Handbook of Railroad Construction; For the use of American engineers. / Containing the necessary rules, tables, and formulæ for the location, construction, equipment, and management of railroads, as built in the United States.

by George L. Vose

DUTIES OF EMPLOYEES.

402. The General Superintendent has entire control of all of the heads of departments; he issues his orders to the heads only, and is the main agent for transferring the resolves of the directors to the operating department, and the channel through which the reports of the departments go to the directory.

The Superintendent of the Road has complete charge of the road-bed, superstructure, bridging, masonry, and buildings; also all removals, enlargements, and alterations. He should be a thorough civil engineer, able in every respect to build a railroad from beginning to end.

The Superintendent of Machinery has charge of the purchase, inspection, repair, and operating of all of the rolling and fixed machinery, of shops, engine houses, turntables, tanks, and weigh scales. He is responsible for the good condition, proper adaptation and efficiency of the entire equipment of engines and cars.

The General Passenger Agent fixes, under the direction of the president and general superintendent, the prices of passenger transportation, has charge of all conductors, ticket sellers, station police, mail and express agents, of stage, steamboat, and railroad connections, and of all operations incident to transporting passengers.

The General Freight Agent has charge of all persons occupied at all of the stations in forwarding and receiving merchandise, in measuring and weighing, in receiving money, and bookkeeping, station agents, and train hands. He makes and regulates, with the approval of the president and general superintendent, the tariff for freights; contracts with connecting roads, and insures the benefits of such agreements, examines all claims for damages to freight, and sees that such are properly settled.

The Agent for Wood contracts, with the approval of the general superintendent, for the supply of the necessary amount of fuel; attends the measurement, inspection, and delivery at the proper places; registers each month the amount of fuel supplied and used, and the location and amount on hand.

The Supply Agent has charge of the supply of all materials in use in all departments; iron, timber, engines, rails, bridges, and every thing in use upon the road; charging each department with its correct quantity and quality of material received.

Road-masters will have charge, under the superintendent of the road, of the maintenance of the road-bed and superstructure of divisions of from twenty-five to fifty miles in length, depending upon the care that the road-way may need. They will have charge of gravel trains, and of wood trains, which run under the orders of the superintendent of the road. They should pass over their divisions at least once per day. Under them are placed section men, having care of ten miles each, being supplied with the proper tools and signals. They must pass over their respective sections at least once per day in a hand car. They should see that every switch, frog, chair, and rail on their section is in proper order, and report at once any defects, which cannot be remedied by them, in the track, to the road-master.

Engineers are subject to the superintendent of machinery when off, and to the conductor when on, the trains. None but a man well acquainted with the details of machinery, and who has served in a locomotive machine shop, and is in every respect temperate and steady, should fill this berth.

Foremen of the blacksmith, machine, carpenter, and car shops, are subject to the superintendent of machinery, and have charge of the repairs and cleaning of the engines, cars, and other machinery.

Car-masters have charge of the men employed in cleaning, oiling, and examining the cars and their wheels. The cars should be thoroughly examined at the end of each trip, and at each stop, by an inspector who accompanies the train and looks to the wheels, axles, boxes, and brakes.

Conductors.—A conductor of a train should be a machinist, a prompt, active man, who should station himself on the top of the cars in such a position as to see the whole train, and able at any moment to communicate with the engineer. He should direct the running of the train, and control the engineer and the person who takes the fares. The latter should confine himself to the inside of the cars.