The next thing to learn is the steering wheel. It has tricks of its own, which one must learn by practice. Most young engineers turn the wheel altogether too much. If you let your engine run slowly you will have time to turn the wheel slowly, and accomplish just what you want to do. If you hurry you will probably have to do your work all over again, and so lose much more time in the end than if you didn’t hurry.
Always keep your eyes on the front wheels of the engine, and do not turn around to see how your load is coming on. Your load will take care of itself if you manage the front wheels all right, for they determine where you are to go.
In making a hard turn, especially, go slow. Then you will run no chance of losing control of your engine, and you can see that neither you nor your load gets into a ditch.
GETTING INTO A HOLE.
You are sure sooner or later to get into a hole in the road, for a traction engine is so heavy it is sure to find any soft spot in the road there may be.
As to getting out of a hole, observe in the first place that you must use your best judgment.
First, never let the drive wheels turn round without doing any work. The more they spin round without helping you, the worse it will be for you.
Your first thought must be to give the drive wheels something they can climb on, something they can stick to. A heavy chain is perhaps the very best thing you can put under them. But usually on the road you have no chain handy. In that case, you must do what you can. Old hay or straw will help you; and so will old rails or any old timber.
Spend your time trying to give your wheels something to hold to, rather than trying to pull out. When the wheels are all right, the engine will go on its way without any trouble whatever. And do not half do your work of fixing the wheels before you try to start. See that both wheels are secure before you put on a pound of steam. Make sure of this the first time you try, and you will save time in the end. If you fix one wheel and don’t fix the other, you will probably spoil the first wheel by starting before the other is ready.
Should you be where your engine will not turn, then you are stuck indeed. You must lighten your load or dig a way out.