On the various roads throughout the North American continent, there is great diversity of practice in the selection of men for the position of fireman.
On numerous roads, especially in the Western States, men are taken from all occupations; no preliminary training being deemed necessary before putting a man on an engine as fireman. A list of applicants is kept by the master mechanic, and likely men recommended for firemen. When a man is wanted, the first one who can be found conveniently is sent out; and the engineer must break him in as best he can. On other roads, again, the men intended for firemen are taken to work about the round-house, and are employed in helping with the cleaning, repairing, and preparing of locomotives for the road. This plan is greatly in vogue in Europe, and on certain of the older roads of America; and it has many features to recommend it over the practice of placing men entirely devoid of railroad experience upon engines. It is better for the men themselves, since working about engines familiarizes each to some extent with the work he is expected to do as an engineer’s helper, for that is really a fireman’s position; it is better for the company, since the officers get the opportunity of observing a man’s habits before he receives training that entails some expense; it is better for the engineer, since his assistant is not entirely strange to the work he is expected to do.
FIRST TRIPS.
A youth entirely unacquainted with all the operations which a fireman is called upon to perform, finds the first trip a terribly arduous ordeal, even with some previous experience of railroad work. When his first trip introduces him to the locomotive and to railroad life at the same time, the day is certain to be a record of personal tribulation. To ride for ten or twelve hours on an engine for the first time, standing on one’s feet, and subject to the shaking motion, is intensely tiresome, even if a man has no work to do. But when he has to ride during that period, and in addition has to shovel six or eight tons of coal, most of which has to be handled twice, the job proves no sinecure. Then, the posture of his body while doing work is new; he is expected and required to pitch coal upon certain exact spots, through a small door, while the engine is swinging about so that he can scarcely keep his feet; his hands get blistered with the shovel, and his eyes grow dazzled from the resplendent light of the fire. Then come the additional side duties of taking water, shaking the grates, cleaning the ash-pan, or even the fire, where bad coal is used, filling oil-cans, and trimming lamps, to say nothing of polishing and keeping things clean and tidy. By the time all these duties are attended to, the young fireman does not find a great deal of leisure to admire the passing scenery.
POPULAR MISCONCEPTION OF A FIREMAN’S DUTIES.
A great many idle young fellows, ignorant of railroad affairs, imagine that a fireman’s principal work consists in ringing the bell, and showing himself off conspicuously in coming into stations. They look upon the business as being of the heroic kind, and strive to get taken on as firemen. If a youth of this kind happens to succeed, and starts out on a run of one hundred and fifty miles with every car a heavy engine will pull stuck on behind, his visions of having reached something easy are quickly dispelled.
Like nearly every other occupation, that of fireman has its drawbacks to counterbalance its advantages; and the drawbacks weigh heaviest during the first ten days. The man who enters the business under the delusion that he can lead a life of semi-idleness must change his views, or he will prove a failure. The man who becomes a fireman with a spirit ready and willing to overcome all difficulties, with a cheerful determination to do his duty with all his might, is certain of success; and to such a man the work becomes easy after a few weeks’ practice.
LEARNING FIREMEN’S DUTIES.
Practice, combined with intelligent observation, gradually makes a man familiar with the best styles of firing, as adapted to all varieties of engines; and he gets to understand intimately all the qualities of coal to be met with, good, bad, and indifferent. As his experience widens, his fire management is regulated to accord with the kind of coal on hand, the steaming properties of the engine, the weight of the train, the character of the road and of the weather. Firing, with all the details connected with it, is the central figure of his work, the object of pre-eminent concern; but a good man does not allow this to prevent him from attending regularly and exactly to his remaining routine duties.