produces in busy years about five times as much iron as the whole world produced before the dawn of the present century. Aside from this use of iron, and the constant employment of skillful mechanics and assistants of numerous grades, including a large force necessary to keep the permanent way in proper condition, the running of

many trains at various speeds upon a single roadway, is an operation of great complexity. There must be not only skillful enginemen, firemen, conductors, and brakemen, but dispatchers, signalmen, and telegraph operators-in short, the entire organization is more complex and extensive than was ever combined for any other peaceful business pursuit.

To manufacture transportation at the rate that work is per formed daily in the vicinity of large cities, with hundreds of outcoming and incoming trains, so regularly and safely that an accident to a passenger or the loss of baggage is a rare occurrence, is a feat that gives to the organization which performs it a character widely different from that of the tra ditionary highway owner or common carrier. The railway is the great employer of men, money, and machinery, and the link by which it makes the connection with the public is THE TRAIN.

REQUIREMENTS OF RAILWAY TRAIN SERVICE.

The following description of the qualities considered desirable or necessary in men employed in railway train service was given by division superintendent A. M. Richards, of the Chicago and Alton Railway, to a railroad reporter of a western journal:

"Every man in railway train service acquires a nerve and executive force and obedience that is worked into his very soul by the character of his employment. He is a true soldier. He believes that he knows his own duty and can and will do it, and he expects the same of every man above or below him. The unforgiven sin in railroading is incompetency. If constitutional, or often shown, no penance or prayers will save the unlucky possessor's head. Incompetency in railroading is an intolerable defect, and can offer no excuses. Regarding the Chicago and Alton train men, Mr. Richards ranks them high in every respect. A comparatively modern thing required in railroading is total abstinence. In former times a little indulgence in the social bowl was winked at. But whisky has been found a foe of railroading. It has caused the loss of a good many lives and much money. Railroad managers have learned that a man who drinks is dangerous. Hence if he indulges even off duty he is discharged. If he is on duty at

night and then stays up during the day time he is likewise bounced for not going to bed. He may be warned once of his faults, but a repetition costs him his job. Railroads must have not only clear brains but well-rested bodies. It wants every man at his best. Formerly the hail fellow well met' man was likely to rise in authority in railroading. This is no longer true. Conviviality is frowned upon everywhere in the service. Urbanity is expected of all, but debauchery permitted in none.

The railroads employ no green man after he is 40. It is considered then that he is too old to be taught the business. Every applicant is required to sign a statement showing where he worked for three years last past. Railroad men wear out faster than others, but are well paid and kept by the road that employs them to old age if their powers do not fail and so impair their usefulness. Good eyesight is especially required and good hearing is very important. Railroading has become a great profession or trade and a sure one. To men of broad ability it offers fine opportunities to rise to good positions of excellent salaries. Managing officials' salaries on good roads run from $2,000 per year up. But Darwin's theory of the 'survival of the fittest' finds inexorable sway here, and only men gifted for their respective duties go up to higher positions, while if only mediocre a man cannot even enter the lower ranks. The railroad service employs essentially picked men throughout. Mr. Richards says that nearly all managers and chiefs of departments are men who rose in the service with no training prior to entering it. But he expects the time will come when special railroad training schools will be founded and eventually recognized by railroad managers as efficient aids in laying the foundations of successful railroad careers. The trade or profession as such he expects to take higher and yet higher rank and thinks the grade of efficiency required is likely to rise gradually till the service has attained human perfection."

TRAIN DISPATCHERS.

There are a number of classes of employés at work on the lines of railway companies, particularly those on which many trains are moved, and extra precautions to secure safety thereby rendered necessary. Increase of traffic usually leads to a great increase of the importance of the responsibilities of signalmen, telegraph operators, and train dispatchers, as errors or omissions on their part may be attended with damaging or fatal results. The following sketch of the labors of the train dispatcher was published in the Philadelphia Times:

"His position in the railway service is unique. Were all trains running on time, and provided for on the periodical [ time table issued by the company, he would have no duties to perform; but trains will get delayed, and occasions will arise requiring extra trains, or trains without any specified time or rights, to be run over the road, and then his services are necessary to avoid hours of delay.

All trains on railroads are divided in classes, according to their importance, generally two, passenger and freight; and all trains of one class running in a specified direction have the right of road, or need keep no lookout for trains of the same or a lower class running in the opposite direction. Thus it is assumed that on a certain railroad trains running eastward have the right of way over trains running westward. Then an east-bound passenger train can run the whole length of the road in entire disregard of all trains. Another passenger train going west need only look out for the east-bound passenger train, while the freight trains must keep out of the way of both passenger trains and of the freight train which is running in the direction prescribed as having the right of road.

Every one understands that all trains are chartered or have a time given for passing each station, which time can in no instance be anticipated, and hence all train men know where all other trains ought to be at any particular moment, if on time; but as trains frequently and generally get late the train of inferior class must have its movement expedited by some extraneous cause or it may be delayed for hours awaiting a train that may have been wrecked or has been kept back for some other of many causes. Then the duties of the train dispatcher are of importance. He will probably give an order to the delayed train by telegraph directing it not to go beyond a certain

place which he thinks it can reach without difficulty, and he directs the opposing train to proceed to the same place and there pass the other train, and in that manner the trains are enabled to pass each other without any delay to either. His great responsibility consists in that he may have a dozen other trains in his charge at the same time, and in directing one train to go beyond its usual place to meet another he may neglect to give an order to the second train, and in such an event a collision would probably ensue, much property be destroyed, and probably lives be lost.

It will readily be seen that the slightest mistake of a train dispatcher might cause serious results, and in this respect his responsibility is probably greater than that of any other individual under whose charge the public are placed. A pilot on a vessel may lose his reckoning, but the fact soon becomes apparent to others, and his capacity for mischief is thereby lessened. Other railway employés may neglect their duties, and rush headlong into danger, but their associates generally realize the situation before any unfortunate results ensue; but the slightest behest of the train dispatcher must be obeyed without question, even though to do so would jeopardise the lives of those receiving the orders, though, of course, until an accident results the train men are ignorant of the fact that they have been given wrong directions.

Instances of oversight of dispatchers are extremely rare, much less than of neglect of conductors and engineers to adhere to the orders given to them, and while they perform their onerous duties almost entirely unknown to the people whose lives they have in their control, and, therefore, never receive the meed of praise due them, travelers ought at least be made acquainted with their duties, and the important part they play in the rapid and safe movement of passengers."

LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS.

There is no class of railway employés in whom a deeper interest has been manifested by the public, or upon whose skill, discretion, and fidelity, as displayed from day to day and hour to hour, more depends, than the men variously styled enginemen, engineers, engine drivers, locomotive engineers, locomotive runners, and train runners. In the selection and management of such important assistants, and their assignment to different duties, it is necessary that good judgment should be exercised; and it is still more necessary that in conducting their labors they should display the peculiar combinations of mental and physical qualities which secure the best results.

As a rule all engineers undergo a protracted preliminary training as locomotive firemen, and a large number of the firemen begin their railway careers as brakemen, a position from which advances are made in several directions, the most common being either towards promotion as a fireman or as a conductor. Systematic training for service as a locomotive engi gineer usually forms part of the labors of firemen, and it is generally preceded by a considerable amount of incidental preliminary training, either as a brakemen or as an assistant in cleaning engines. Labors of the latter class precede an appointment as fireman in England.

In all countries protracted experience and numerous proofs of capacity in running freight trains precede advancement to the position of engineer of a passenger locomotive. Progress is comparatively slow. There is much to be learned thoroughly. Formerly a large amount of knowledge in regard to the construction of the locomotive was considered necessary, but now the chief requisite is a thorough mastery of the art of running a locomotive. This includes, in addition to all that must be known of the details of the machine, and the manner in which it must be handled to obtain desired results, a thorough knowledge of the road to be traversed, the meaning of signals, the regulation of brakes, variations in grades, defects in track and their probable effect, the art of being on time, and sundry other matters. Ability to control the machine must be combined with self-control, and an avoidance of excitability in the presence of actual or prospective danger. The working capacity of the best of engineers is quickly weakened or destroyed if they become nervous or fidgety. One authority says they "are neither born nor made; they grow." Another says "they are not made; they are born, and unless nature designed

them for engineers a lifetime devoted to training will not make them experts. Nature makes the engineer, and he is fitted for his duty by training."

One of the descriptions of their current labors, which originally appeared in the Public Ledger, says:

"To secure safety the engineer sits upon the right side of his engine, in such a position as to command a clear view of the road, having within his reach the lever for starting or stopping the engine, the cord attached to steam whistle, the rod leading to the sand box, because the sanding of the track when sudden stoppages are needed in times of threatened disaster is an important adjunct; the lever of the pump, to keep the boiler properly supplied with water, and, what is of equal importance, the small lever which applies power to all the brakes of the passenger train at the same moment. Now one would think, with all these various levers, cords, and rods, the engineer would not possibly have time to keep a good lookout and attend to them, but he does, and so quietly and with such system that a stranger on the engine would scarcely notice that he had touched any of them. But watch closely, and it will be seen that while the train is moving at the rate of forty or fifty miles an hour the water cocks are tried to see how the water stands in the boiler, and perhaps the next thing necessary will be the starting of the pump, and while doing this a sign tells the engineer that he is approaching a country road at grade or a station, and he must, therefore, sound the whistle. If the fireman be a new man, he has to be watched, and often directed when to put coal on, but if well acquainted with the business, he gives the engineer but little trouble in this respect. So systematic is the work of the engineer, and so well does he know the capacity of the engine and the various grades of the road, that it is scarcely necessary for him to look at the clock in his

cab to ascertain if he is on time. If he starts on time, but is afterwards delayed at the stations, he knows exactly the places of the road where he expects to make up the loss, and keep up his reputation for always coming in on time. The engineer who is always getting in late does not gain many friends, and cannot expect to hold first-class positions very long.

The running of trains in daylight is not attended with near so much danger as at night, as the engineers can see at a great distance, and, therefore, avoid or prevent accidents from obstructions, but at night there is constant anxiety, and the utmost vigilance is necessary. The head-light on the locomotive is of more value to those who are walking upon the track, or about to cross it, than it is to the engineer. A tie laid across the track, or a cow or man walking upon it, would be seen, but unless the man or cow got off they would certainly be struck, because when a train is moving at the rate of thirty or forty miles an hour it would pass over at least one-fourth of the distance in view from the time of the discovery before the brake could be fully applied; but the speed would be very much lessened, and though the engine might be thrown from the track, the engineer and firemen would have time to escape in many cases by jumping from the train. Nearly every engineer who has been in the service for many years can relate many tales of wreck and narrow escapes from death or severe injuries, but still they are not deterred from continuing the same business, but their vigilance is redoubled to prevent future mishaps."

An English writer, in discussing their labors, says: "Consider the operation of climbing and descending a 'summit' or descending and then climbing a 'valley.' At these times the driver's hand is never off the lever. In the course of a few miles he will, perhaps, make fifty imperceptible changes in the speed of the train-accelerating it or diminishing it so steadily that not a passenger notices what is being done. That is the perfection of engine driving. This is the climax of the driver's skill, and he attains it coincidentally with the full development of those qualities which he has unconsciously trained within himself, and which are all governed by an overmastering sense of duty."

The following account of an experience in a collision was attributed, by a correspondent of the Philadelphia Times, to an engineer:

"I ran into a freight train just as I rounded a curve on the mountain side, going west. An assistant superintendent was aboard and he was urging me to make a siding where a freight was expected. The train was running at the rate of thirty-five miles an hour. The engineer of the freight train expected us and he was running slow and had reversed. I had just time to shut off steam and jump. The fireman jumped also and landed thirty feet away in a field. I landed on the other side and was struck by flying splinters and badly cut in the head, which laid me up two weeks. The collision was terrific. Eighteen freight cars and the coaches of my train were piled on top of each other. The wreck was a terrible one. The baggage master on my train was killed and several passengers were badly hurt. The engineer and fireman of the freight train escaped by jumping. My engine was so badly broken up that she could not be repaired and was cut up for old iron. Never want to go through such a scene again. It was like a flash of lightning and I knew nothing."

CONDUCTORS AND BRAKEMEN.

All train movements usually require the services of a conductor and brakemen, in addition to the locomotive engineer and fireman. The position of the conductor involves special responsibility, as he is generally in charge of the train, and it is usually his duty to report to the division superintendent insubordination, neglect, or misconduct on the part of any other employé engaged in a train movement. The duties of brake men subject them to more numerous dangers, and they are more frequently injured or killed, than any other class of railway operatives. Peril attends the coupling of cars, rapid movements from the top of one freight car to another while a train is in motion, and various other tasks.

DANGERS OF TRAIN MOVEMENTS.

Neglect of duty on the part of either of the four classes of men engaged in running trains, as well as failure to perform allotted tasks on the part of a number of other classes, including signal men, switchmen, telegraph operators, and train dis patchers, and also numerous kinds of defects in permanent way or rolling stock, may at any moment cause a railway accident. It is only by careful attention to a large number of details that the ground-work can be furnished of a reasonable prospect of the avoidance of serious disasters. That they occa sionally occur is less surprising than that the number is not larger. To run numerous trains at a high rate of speed is to subject to a severe test the reliability of numerous persons and appliances, and it is almost inevitable that weak spots should be occasionally developed either in men, materials, or ma chinery. Methods of guarding against them or of warding off particular perils, and of diminishing the destructiveness of disasters, have been the subject of anxious deliberations ever since railway operations commenced; and despite the multiplicity of inventions no mechanical safeguard can furnish a substitute for careful, well-trained, and skillful employés. The faithful services of such men are not only necessary to secure train movements but also to make them reasonably safe. The necessity of strictly enforcing appropriate rules and regulations, and administering rebukes or punishments corresponding to each definite offence that has caused disasters, or is likely to cause them, if repeated, is, therefore, obvious; and it would not be surprising if something like a perpetual court-martial was progressing at the division headquarters of some of the railways of the country. Independent of all other aids to safety a notable improvement in the train rules adopted by many lines is one of the results of protracted labors of the General Time Convention.