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LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE
RUNNING AND MANAGEMENT:

A Treatise on Locomotive Engines,

SHOWING THEIR PERFORMANCE IN RUNNING DIFFERENT
KINDS OF TRAINS WITH ECONOMY AND DISPATCH;
ALSO DIRECTIONS REGARDING THE CARE,
MANAGEMENT, AND REPAIRS OF
LOCOMOTIVES AND ALL
THEIR CONNECTIONS.

BY

ANGUS SINCLAIR,

MEMBER OF THE BROTHERHOOD OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS, MEMBER OF THE
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS, ASSOCIATE MEMBER
OF THE AMERICAN RAILWAY MASTER MECHANICS’ ASSOCIATION,
ASSOCIATE MEMBER OF THE UNITED
STATES NAVAL INSTITUTE, ETC.

TENTH EDITION.

NEW YORK:
JOHN WILEY AND SONS.
1888.

Copyright, 1884,
By JOHN WILEY & SONS.

ELECTROTYPED AND PRINTED
BY RAND, AVERY, AND COMPANY,
BOSTON, MASS.

PREFACE.

While following the occupation of a locomotive engineer, I often observed peculiarities about the working of my engine, while running, that I did not entirely understand. As I was perfectly aware, even before making my first trip on a locomotive engine, that there is no effect without a cause, I never felt satisfied to accept any thing as incomprehensible without investigation, and fell into the habit of noting down facts about the working of the engine, with the view of studying out, at leisure, any thing which was not quite clear. When, some years ago, I abandoned engine-running to take charge of the round-house at the mechanical headquarters of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids, and Northern Railway, in Iowa, the practice of keeping notes was continued. The work connected with the ordinary repairing of running-engines, the emergency repairing executed to get engines ready hurriedly to meet the traffic demands on a road then chronically short of power, and diagnosing the numerous diseases that locomotives are heir to, provided ample material for voluminous notes. Those notes formed the raw material from which this book was constructed.

The original intention was, to publish a book on Locomotive Engine Running alone, and the first portion of the work was prepared with that idea in view; but, before the articles were finished, I joined the editorial staff of the American Machinist. The correspondence in the office of that paper convinced me that an urgent demand existed, among engineers, machinists, and others, for plainly given information relating to numerous operations connected with the repairing and maintenance of locomotives. To meet this demand, the chapters on “Valve-Motion” and all the succeeding part of the book were written. Most of that matter was originally written for the pages of the American Machinist, but was afterwards re-arranged for the book.

In preparing a book for the use of engineers, firemen, machinists, and others interested in locomotive matters, it has been my aim to treat all subjects discussed in such a way that any reader would easily understand every sentence written. No attempt is made to convey instruction in any thing beyond elementary problems in mechanical engineering, and all problems brought forward are treated in the simplest manner possible.

The practice of applying to books for information concerning their work, is rapidly spreading among the engineers and mechanics of this school-spangled country; and this book is published in the hope that its pages may furnish a share of the needed assistance. Those men, who, Socrates-like, search for knowledge from the recorded experience of others, are the men, who, in the near future, will take leading places in our march of national progress. To such men, who are earnestly toiling up the steep grade of Self-help, this book is respectfully dedicated.

Angus Sinclair.

New York City,
Jan. 1, 1885.

PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.

I desire to thank the railroad world and the technical press for the kind reception they have extended to my book. The necessity for publishing the third edition within three months after the first one was issued, indicates that the book was wanted.

In the present edition I have corrected a few errors, and made some necessary alterations, that will add to the value of the book.

Angus Sinclair,

New York, April 6, 1885.

CONTENTS.

LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE RUNNING.

CHAPTER I.
ENGINEERS AND THEIR DUTIES.

ATTRIBUTES THAT MAKE A GOOD ENGINEER.

The locomotive engine which reaches nearest perfection, is one which performs the greatest amount of work at the least cost for fuel, lubricants, wear and tear of machinery, and of the track traversed: the nearest approach to perfection in an engineer, is the man who can work the engine so as to develop its best capabilities at the least cost. Poets are said to be born, not made. The same may be said of engineers. One man may have charge of an engine for only a few months, and yet exhibit thorough knowledge of his business, displaying sagacity resembling instinct concerning the treatment necessary to secure the best performance from his engine: another man, who appears equally intelligent in matters not pertaining to the locomotive, never develops a thorough understanding of the machine.

HOW ENGINEERING KNOWLEDGE AND SKILL ARE ACQUIRED.

A man who possesses the natural gifts necessary for the making of a good engineer, will advance more rapidly in acquiring mastery of the business than does one whom Nature intended for a ditcher. But there is no royal road to the knowledge requisite for making a first-class engineer. The capability of handling an engine can be acquired by a few months’ practice. Opening the throttle, and moving the reverse lever, require but scanty skill; there is no great accomplishment in being able to pack a gland, or tighten up a loose nut; but the magazine of practical knowledge, which enables an engineer to meet every emergency with calmness and promptitude, is obtained only by years of experience on the footboard, and by assiduous observation while there.

PUBLIC INTEREST IN LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS.

Ever since the incipiency of the railroad system, a close interest has been manifested by the general public in the character and capabilities of locomotive engineers. This is natural, for no other class of men hold the safe-keeping of so much life and property in their hands.

IGNORANCE VERSUS KNOWLEDGE.

Two leading pioneers of railway progress in Europe took diametrically opposite views of the intellectual qualities best calculated to make a good engineer. George Stephenson preferred intelligent men, well educated and read up in mechanical and physical science; Brunel recommended illiterate men for taking charge of engines, on the novel hypothesis, that, having nothing else in their heads, there would be abundant room for the acquirement of knowledge respecting their work. In every test of skill, the intelligent men proved victors.

ILLITERATE ENGINEERS NOT WANTED IN AMERICA.

No demand for illiterate or ignorant engineers has ever arisen in America. Many men who have spent an important portion of their lives on the footboard, have risen to grace the highest ranks of the mechanical and social world. The pioneer engines, which demonstrated the successful working of locomotive power, were run by some of the most accomplished mechanical engineers in the country. As an engine adapted to the work it has to perform, the American locomotive is recognized to have always kept ahead of its compeers in other parts of the world. No inconsiderable part of this superiority is due to the fact, that nearly all the master mechanics who control the designing of our locomotives have had experience in running them, and thereby understand exactly the qualities most needed for the work to be done.

GROWING IMPORTANCE OF ENGINEERS’ DUTIES.

The safe and punctual operation of our railroads has always depended to a great extent upon the discriminating care of the engineer. The present tendency of railroad operating is to increase his responsibility. Every advance in brake improvement increases the duties of the enginemen, and upon them will soon devolve the entire management and control of trains while in motion.

INDIVIDUALITY OF AMERICAN ENGINEERS.

Writing on the fitness of various railroad employés for their duties, that eminent authority, Ex-Railroad-Commissioner Charles F. Adams, jun., says, “In discussing and comparing the appliances used in the practical operating of railroads in different countries, there is one element, however, which can never be left out of the account. The intelligence, quickness of perception, and capacity for taking care of themselves,—that combination of qualities, which, taken together, constitute individuality, and adaptability to circumstances,—vary greatly among the railroad employés of different countries. The American locomotive engineer, as he is called, is especially gifted in this way. He can be relied on to take care of himself and his train under circumstances which in other countries would be thought to insure disaster.”

NECESSITY FOR CLASS IMPROVEMENT.

While American locomotive engineers can confidently invite comparison between their own mechanical and intellectual attainments and those of their compeers in any nation under the sun, there still remains ample room for improvement. If they are not advancing, they are retrograding. The engineer who looks back to companions of a generation ago, and says that we know as much as they did, but no more, implies the assertion that his class is going backward. On very few roads, and in but rare instances, can this grave charge be made, that the engineers are falling behind in the intellectual race. On the contrary, there are signs all around us of substantial work in the cause of intellectual and moral advancement.

THE SKILL OF ENGINEERS INFLUENCES OPERATING EXPENSES.

No class of railroad-men affects the expenses of operating so directly as engineers do. The daily wages paid to an engineer is a trifling sum compared to the amount he can save or waste by good or bad management of his engine. Fuel wasted, lubricants thrown away, supplies destroyed, and machinery abused, leading to extravagant running repairs, make up a long bill by the end of each month, where enginemen are incompetent. Every man with any spark of manliness in his breast will strive to become master of his work; and, stirred by this ambition, he will avoid wasting the material of his employer just as zealously as if the stores were his own property; and only such men deserve a position on the footboard.

The day has passed away when an engineer was regarded as perfectly competent so long as he could take his train over the road on time. Nowadays a man must get the train along on schedule time to be tolerated at all, and he is not considered a first-class engineer unless he possesses the knowledge which enables him to take the greatest amount of work out of the engine with the least possible expense. To accomplish such results, a thorough acquaintance with all details of the engine is essential, so that the entire machine may be operated as a harmonious unit, without jar or pound: the various methods of economizing heat must be intimately understood, and the laws which govern combustion should be well known so far as they apply to the management of the fire.

METHODS OF SELF-IMPROVEMENT.

To obtain this knowledge, which gives power, and directly increases a man’s intrinsic value, young engineers and aspiring firemen must devote a portion of their leisure time to the form of self-improvement relating to the locomotive. Socrates, a sagacious old Greek philosopher, believed that the easiest way to obtain knowledge was by persistently asking questions. Young engineers can turn this system to good account. Never feel ashamed to ask for information where it is needed, and do not imagine that a man has reached the limit of mechanical knowledge when he knows how to open and shut the throttle-valve. The more a man progresses in studying out the philosophy of the locomotive and its economical operation, the more he gets convinced of his own limited knowledge. A young engineer who seeks for knowledge by questioning his elders must not feel discouraged at a rebuff. Men who refuse to answer civilly questions asked by juniors searching for information, are generally in the dark themselves, and attempt by rudeness to conceal their own ignorance.

OBSERVING SHOP OPERATIONS.

The system in vogue in most of our States, especially in the West, of taking on men for firemen who have received no previous mechanical training, leaves a wide field open for engineering instruction. Such men can not spend too much time watching the operations going on in repair-shops; every detail of round-house work should be closely observed; the various parts of the great machine they are learning to manage should be studied in detail. No operation of repairs is too trifling to receive strict attention. Where the machinists are examining piston-packing, facing valves, reducing rod-brasses, or lining down wedges, the ambitious novice will, by close watching of the work, obtain knowledge of the most useful kind. Looking on will not teach him how to do the work, but interesting himself in the procedure is a long step in the direction of learning. Repairing of pumps and injectors is interesting work, full of instructive points which may prove invaluable on the road. The rough work performed by the men who change truck-wheels, put new brasses in oil-boxes, and replace broken springs, is worthy of close attention; for it is just such work that enginemen are most likely to be called upon to perform on the road in cases of accident. To obtain a thorough insight into the working of the locomotive, no detail of its construction is too trifling for attention. The unison of the aggregate machine depends upon the harmonious adjustment of the various parts; and, unless a man understands the connection of the details, he is never likely to become skillful in detecting derangements.

WHERE IGNORANCE WAS RUIN.

I knew a case where the neglect to learn how minor work about the engine was done, proved fatal to the prospects of a young engineer. A new engine-truck box had been adopted shortly before he went running; and, although he had often seen the cellar taken down by the round-house men when they were packing the trucks, he never paid close attention to how it was done. As the new plan was a radical change from the old practice, taking down the new cellar was a little puzzling at first to a man who did not know how to do it. One day this young engineer took out an engine with the new kind of truck, and a journal got running hot. He crept under the truck among snow and slush, to take the cellar down for packing; but he struggled half an hour over it, and could not get the thing down. Then the conductor came along, to see what was the matter; and, being posted on such work, he perceived that the young engineer did not know how to take the cellar out of the box. The conductor helped the engineer to do a job he should have needed no assistance with. The story was presently carried to headquarters with additions, and was the means of returning the young engineer to the left-hand side.

PREJUDICE AGAINST STUDYING BOOKS.

There is a silly prejudice in some quarters against engineers applying to books for information respecting their engines. Engineers are numerous who boast noisily that all their knowledge is derived from actual experience, and they despise theorists who study books, drawings, or models in acquiring particulars concerning the construction or operation of the locomotive parts. Such men have nothing to boast of. They never learn much, because ignorant egotism keeps them blind. They keep the ranks of the mere stopper and starter well filled.

THE KIND OF KNOWLEDGE GAINED FROM BOOKS.

The books on mechanical practice which these ultra practical men despise, contain in condensed form the experience and discoveries that have been gleaned from the hardest workers and thinkers of past ages. The product of long years of toilful experiment, where intense thought has furrowed expansive brows, and weary watching has whitened raven locks, is often recorded on a few pages. A mechanical fact which an experimenter has spent years in discovering and elucidating, can be learned and tested by a student in as many hours. The man who despises book-knowledge relating to any calling or profession, rejects the wisdom begotten of former recorded labor.

A careful perusal of Forney’s Catechism of the Locomotive will teach the young engineer valuable lessons about his engine which can be daily substantiated by practice. In nearly every instance, reading such a work acts as a stimulant to the perceptive faculties of an engineer. An explanation of a point helps to throw new light on something that was hazy, but now appears perfectly clear. An assertion made that a man does not agree with provokes thought, and thought leads to investigation. A writer may continually present matters at variance with the views of a reader, and yet be the means of imparting valuable knowledge. When an engineer wishes to gain a thorough knowledge of the valve-motion,—and most of us pride ourselves on what we know about this subject,—he may go in for a systematic study of Auchincloss on Link and Valve Motions. Here he will obtain information that can never be reached by mere practice with the actual motion; yet access to, and observation of, the working-motion, will engrave the principles upon his memory so that they can never be forgotten. Porter on the Indicator is a good source from whence accurate knowledge respecting the expansive working of steam can be obtained. Many other springs of knowledge flow clear and free. What is needed is the inclination to receive and the determination to obtain. When a man is searching honestly for information upon mechanical subjects, he will quickly find means of gratifying his desire.

CHAPTER II.
HOW LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS ARE MADE.

RELIABLE MEN NEEDED TO RUN LOCOMOTIVES.

Locomotive engine running is one of the most modern of trades, consequently its acquirement has not been controlled by the exact methods associated with ancient guild apprenticeships. Nevertheless, graduates to this business do not take charge of the iron horse without the full meed of experience and skill requisite for performing their duties successfully. The man who runs a locomotive engine on our crowded railroads has so much valuable property, directly and indirectly, under his care, so much of life and limb depending upon his skill and ability, that railroad companies are not likely to intrust the position to those with a suspicion of incompetency resting upon them.

EARLY METHODS OF MAKING LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS.

The prevailing methods of raising locomotive engineers have been evolved from experience with the kind of men best adapted to fill the position. In the early days of the railroad world, when such men as George Stephenson, Horatio Allen, John B. Jervis, Ross Winans, and other pioneer engineers, demonstrated the successful operation of the locomotive, they usually turned over the care of their engines to the men who had assisted in constructing the machines, or in putting them together. This was the best that could be done at the time; and the men selected generally proved competent for the trust reposed in them; but it gave rise to a belief that no man could run a locomotive successfully unless he were a machinist. The possession of mechanical skill necessary for making repairs was considered the best recommendation for an engineer. Under this system, all that a machinist was required to do,—so that he could graduate as a full-fledged engineer,—was to practice moving engines round in the yard for a few days, when he was reported ready for the road. Akin to this sentiment was that which recommended youths of natural mechanical ability for the position of locomotive engineer without subjecting them to any previous special training. Graduates from mechanical institutes were deemed capable of running an engine as soon as they were perfectly certain about how to start and stop the machine. The late Alexander L. Holley used to relate an anecdote of this kind of an engineer. During a severe winter storm, the train Holley was traveling on got firmly stalled in a snow-bank. In its struggles with the frozen elements, the engine got short of water; and Holley found the engineer trying to fill the boiler by shoveling snow down the smoke-stack!

PRACTICE OF RAISING ENGINEERS FROM MACHINISTS AND TECHNICAL-SCHOOL GRADUATES NOT FOUND SATISFACTORY.

But it came to pass that more light in the matter of engine-running dawned upon the minds of railroad managers. They discovered that expertness in effecting repairs on locomotives was not so essential in an engineer as was the less pretentious ability of working the engine so that the train would be pulled over the road safely and on time: they perceived but scanty merit in inherited mechanical genius which did not inspire a youth with sagacity enough to see that certain destruction would befall the heating-surface when he attempted to run without water in the boiler. Experience demonstrated, that, to manage an engine on the road so that its best work should be developed at the least cost, certain traits of skill and training were necessary, which were altogether different from the culture that made a man smart at constructing or repairing machinery. It was found that one man might be a good machinist, and yet make no kind of a decent runner; a second man would be equally expert in both capacities; while a third man, who never could do a respectable job with tools, developed into an excellent engineer. One of the best millwrights I ever knew, a man who achieved considerable celebrity for skill in his craft, became a fireman with the ambition of becoming a locomotive runner. He fired acceptably for two years, then was promoted, but quickly found that he could not run an engine, and acknowledged that to be the case by returning to the left side. He was too nervous, and lacked confidence in himself. Overweening egotism is not an attractive feature in a man’s character; but, every thing else being equal, it is the self-confident man that makes the successful engineer.

EXPERIENCE DEMONSTRATED THAT FIREMEN MADE THE BEST ENGINEERS.

The experiment of raising locomotive engineers from machinists and mechanical empirics was the uncertain groping in the dark for the right man to fill the right place. When the search for pretentious men proved unsatisfactory, the right men were found at hand, accumulating the necessary experience on the fireman’s side of the engine. Then it became a recognized fact, that, to take hold and run an engine to advantage, a man must learn the business by working as fireman. There have been frequent cases of men becoming successful locomotive engineers without any previous training as firemen, but they were the exceptions that proved the rule.

DIFFICULTIES OF RUNNING LOCOMOTIVES AT NIGHT, AND DURING BAD WEATHER.

In the matter of speed alone, there is much to learn before a man can safely run a locomotive. During daylight a novice will generally be half out in estimating speed; and his judgment is merely wild guess-work, regulated more by the condition of the track than by the velocity his train is reaching. On a smooth piece of track, he thinks he is making twenty-five miles an hour, when forty miles is about the correct speed: then he strikes a rough portion of the road-bed, and concludes he is tearing along at thirty miles an hour, when he is scarcely reaching twenty miles; since the first lurchy spot made him shut off twenty per cent of the steam. At night the case is much worse, especially when the weather proves unfavorable. On a wild, stormy night, the accumulated experience of years on the footboard, which trains a man to judge of speed by sound of the revolving-wheels, and to locate his position between stations from a tree, a shrub, a protruding bank, or any other trifling object that would pass unnoticed by a less cultivated eye, is all needed to aid an engineer in working along with unvaried speed without jolt or tumult. On such a night, a man strange to the business can not work a locomotive, and exercise proper control over its movements. He may place the reverse lever-latch in a certain notch, and keep the steam on; he can regulate the pump after a fashion, and watch that the water shall not get too low in the boiler; he can shut off in good season while approaching stations, and blunder into each depot by repeatedly applying steam; but he exerts no control over the train, knows nothing of what the engine is doing, and is constantly liable to break the train in two. A diagram of his speed would fluctuate as irregularly as the profile lines of a bluffy country. This is where a machinist’s skill does not apply to locomotive-running until it is supplemented by an intimate knowledge of speed, of facility at handling a train, and keeping the couplings intact, and of insight into the best methods of economizing steam.

These are essentials which every man should possess before he is put in charge of a locomotive on the road. The great fund of practical knowledge which stamps the first-class engineer, is amassed by general labor during years of vigilant observation on the footboard, amidst many changes of fair and foul weather.

As passing through the occupation of fireman was the only way men could obtain practical knowledge of engine-running before taking charge, railroad officials all over the world gradually fell into the way of regarding that as the proper channel for men to traverse before reaching the right-hand side of the locomotive.

KIND OF MEN TO BE CHOSEN AS FIREMEN.

As the pay for firemen rules moderately good, even when compared with other skilled labor; and as the higher position of engineer looms like a beacon not far ahead,—there is always a liberal choice of good men to begin work as firemen. Most railroad companies recognize the importance of exercising judgment and discretion in selecting the men who are to run as their future engineers. Sobriety, industry, and intelligence are essential attributes in a fireman who is going to prove a success in his calling. Lack in any one of these qualities will quickly prove fatal to a fireman’s prospects of advancement. Sobriety is of the first importance, because a man who is not strictly temperate should not be tolerated for a moment about a locomotive, since he is a source of danger to himself and others; industry is needed to lighten the burden of a fireman’s duties, for oftentimes they are arduous beyond the conception of strangers; and wanting in the third quality, intelligence, a man can never be a good fireman in the wide sense of the word, since one deficient in mental tact never rises higher than a human machine. An intelligent fireman may be ignorant of the scientific nomenclature relating to combustion, but he will be perfectly familiar with all the practical phenomena connected with the economical generation of steam. Such a man does not imagine that he has reached the limit of locomotive knowledge when he understands how to keep an engine hot, and can shine up the jacket. Every trip reveals something new about his art, every day opens his vision to strange facts about the wonderful machine he is learning to manage. And so, week by week, he goes on his way, attending cheerfully to his duties, and accumulating the knowledge that will eventually make him a first-class locomotive engineer.

MODERN METHODS OF SELECTING FIREMEN.

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.

A GOOD FIREMAN MAKES A GOOD ENGINEER.

There is a familiar adage among railroad men, that a good fireman is certain to make a good engineer; and it rarely fails to come out true. To hear some firemen of three months’ standing talk, a stranger might conclude that they knew more about engine running than the oldest engineer in the district. These are not the good firemen. Good firemen learn their own business with the humility born of earnestness, and they do not undertake to instruct others in matters beyond their own knowledge. It is the man who goes into the heart of a subject, who understands how much there is to learn, and is therefore modest in parading his own acquirements, that succeeds.

LEARNING AN ENGINEER’S DUTIES.

When a fireman has mastered his duties sufficiently to keep them going smoothly, he begins to find time for watching the operations of the engineer. He notes how the boiler is fed; and, upon his knowledge of the engineer’s practice in this respect, much of his firing is regulated. The different methods of using the steam by engineers, so that trains can be taken over the road with the least expenditure of coal, are engraven upon the memory of the observant fireman. Many of the acquirements which commend a good fireman for promotion are learned by imperceptible degrees,—the knowledge of speed, for instance, which enables a man to tell how fast a train is running on all kinds of track, and under all conditions of weather. There would be no use in one strange to train service going out for a few runs to learn speed. He might learn nearly all other requisites of engine running before he was able to judge within ten miles of how fast the train was going under adverse circumstances. The same may be said of the sound which indicates how an engine is working. It requires an experienced ear to detect the false note which indicates that something is wrong. Amidst the mingled sounds produced by an engine and train hammering over a steel track, the novice hears nothing but a medley of confused noises, strange and meaningless as are the harmonies of an opera to an untutored savage. But the trained ear of an engineer can distinguish a strange sound amidst all the tumult of thundering exhaust, screaming steam, and clashing steel, as readily as an accomplished musician can detect a false note in a many-voiced chorus. Upon this ability to detect growing defects which pave the way to disaster, depends much of an engineer’s chances of success in his calling. This kind of skill is not obtained by a few weeks’ industry: it is the gradual accumulation of months and years of patient labor.

CONDITIONS OF ENGINE RUNNING THAT VANQUISH THE INEXPERIENCED MAN.

I once knew a machine-shop foreman, a man of extensive experience in building and repairing engines, who took a locomotive out on trial trip. A side-rod pin began to run hot; and, although he was leaning out of the cab-window, he did not observe any thing wrong till a drop of babbitt struck him in the eye. An experienced engineer watching the rods would have detected the condition of affairs before babbitt was thrown.

A difficult thing for an inexperienced man to control in running a locomotive at night, when the conditions of adhesion are bad, is the slipping of the drivers. Slipping is a simple matter enough to those who feel it in the vibrations of the engine; but the novice has not this sensitiveness to slipping vibration developed, and he must depend upon his eyesight or his hearing to detect it. On a dark, stormy night, the eye is useless as a means of judging as to the regularity of the revolving wheels: the howling wind or rain, rattling on the cab, drowns the sound of the exhaust. Under circumstances of this kind, an engine might jerk the pins out before the empirical engineer discovered the wheels were slipping.

LEARNING TO KEEP THE LOCOMOTIVE IN RUNNING-ORDER.

As his acquaintance with the handling and ordinary working of the locomotive extends, the aspiring fireman learns all about the packing of glands, and how they should be kept so as to run to the best advantage: he displays an active interest in every thing relating to lubrication, from the packing of a box-cellar to the regulating of a rod-cup. When the engineer is round keying up rods, or doing other necessary work about his engine, the ambitious fireman should give a helping hand, and thereby become familiar with the operations that are likely to be of service when he is required to draw upon his own resources for doing the same work.

Of late years the art of locomotive construction has been so highly developed, the amount of strain and shocks to which each working part is subjected has been so well calculated and provided against, that breakages are really very rare on roads where the motive-power is kept in first-class condition. Consequently, firemen gain comparatively small insight, on the road, into the best and quickest methods of disconnecting engines, or of fixing up mishaps promptly, so that a train may not be delayed longer than is absolutely necessary. A fireman must get this information beyond the daily routine of his experience. He must search for the knowledge among those competent to give it. Persistent inquiry among the men posted on these matters; observation amidst machine-shop and round-house operations; and careful study of locomotive construction, so that a clear insight into the physiology of the machine may be obtained,—will prepare one to meet accidents, armed with the knowledge which vanquishes all difficulties. Reflecting on probable or possible mishaps, and calculating what is best to be done under all contingencies that can be conceived, prepare a man to act promptly when a breakdown occurs.

METHODS OF PROMOTION ON OUR LEADING ROADS.

In the method of promotion of firemen, considerable diversity of practice is followed by the different railroads. On certain roads, with well-established business, and little fluctuation of traffic, firemen begin work on switch engines, and are promoted by seniority, or by selection through the various grades of freight trains, thence to passenger service, from whence they emerge as incipient engineers. A more common practice, and one almost invariably followed in the West, is for firemen to begin as extra men, in place of firemen who are sick or lying off. From firing extra, they get advanced, if found competent and deserving, to regular engines. Then, step by step, they go ahead to the best paying runs, till their turn for being “set up” comes round. Passenger engines are not fired by any but experienced men, but the oldest firemen do not always claim passenger-runs. For learning the business of engine-running, freight service is considered most valuable; and many ambitious firemen prefer the hard work of a freight engine on this account.

NATURE OF EXAMINATION TO BE PASSED.

When a fireman has obtained the experience that recommends him for promotion, on nearly all well-regulated roads he is subjected to some form of examination before being put in charge of an engine. In some cases this examination is quite thorough. The tendency to require firemen to pass such an ordeal is extending, and its beneficial effect upon the men is unquestioned. The usual form of examination is, for officers connected with the locomotive department to question the candidate for promotion on matters relating to the management of the locomotive, and how he would proceed in the event of certain mishaps befalling the engine. Parties belonging to the traffic department propound questions relating to road-rules, train-rights, understanding of time-card, and so on.

MASTER MECHANICS ON THE BEST METHOD OF EDUCATING YOUNG MEN FOR ENGINEERS.

The Master Mechanics’ Association appointed a committee to investigate the “best manner of educating young men for locomotive engineers,” and the following report was made:—

“Considering this subject to be of vital importance to the Association, and to the public in general, and that proper care and attention have not been given to it in the past, the committee have spared no pains to get all the information they possibly could on this subject, knowing and feeling that men selected to fill the responsible position of locomotive engineers must possess faculties, that, as a general thing, do not belong to all the human race; and, as locomotive engineers have to be selected from the ranks of firemen, they feel that due care and caution should be exercised in selecting young men for firemen. Now, to arrive at a proper conclusion,—one that would be satisfactory to the Association and to the railways of the country,—your committee sent circulars to all the master mechanics in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. We sent out five hundred and thirty-two circulars, to which we received seventy-six replies; being an average of one answer to every seven sent. Many of these replies contain very valuable information, and were from many of the leading roads of this country, Canada, and Mexico. Your committee beg leave to return thanks for the answers to their circular.

“The opinions given us by the different master mechanics who replied, were as follows: Five recommended that none but machinists should be locomotive engineers; nineteen thought that nothing more was needed than to have a young man fire from three to four years with good, competent engineers, to make him a good runner; fifty-two thought that one year in the shop and round-house, with two to three years’ firing, was necessary to make a competent engineer; many recommended that young men, while firing, read and study books that would give them a general knowledge of the locomotive, such as Forney’s Catechism of the Locomotive, and several other works of that kind. Many of the replies admitted that machinists would make the best runners if they would consent to fire one year after having learned their trade, as they would then have the advantage of knowing all about the construction of the locomotive. Of course, when speaking of that class of men, they meant bright, intelligent young machinists, men with nerve and energy, and quick to act in cases of emergency. Of course, there are some who would never make engineers, no matter what opportunities were given them. If young men of this kind would consent to run one year or more as firemen, we could select our locomotive engineers from among that class; but they will not do it, from the belief that they are just as competent to run a locomotive as the best engineer on the road for which they are working: and, if they are given an opportunity to run an engine, they are certain to make a failure. This being the fact, we are compelled to select our engineers from among the ranks of the firemen, as the best and safest runners. Now, this being the class of men from which we have to select our engineers, some uniform mode of instructing them for the responsible position that many of them will have to fill in the future, will have to be adopted by the different railroads in America. Your committee would therefore recommend the following:—

“All master mechanics should have full control of the engineers and firemen in the employ of their respective roads, with full power to hire and discharge the same,—of course, recognizing the rights that the general managers or superintendents have to order the discharge of any engineer or fireman for neglect of duty.

“1st, The qualifications for the position of fireman on all the railways in America should be as follows: The applicant should be from eighteen to twenty-four years old, able-bodied, and in good health, with a good common-school education, and a fair knowledge of arithmetic, and of sober and steady habits. All applicants should be required to make application in their own handwriting, signing it in the presence of the master mechanic, or the person he may appoint to hire that class of men. In selecting men for firemen, great care should be exercised. The master mechanic should endeavor, so far as lies in his power, to select energetic, smart, and active young men,—men of nerve, and presence of mind, quick to act in cases of emergency which may occur in the position they may be selected to fill in the future. If we select men of that kind, there will be very little difficulty in educating them up to the proper standard to fill the place of engineers.

“2d, There should be three grades of firemen, classed as junior, intermediate, and senior firemen,—the young man just commencing, to be classed as junior fireman, and so on up to senior fireman; the senior fireman receiving the highest pay for his services, the others in proportion. When a fireman has fired four years, and is worthy of promotion, and fully competent to run a locomotive, there may be no vacancies in the engineer force on the road by which he may be employed. In that case we recommend that he receive a small amount more per day than the senior fireman (say from fifteen to twenty cents per day more), and be ranked as veteran fireman. On the road which one of your committee represents in this convention, this custom has been in vogue for a number of years, and has worked exceedingly well. All the engineers on this road have been educated under this rule, and to-day no engineers in the country rank higher than they do.

“Proper care should be taken, in selecting young men for firemen, as to their ability to distinguish colors in a practicable, common-sense way. We recommend that all railroads having a sufficient number of employés to justify them in so doing, have a reading-room and library for their firemen and engineers, in which the other employés could participate. The library, to some extent, should consist of works on the locomotive engine that a man with a fair education could understand. While we do not think it essentially necessary, still we believe it would be beneficial to some extent to let firemen work one year out of the four in the shop and round-house, so that they might obtain a more perfect knowledge of all the parts of the locomotive.

“Young men consisting of the class we have mentioned, are certain to make good runners; and there will be no difficulty, at the proper time, in selecting good junior engineers from among that class of men. All opportunities possible should be given firemen to get such knowledge of the theory and movements of the different parts of the locomotive as would be beneficial to them when they enter on their career as engineers. To accomplish this end, monthly lectures might be given in the reading-room by men of good practical common sense, who fully understand what they are talking about. If possible, these lectures should be given by one of the engineers. The firemen would learn more from him, as they would better understand what he was saying; he having formerly been one of them.

“Your committee is convinced, that, if the mode recommended by them is adopted generally throughout the country, a large majority, if not all, of the firemen, would be educated to a point from which there would be no difficulty in selecting men who will make good and reliable engineers.

“3d, The fireman now being competent to run a locomotive, and being placed in charge of one, has yet some few things to learn that he did not have the opportunity of learning, from the fact that he was not running the engine. While he may run carefully, and avoid accidents, he has to learn to run his engine with economy in the consumption of fuel and the cost of repairs. To learn this, and to give the young engineer an opportunity to become a first-class man in his occupation, we recommend there be three grades of engineers,—first, second, and third grades,—and that the remuneration they receive be according to grade; the fireman just promoted ranking in the third grade; after one year’s service he enters the second grade; when two years have passed, he enters the first grade, and becomes a first-class locomotive engineer.”

CHAPTER III.
INSPECTION OF THE LOCOMOTIVE.

LOCOMOTIVE INSPECTORS.

On railroads where the system of “long runs” for locomotives prevails, there is a locomotive inspector employed, whose duty it is to thoroughly examine every available point about every engine that arrives at his station, and find out what repairs are needed, and to detect the incipient defects which lead to disaster on the road. Some roads that do not practice long runs have an inspector who examines every engine. This plan is very effectually used on the elevated railroads of New York, and has much to do with the immunity from accident of their engines. These inspectors are not employed to exempt engineers from looking over their engines, but merely to supplement their care. In some cases engineers are brought sharply to task if they overlook any important defect which is discovered by the inspector.

GOOD ENGINEERS INSPECT THEIR OWN ENGINES.

The engineer who has a liking for his work, and takes pride in making his engine perform its part, so as to show the highest possible record, does not require the fear of an inspector behind him as an incentive to properly examine his engine, and keep it in the best running-order. He recognizes the fact, that upon systematic and regular inspection of the engine while at rest, depends in a great measure his success as a runner, and his exemption from trouble.

WHAT COMES OF NEGLECTING SYSTEMATIC INSPECTION OF LOCOMOTIVES.

The man who habitually neglects the business of inspecting his engine, and leaves to luck his chances of getting over the road safely, soon finds that the worst kind of luck is always overtaking him on the road. A careful man may have a run of bad luck occasionally, but the careless man meets with nothing else. Among a great many men who have failed as runners, I can recall numerous cases where carelessness about the engine was the only and direct cause which led them to failure. One of the most successful engineers that ever pulled a throttle on the Erie Railroad was asked by a young runner to what cause he attributed his extraordinary good fortune. His reply was, “I never went out without giving my engine a good inspection.” This man had been running nearly half a century, and never needed to have his engine hauled to the round-house.

CONFIDENCE ON THE ROAD DERIVED FROM INSPECTION.

When a locomotive is thundering over a road ahead of a heavy train in which may be hundreds of human beings, the engineer ought to understand that the safety of this freight of lives depends to a great extent upon his care and foresight. As the train rushes through darkened cuttings, spans giddy bridges, or rounds curves edged by deep chasms, no one can understand better than the engineer the importance of having every nut and bolt about the engine in good condition, and in its proper place. The consciousness that every thing is right, the knowledge that a thorough inspection at the beginning of the journey proved the locomotive to be in perfect condition, give a wonderful degree of comfort and confidence to the engineer as he urges his train along at the best speed of the engine.

INSPECTION ON THE PIT.

Between the time of an engine’s return from one trip and its preparation for another, a thorough examination of all the machinery and running-gear should be made while the engine is standing over a pit. Monkey-wrench in one hand, and a torch in the other if necessary, the engineer ought to enter the pit at the head of the engine, and make the inspection systematically. The engine-truck, with all its connections, comes in for the first scrutiny. Now is the time to guard against the loss of bolts or screws, which leads to the loss of oil-box cellars on the road. This is also the proper time to examine the condition of the oil-box packing. The engineers of my acquaintance who are most successful in getting trains over the road on time, attend to the packing of the truck-boxes themselves. Nothing is more annoying on the road than hot boxes. They are a fruitful source of delay and danger, and nothing is better calculated to prevent such troubles than good packing and clear oil-holes. The shop-men who are kept for attending to this work are sometimes careless. They can hardly be expected to feel so strongly impressed with the importance of having boxes well packed as the engineer, who will be blamed for any delay. He should, therefore, know from personal inspection that the work is properly done.

When the engineer is satisfied that the truck, pilot-braces, center-castings, and all their connections, are in proper condition, he passes on to the motion. His trained eye scans every bolt, nut, and key in search of defects. The eccentrics are examined, to see that set screws and keys are all tight. Men who have wrestled over the setting of eccentrics on the road are not likely to forget this part. Eccentric-straps are another point of solicitude. A broken eccentric-strap is a very common cause of break-down, and these straps very seldom break through weakness or defect of the casting. In nearly all cases the break occurs through loss of bolts, or on account of oil-passages getting stopped up. The links are carefully gone over, then the wedges and pedestal braces come in for an examination which brings the assurance that no bolts are missing, or wedge-bolts loose. Passing along, the careful engineer finds many points that claim his attention; and, when he gets through, he feels comfortably certain that no trouble from that part of the engine will be experienced during the coming trip. The runners who do not follow this practice are not aware of how much there is to be seen under a locomotive when the examination is undertaken in a comprehensive manner.

OUTSIDE INSPECTION.

In going round the outside of the engine, the most important points for examination are the guides and the rods. Guide-bolts, rod-bolts, and keys, with the set screws of the latter, are the minutiæ most likely to give trouble if neglected. In going about the engine oiling, or for any other purpose, it is a good thing to get in the habit of searching for defects. When a man trains himself to do this, it is surprising how natural it comes to make running inspections. As he oils the eccentric-straps, he sees every bolt and nut within sight; as he drops some oil on the rods, he identifies the condition of the keys, set screws, or bolts; while oiling the driving-boxes, the springs can be conveniently examined; and, when he reaches the engine-trucks with the oil-can, he is sure to be casting his searching eyes over the portions of the running-gear within sight.

OIL-CUPS.

The oil-cups should be carefully examined, to see that they are in good feeding-order. A great many feeders have been invented, which guarantee to supply oil automatically; but I have never yet seen the cup which could long dispense with personal attention. And this does not apply to locomotives alone, but to all kinds of machinery. The worst sort of oil-cup will perform its functions fairly in the hands of a capable man, and the most pretentious cup will soon cease to lubricate regularly if the engineer neglects it. The oil-cups should be cleaned out at regular intervals: for mud, cinders, and dust work in; and they sometimes retain glutinous matter from the oil, which forms a sticky mixture that prevents the oil from running. The eccentric-strap cups and the tops of the driving-boxes should receive similar attention.

In looking round an engine, it is a good plan to watch the different oil-cups to see that they are not working loose. Many cups that are strewed over the country could be saved by a little more attention. A cup flying off a rod when an engine is running fast becomes a dangerous projectile. I have known several cases where cups went back through the cab-window. I have also seen several cases where cups worked off the guides or cross-head, and got between the guides, doing serious damage. One instance was that of an engine out on the trial-trip. It smashed the cross-head to pieces, and let the piston through the cylinder-head.

INSPECTION OF RUNNING-GEAR.

A sharp tap with a hammer on the tread of the cast-iron wheel will produce a clear, ringing sound if the wheel is in good order. The drivers can generally be effectively inspected by the eye. If oil be observed working out between the wheel and axle, attention is demanded; for the wheel may be getting loose. Moisture and dirt issuing from between the tire and wheel indicate that the former is becoming loose, and this is a common occurrence when the tires are worn thin. When a wheel is running so that the flange is cutting itself on the rail, something is wrong, which also demands immediate attention. Oblique travel of wheels may be produced by various causes. If the axles of the driving-wheels are not secured at right angles to the frames, and parallel with each other, the wheels will run tangentially to the track, according to the inclination of the axles. Violent strains or concussions, such as result from engines jumping the track about switches, sometimes spring the frames, and twist the axle-box jaws away from their true position enough to cause cutting of flanges without disabling the engine. Tires wearing unevenly in consequence of one being harder than the other, produce a similar effect. Where there are movable wedges forward and aft of the boxes, the wheels are often thrown out of square by unskillful manipulation of these wedges. Engineers running engines of this kind should leave the forward wedges alone. Sometimes the center-pin of the engine-truck gets moved from the true central position, leading the drivers towards the ditch. Diagnosing the cause of wheel-cutting is no simple matter, and it is a wise plan for engineers to allow the shop-men to devise a remedy.

ATTENTIONS TO THE BOILER.

On our well-regulated roads, engineers are not required to inspect their boilers; as expert boiler-makers, who can readily detect a broken stay-bolt, or broken brace, have to make periodical examinations. But a prudent engineer will keep a sharp lookout for indications that show weak points about any part of the boiler or fire-box. This department can not receive too much vigilance. A seam or stay-bolt leaking is a sign of distress, and should receive immediate attention. Leaks under the jacket should never be neglected, although they are hard to reach; for they may proceed from the beginning of a dangerous rupture. A leak starting in the boiler-head should make the engineer ascertain that none of the longitudinal braces have broken. I once had some rivet-heads on my boiler-head start leaking, and presently the water-glass broke. After shutting off the cocks, I found that the boiler-head was bulged out. I reduced the pressure on the boiler as quickly as possible. When the boiler was inspected, it was found that two of the longitudinal braces were broken, and the head-sheet was bent out two inches.

MISCELLANEOUS ATTENTIONS.

If an engineer is going to take out an engine the first time after it has been in the shop for repairs, it is a good plan to examine the tank to see if the workmen have left it free from bagging, greasy waste, and other impediments, which are not conducive to the free action of pumps or injectors. Keeping the tank clean at all times saves no end of trouble through derangement to feeding-apparatus. The smoke-box door should be opened regularly, and the petticoat-pipe and cone examined. These things wear out by use, and it is better to have them renewed or repaired before they break down on the road. A cone dropping down through failure of the braces makes a troublesome accident on the road. I have known of several cabs being badly damaged by fire through the cone dropping down, and closing up the stack. Where engines have extended smoke-boxes, the nettings and deflectors must be inspected at frequent intervals.

REWARD OF THOROUGH INSPECTION.

To go over an engine in the manner indicated, requires perseverance and industry. The work will, however, bring its full reward to every man who practices the care and watchfulness entailed by regular and systematic inspection. It is the sure road to success. He who regards his work from a higher plane than that of mere labor well done, will experience satisfaction from the knowledge, that, understanding the nobility of his duties, he performed them with the vigor and intelligence worthy of his responsible calling.

CHAPTER IV.
GETTING READY FOR THE ROAD.

RAISING STEAM.

It used to be the universal custom, that, when an engine arrived from a trip, the fire was drawn, and the engine put into the round-house for ten or twelve hours before another run was undertaken. During this period of inaction, the boiler partly cooled down. When the engine was wanted again, a new fire was started in time to raise steam. The system of long runs, introduced on many roads, has changed this; and engines are now generally kept hot, unless they have to be cooled down for washing out, or repairs. When an engine comes in off a trip, the fire is cleaned from clinker and dead cinders, and the clean fire banked. It is found that this plan keeps the temperature of the boiler more uniform than is possible with the cooling-down practice, and that the fire-box sheets are not so liable to crack, or the tubes to become leaky.

Where it is still the habit to draw the fire at the end of each trip, a supply of good wood is kept on hand for raising steam. To raise steam from a cold boiler, some theorists recommend the starting of a fire mild enough to raise the temperature about twenty degrees an hour. The exigencies of railroad service prevent this slow method from being practicable, and the ordinary practice is to raise steam as promptly as possible when it is wanted.

PRECAUTIONS AGAINST SCORCHING BOILERS.

The first consideration before starting a fire in a locomotive, is to ascertain that the boiler contains the proper quantity of water. The men who attend to the starting of fires should be instructed not to depend upon the water-glass for the level of the water, but to see that it runs out of the gauge-cocks. I have known several cases where boilers were burned through those firing up being deceived by a false show of water in the glass, and starting the fire when the boiler was empty. If the boiler has been filled with water through the feed-pipes by the round-house hose, care should be taken to see that the check-valves are not stuck up. Where there is sand in the water, it frequently happens, that, in filling up with a hose, all the valves get sanded, and do not close properly. When there is steam on the boiler, this source of danger will generally be indicated at once by the steam and water blowing back into the tank; but, where the boiler is cold, the water flows back so silently and slowly, that the crown-sheet may be dry before the peril is discovered.

STARTING THE FIRE.

The water being found or made right, the next consideration is the grates. Before throwing in the wood, all loose clinkers left upon the grates should be cleaned off: care should be taken, to see that the grates are in good condition, and connected with the shaker levers. This is also the time to see that no accumulation of cinders is left on the brick arch, the water-table, or in the combustion chamber, should the engine be provided with either of these appliances. In starting the fire, it is considered the best plan to put enough wood in the fire-box to raise sufficient steam to operate the blower before the fire needs replenishing. To do the job in a clean, workman-like manner, the fire should be started from below: otherwise every part of the cab will be veneered with soot and dust, and the bright work tarnished.

FIREMAN’S FIRST DUTIES.

On most roads, the engineer and fireman are required to be at their engine from fifteen minutes to half an hour before train-time. A good fireman will reach the engine in time to perform his preliminary duties deliberately and well. He will have the dust brushed off from the cab-furnishing, and from the conspicuous parts of the engine, the deck swept clean, the coal watered, and the oil-cans ready for the engineer. His fire is attended to, and its make-up regulated,—the kind of coal used, the train to be pulled, and the character of the road on the start. With an easy or down grade, for a mile or two on the start, the fire does not need to be so well made up as when the start is made on a heavy pull. But every intelligent fireman gets to understand in a few weeks just what kind of a fire is needed. It is the capability of perceiving this and other matters promptly, that distinguishes a good from an indifferent fireman. When a young fireman possesses these “true workman” perceptions, and is of an industrious, aspiring disposition, anxious to become master of his calling, he will prove a reliable help to the engineer; and his careful attention to the work will insure comfort and success on every trip. There must be a certain amount of work done on the engine, to get a train along; and, if the fireman can not do his part efficiently, it will fall upon the engineer, who must get it done somehow.

SAVING THE GRATES.

An important duty, which is never neglected by first-class firemen, before taking the engine away from the round-house, is that of looking to the grates, and seeing that the ash-pan is clean. When grates get burned, in nine cases out of ten it happens through neglecting the ash-pan. Some varieties of bituminous coal have an inveterate tendency to burn the grates. Such coal usually contains an excess of sulphur, which has a strong affinity for iron, and at certain temperatures unites with the surface of the grates, forming a sulphuret of iron. Neglecting the ash-pan, and letting hot ashes accumulate, prepares the way for bad coal to act on the grates. Keeping the ash-pan clear of hot ashes is the best thing that can be done to save grates, since that prevents the iron from becoming hot enough to combine with sulphur.

SUPPLIES.

Before starting out, the fireman ought to ascertain that all the supplies necessary for the trip are in the boxes; that the requisite flags, lanterns, and other signals are on hand, and that all the lamps are trimmed. He should also know to a certainty that all his fire-irons are on the tender, that the latter is full of water, and that the sand-box is full of sand.

These look like numerous duties as preliminary to starting, but they are all necessary; and the fireman who attends to them all with the greatest regularity, will be valued accordingly. Nearly all firemen are ambitious to become engineers. The best method they can pursue, to show that they are deserving of promotion, is to perform their own duties regularly and well. A first-class fireman will save his wages each trip over the expenditure made by the mediocre fireman: a persistently bad fireman should be sent to another calling without delay. Few railroad companies can afford the extravagance of a set of bad firemen.

ENGINEER’S FIRST DUTIES.

Try the water. That is the most important call upon the engineer when he first enters the cab. If the engine has a glass water-gauge, he should ascertain by the gauge-cocks if the water-level shown in the glass be correct. A water-glass is a great convenience on the road, but it should only be relied on as an auxiliary to the gauge-cocks. Many engineers have come to grief through reposing too implicit confidence in the water-glass. Engineer Williams was considered one of the most reliable men on the A. & B. road. With an express train he started out on time one morning; and he had run only two miles when the boiler went up in the air, with fatal results to both occupants of the cab. An examination of the wreck showed unmistakable evidence of overheated sheets. Circumstantial evidence indicated that the glass had deceived the engineer by a false water-level. When he pulled out, the fire-box sheets, which were of copper, became weakened by the heat, so that the crown-sheet gave way; the re-action of the released steam tearing the boiler to pieces. Numerous less serious accidents originating from the same cause might be cited.

REACHING HIS ENGINE IN GOOD SEASON.

An engineer who has a proper interest in his work, and thoroughly appreciates the importance of it, will reach his engine in time to perform the duties of getting her ready for the road leisurely, without rush or hurry. Although a good fireman may relieve the engineer of many preliminary duties, the engineer himself should be certain that the necessary supplies and tools are on the engine, and that water is in the tank, and the sand-box filled.

OILING THE MACHINERY.

Oiling the machinery is such an important part of an engineer’s work, and the success of a fast run is so dependent upon this being properly done, that it should never be performed hurriedly. Although practice with short stoppages at stations may have got an engineer into the way of rushing round an engine, and oiling at express-speed, it is no reason why the first oiling of the trip should not be carefully and deliberately attended to when there is an opportunity. In addition to filling oil-cups, lubricators, and oil-boxes, this is a good time to complete the inspection, which assures the engineer that every thing about the engine is in proper running-order. When any thing in the way of repairs has been done to the engine since she came off the last trip, special attention has generally to be given to the parts worked at. New wheels require close care with the packing of the boxes; rod-brasses reduced entail an additional supply of oil to the pins for the first few miles; guides closed should insure a free supply of oil till it is found that the cross-heads run cool.

QUANTITY OF OIL THAT DIFFERENT BEARINGS NEED.

While oiling, the engineer should bear in mind that it is of paramount importance that the rubbing-surfaces receive lubrication sufficient to keep them from heating; but, while making sure that no bearings shall run dry, lavish pouring of oil should be avoided. There are still too many cases to be noticed, of men pouring oil on the machinery without seeming to comprehend the exact wants. We are constantly seeing cases where oil-cups waste their measure of oil through neglect in adjusting the feeders. A steady supply, equal to the requirements, is what a well-regulated cup provides. With the ordinary quality of mineral oil, six drops will lubricate the back end of a main rod for one mile when the engine is pulling a load. This applies to eight-wheel engines on passenger service. Heavier small-wheeled engines will require a quarter more oil. Guides can be kept moist with five drops of oil to the mile. A dry, sandy road will require a more liberal supply. With good feeders, properly attended to, the supply can equal the demand with close accuracy. An oil-cup which runs out the oil faster than it is needed, wastes stores, besmears every thing with a coating of grease, and is likely to leave the rubbing-surfaces to suffer by running dry before it can be replenished. A cup in that condition also advertises the engineer to be incompetent.

LEAVING THE ENGINE-HOUSE.

Before moving the engine out of the house, the cylinder-cocks should be opened so that water, or the steam condensed in warming the pipes and steam-chest, may escape. After ringing the bell, and giving workmen employed about the engine time to get out of the way, the throttle should be opened a little, and the engine moved out slowly and carefully. If there is a sufficient pressure of steam in the boiler, and the engine refuses to move, something is wrong. Never force an engine. Any work which may have been performed upon it while in the house will probably indicate the nature of the defect. The most common cause of stalling engines in the house is a miscalculation of the piston-travel, permitting it to push against the cylinder-head. Sometimes, however, the setting of the valves is at fault. I knew a case where the machinist connected the backing-up eccentric-strap with the top of the link, and the mistake was not discovered till they attempted to move the engine out of the house. Another blunder, the result of gross carelessness, was where a cold chisel was left in the steam-chest. But a more representative case was that which happened to Engineer Amos, on the B. & C. road. His engine had the piston-packing set up; and the following morning, when he tried to take it out of the house, it would not pass a certain point. Thinking that the packing was set up rather tight, he backed for a start, determined to make it go over on the run. He succeeded, too, but a hammer which had been left in the cylinder went out through the cover.

While running from the round-house to the train, is a good time to carefully watch the working of the various parts of the engine. Should any defects exist, they are better to be detected now than after the engine is out with a train. The brakes can be tested conveniently at this time, and the working of the water-pumps tried. All these matters are regularly attended to by the successful engineer: they are habitually neglected by the unlucky man, and misfortune never loses sight of him.

CHAPTER V.
RUNNING A FAST FREIGHT TRAIN.

RUNNING FREIGHT TRAINS.

By far the greater proportion of American locomotive engineers are employed on freight service. On most roads, the freight engines constitute from seventy-five to ninety per cent of the whole locomotive equipment. On this kind of service, locomotive engineers learn their business by years of hard practice in getting trains over the road as nearly as possible on time. On the best of roads, there is much hardship to be undergone, working ahead through every discouragement of bad weather or hard-steaming engines. The man who brings the most energy, good sense, and perseverance to his aid, will come out most successfully above these difficulties.

Every department of locomotive engine running has difficulties peculiar to itself. Every kind of train needs to be handled understandingly, to show the best results; but, I think, getting a heavy fast freight train on time, over a hilly road, having a single track, requires the highest degree of locomotive engineering skill. Therefore, I have selected that form of train as the first subject of description.

THE ENGINE.

The engine that takes the train over the road weighs 35 tons, and has 1,100 square feet of heating-surface for generating steam for cylinders 17 by 24 inches, which, through the pistons, transmit power to wheels 60 inches diameter. The engine is an ordinary eight-wheeled bituminous coal-burning American type of locomotive, built by one of our best makers, and well adapted for pulling any kind of train over a Western railroad.

THE TRAIN.

This consists of 20 loaded cars, making an aggregate weight of 450 tons.

THE DIVISION.

The physical character of the country, which is rolling prairie, makes the road undulatory,—up hill, then down grade, with occasional stretches of level track. Some of the gradients rise to sixty feet to the mile, extending over two miles without sagging a foot. Sound steel rails, well tied, are supported by a graveled road-bed, making an excellent track, and presenting a good opportunity for fast running where high speed is needed. The train is run on card-time, stopping about every twelve miles. Like all other Western roads, the stations are unprotected by signals; and the safety of trains is secured mostly by vigilance on the part of the engineer and other train-men.

PULLING OUT.

When the engineer gets the signal to go, he drops the reverse lever into the full forward notch, gives the engine steam gently, with due care to avoid breaking couplings, and pulls the sand-lever. A slight sprinkling of sand only is dropped on the rails, which keeps the engine from slipping while getting the train under way. A clear, level fire is burning over the grates before the start is made, and this suffices till the most crowded switches are passed: so, when the signal to start is given, the fireman closes the fire-door, and opens the damper; these duties not preventing him from keeping a lookout for signals.

HOOKING BACK THE LINKS.

As the engine gets the train into motion, the engineer gradually hooks up the links. This is not done by a sudden jerk as soon as the engine will move, with the steam cutting off short. He waits for that till the train is well under the control of the engine, hooking up gradually. Some men think that it is best to get the valves up to short travel as soon as possible, without reflecting that it is better for the motion to let the engine be going freely before hooking up short. I have often seen men coming into terminal stations with a heavy fire and the safety-valves blowing, and the engine toiling slowly along with the links hooked up to eight inches cut. In cases of this kind, a runner may better work the engine well down, so that the valve will travel freely over the seat. By doing so when the engine is working slow and heavy, there will be less wear to the valves, and less danger of breaking a valve yoke. It is only in cases where there is an advantage in saving steam, that benefit is derived from working the engine close hooked back. There is a right time for all things, and working steam expansively is no exception to the rule.

WORKING THE STEAM EXPANSIVELY.

At the right time, our engineer gets the reverse lever notched up; for he knows, that to obtain the greatest amount of work out of the engine, with the least possible expenditure of fuel, the links must be hooked back as far as can be done consistently with making the required speed. Some engines will not steam freely when run close back if they are burning coal that needs a strong draught. This is the exception, however, and most engines will steam best in this position; and many of those that fail to steam well cutting off short are not properly fired, or the draught appliances need adjusting. Most firemen who run with a heavy fire fail worst with engines that steam indifferently when hooked up. Engineers should give this their attention, and do every thing possible to make the engine steam while working with the lever as near the center notch as can be done while handling the train.

ADVANTAGE OF CUTTING OFF SHORT.

When the links are notched close towards the center, the travel of the valves is so short that they close the steam-ports shortly after the beginning of the stroke, at six, nine, or twelve inches of the piston’s travel, as the case may be, permitting the steam to push the piston along the remainder of the stroke by its expansive power. Steam at a high pressure is as full of potential energy as a compressed spiral spring, and is equally ready to stretch itself out when the closing of the port imprisons it inside the cylinder; and, by this act of expanding, it exerts immense useful energy, which would escape into the smoke-stack unutilized if the cylinders were left in communication with the boiler till the release took place. Suppose, for instance, that a boiler pressure of ten tons is exerted upon the piston from the beginning to the middle of the stroke, and is then cut off. During the remainder of the stroke, the steam will continue to press upon the piston with a regularly diminishing force, till, at the end of the stroke, if release does not take place earlier, it will still have a pressure of five tons. The work performed by the steam during the latter part of the stroke is pure gain, due to its expansive principle. If the steam is cut off earlier, at a third or fourth of the piston travel, the gain will be correspondingly great. With the slide-valve link-motion used on locomotives, the steam can not be held to the end of the stroke; but the principle of expansion holds good during the period the steam is held in the cylinders after the cut-off.

The observing engineer of any experience does not require to have the advantages of working his engine expansively impressed upon his attention. His fuel-record has done that more eloquently than pen can write.

BOILER PRESSURE BEST FOR ECONOMICAL WORKING.

There is a close and constant relation between the boiler pressure carried, and the useful work obtained from expansion of steam. The higher the pressure, the greater elasticity the steam possesses. The tendency of modern steam engineering is, to employ intensely high boiler pressure, expanding the steam by means of excellent valve-gear in steam-jacketed cylinders, so that it is reduced to low tension before escaping into the atmosphere, or into the condenser, as the case may be. Wonderfully economical results have been obtained in this manner,—results which can never be approached in locomotive practice while the ordinary slide-valve is used. But, while we can not hope to rival the record of high-class automatic cut-off engines, their methods can teach us useful lessons.

It is advisable to keep the steam constantly close to the blowing-off point. During a day’s trip, considerably less water will be evaporated when a tension of 140 pounds is carried, than will be required with a pressure of 100 pounds or under. And, where less water is evaporated, a smaller quantity of fuel will be consumed in doing the work. Running with a low head of steam is a wasteful practice, for several good reasons. The comparatively light pressure upon the surface of the water allows the steam to pass over damp, or mixed with a light watery spray, which diminishes its energy; since the wet steam contains less expansive medium than dry steam. It requires nearly the same expenditure of fuel to evaporate water at the pressure of the atmosphere alone, that it does to make steam at the higher working tensions: consequently, the work obtained by the expansion of the high-pressed steam is clear gain over the results to be obtained by working at a low pressure. This is a very important principle in economical steam engineering. Engineers who are accustomed to making long runs between water-tanks, when every gallon is needed to carry them through, know that their sure method of getting over the dry division successfully, is to carry steam close to the popping-point, pull the throttle wide open, hug the links close to the center, and see that no loss occurs through the safety-valves.

RUNNING WITH LOW STEAM.

There are engineers who habitually carry merely sufficient steam to get them along on time, under the mistaken belief that they are working economically. John Brown runs steadily, and takes as good care of his engine as any man on the A. & B. road; but he dislikes to hear the steam escaping from the safety-valves, and prevents it from doing so by habitually using steam thirty pounds below the blowing-pressure. The consequence is, that he always makes a bad record on the coal-list, compared with the other passenger men.

THE THROTTLE-LEVER.

In the interest of economy, the throttle-lever should be kept wide open when practicable, and the speed regulated by the reverse-lever. Experiments with the indicator have demonstrated beyond a doubt, that running with the throttle-valve partly closed, wire-draws the steam before it reaches the cylinders, whereby the initial pressure is materially reduced, and its power for expansive work seriously diminished.

MANAGEMENT OF THE FIRE.

The engine has moved only a few rods from the depot when the steam shows indications of blowing off; and then the fireman sets to work,—not to pile a heap of coal indiscriminately into the fire-box. That is the style of the dunce whose natural avocation is grubbing stumps. Ours is a model train, and a model fireman furnishes the power to keep it going. He throws in four or five shovelfuls at each firing, scattering the coal along the sides of the fire-box, shooting a shower close to the flue-sheet, and dropping the required quantity under the door. With the quick intuition of a man thoroughly master of his business, our model fireman perceives at a glance, on opening the door, where the thinnest spots are; and they are promptly bedded over. The glowing, incandescent mass of fire, which shines with a blinding light that rivals the sun’s rays, dazzles the eyes of the novice, who sees in the fire-box only a chaotic gleam; but the experienced fireman looks into the resplendent glare, and reads its needs or its perfections. The fire is maintained nearly level; but the coal is supplied so that the sides and corners are well filled, for there the liability to drawing air is most imminent. With this system closely followed, there is no difficulty experienced in keeping up a steady head of steam. But constant attention must be bestowed upon his work by the fireman. From the time he reaches the engine, until the hostler takes charge at the end of the journey, he attends to his work, and to that alone; and by this means he has earned the reputation of being one of the best firemen on the road. His rule is, to keep the fire up equal to the work the engine has to do, never letting it run low before being replenished, never throwing in more coal than the keeping up of steam calls for. The coal is broken up moderately fine, a full supply being prepared before the fire-door is opened; and every shovelful is scattered in a thin shower over the fire,—never pitched down on one spot. Some men never acquire the art of scattering the coal as it leaves the shovel; and, as a result, they never succeed in making an engine steam regularly. Their fire consists of a series of coal-heaps. Under these heaps, clinkers are prematurely formed; and between them spaces are created, through which cold air comes, and rushes straight for the flues, without assimilating with the gases of combustion, as every breath of air which enters the fire-box ought to do.

CONDITIONS THAT DEMAND GOOD FIRING.

Roads that are hilly require far more skillful management to get a train along than is called for on level roads, and the greater part of the extra dexterity is needed from the fireman. To get a heavy train up a steep hill, it is generally run at a high speed before reaching the grade, so that the momentum of the train can be utilized in climbing the ascent. Running for a hill is a particularly trying time on the fireman; for the engine is rushing at a high speed, and often working heavily. This ordeal must be prepared for in advance, by having the fire well made up, and kept at its heaviest by frequent firing. When the engine gets right on to the grade, toiling up with decreasing speed, every pound of steam is needed to save doubling, and steady watchfulness is required to prevent a relapse of steam; but the danger of the engine “turning” the fire is not nearly so great as it was when running fast for the hill.

HIGHEST TYPE OF FIREMAN.

The highest type of fireman is one, who, with the smallest quantity of fuel, can keep up a good head of steam without wasting any by the safety-valves. He endeavors to strike this mean of success by keeping an even fire; but it sometimes happens, that the closest care will not prevent the steam from showing indications of blowing off. When this is the case, he keeps it back by closing the dampers, or, if that is not sufficient, opens the door a few inches. Immense harm is done to flues and fire-boxes by injudicious firing.

SCIENTIFIC METHODS OF GOOD FIREMEN.

It is not necessary that a man should be deeply read in natural philosophy, to understand intimately what are actually the scientific laws of the business of firing. Mr. Lothian Bell, the eminent metallurgist, somewhere expresses high admiration for the exact scientific methods attained in their work by illiterate puddlers. Although they knew nothing about chemical combinations or processes, they manipulated the molten mass so that, with the least possible labor, the iron was separated from its impurities. In a similar way, firemen skillful in their calling have, by a process of induction, learned the fundamental principles of heat-development. By experiments, carefully made, they perceive how the greatest head of steam can be kept up with the smallest cargo of coal; and they push their perceptions into daily practice.

If an accomplished scientist were to ride on the engine, observing the operations of a first-class fireman, he would find that nearly all the carbon of the coal combined with its natural quantity of oxygen to produce carbon dioxide, thereby giving forth its greatest heat-power; and that the hydro-carbons, the volatile gases of the coal, performed their share of calorific duty by burning with an intensely hot flame. He would find that these hydro-carbon gases, although productive of high-power duty when properly consumed, were ticklish to manage just right, for they would pass through the flues without producing flame if they were not fully supplied with air; and, if the supply of air were too liberal, it would reduce the temperature of the fire-box below the igniting-point for these gases, which is higher than red-hot iron, and they would then escape in the form of worthless smoke. Our model fireman manages to consume these gases as thoroughly as they can be consumed in a locomotive fire-box.

THE MEDIUM FIREMAN.

John Barton is considered a first-class fireman by some men. He works hard to keep up steam, and is never satisfied unless the safety valves are screaming. He carries a heavy fire all the time; and, when the pop-valves rise, he pulls the door open till they subside, gets in a few shovelfuls more coal, closes the door till the steam blows off again, and repeats the operation of throwing open the door. This man has learned only the half of his business. He has got through his head how to keep up steam, but he has not acquired the more delicate operation of keeping it down wisely and well. Training with an intelligent engineer anxious to make a good fuel-record, will, in a few months, improve Barton wonderfully. Barton is the medium fireman.

THE HOPELESSLY BAD FIREMAN.

Behind him comes Tom Jackson, the man of indiscriminately heavy firing. Tom’s sole aim is to get over the road with the least possible expenditure of personal exertion. He tumbles in a fire as if he were loading a wagon, the size of the door being his sole gauge for the lumps. When the fire-box is filled to the neighborhood of the door, he climbs up on the seat, and reclines there till the steam begins to go back through drawing air: then he gets down again, and repeats the filling-up process, intent only on getting upon the seat-box with as little delay as possible. His firing is regulated by the appearance of the smoke issuing from the stack. So long as it continues of murky blackness, he reclines in happiness: when the first streaks of transparency appear in the smoke, he becomes unhappy, but gets up, and suppresses smoke-consumption by smothering the flames with green coal. If by any chance the engine steams so freely that the safety-valves blow, the door is jerked wide open, and kept there till she cools down. So the round goes. A hot, scorching fire, which heats the sheets and flues to their highest temperature, is continually being interrupted by the sudden cooling from a heavy load of damp coal, or a chilling current of cold air. No wonder, that, with such treatment, leaky flues, weeping stay-bolts, and pouring mud-rings, make their own protests, often reiterated on the pages of round-house work-books.

WHO IS TO BLAME FOR BAD FIRING?

The destruction inflicted upon the heating-surface of locomotives by the changes of temperature due to bad firing, should be charged to the engineer. The fireman commits the havoc, but the engineer is more to blame for allowing it to be done. Engineers often permit firemen to do their work badly rather than have words about it. But this is mistaken policy. A little firmness in the start will convince the worst of firemen that they must strive to fire properly, or quit; and a man who is indisposed to do his work well, deserves his walking-papers without delay. There is no kindness in retaining a hopelessly bad fireman on an engine. As a fireman, he is a continual loss to his employers; he is no credit to his fellow-workmen; and if, by the mistaken forbearance of engineers, he ever reaches the right-hand side, he will be a reproach to the engineering fraternity.

CHAPTER VI.
GETTING UP THE HILL.

SPECIAL SKILL AND ATTENTION REQUIRED TO GET A TRAIN UP A STEEP GRADE.

In the last chapter, some details were given of the methods pursued in starting out with a heavy fast freight train. Where a train of that kind has to climb heavy grades, special skill and attention are needed in making the ascent successfully.

GETTING READY FOR THE GRADE.

The track for the first two miles from the starting-point is nearly level, permitting the engineer and fireman to get ready for a long pull not far distant. At the second mile-post a light descending grade is reached, which lasts one mile, and is succeeded by an ascending grade two and a half miles long, rising fifty-five feet to the mile.

WORKING UP THE HILL.

At the top of the descending grade, the engineer shuts off the steam while the fireman oils the valves: then he puts on a little steam, using a light throttle while the train is increasing in speed, until the base of the ascent is nearly reached, when he gets the throttle full open, letting the engine do its best work in the first notch off the center. By this time the train is swinging along thirty miles an hour, and is well on to the hill before the engine begins to feel its load. Decrease of speed is just becoming perceptible when the valve-travel gets the benefit of another notch, and the engine pulls at its load with renewed vigor. But soon the steepness of the ascent asserts itself in the laboring exhausts; and the reverse-lever is advanced another notch, to prevent the speed from getting below the velocity at which the engine is capable of holding the train on this grade. While the engineer is careful to maintain the speed within the power of his locomotive, he is also watchful not to increase the valve-travel faster than his fire can stand it; for, were he to jerk the lever two or three notches ahead at the beginning of the pull, the chances would be that he would “turn” its fire, or tear it up so badly that the steam would go back on him before he got half a mile farther on. Before the train is safe over the summit, it will probably be necessary to have the engine working down to 18 inches: but the advance to this long valve-travel is made by degrees; each increase being dependent upon, and regulated by, the speed. The quadrant is notched to give the cut-off at 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, and 21 inches. Repeated experiments, carefully watched, have convinced the engineer of this locomotive, that its maximum power is exerted in the 18-inch notch; so he never puts the lever down in the “corner” on a hill. A great many engines act differently, however, showing increased power for every notch advanced. If the cars in the train should prove easy running,—and there are great differences in cars in this respect,—it may not be necessary to hook the engine below 15 inches, or even 12 will suffice for some trains; but this can only be determined by seeing how it holds the speed in the various notches.

WHEEL-SLIPPING.

As the engine gets well on to the grade, and is exerting heavy tractive power, the wheels are liable to commence slipping; and it is very important that they should be prevented from doing so. An ounce of prevention is known to be worth a pound of cure; and it pays an engineer to assure himself that no drips from pump-glands, or feed-pipes, or cylinder-cocks, or from any other fountain, are dropping upon the rails ahead of the driving-wheels. There is no use telling an engineer of the decreased adhesion which the drivers exert on half-wet rails, from what they do on those that are clean and dry. Knowing the difference in this respect, every engineer should endeavor to prevent the wetting of the rails by leaks from his engine; for hundreds of engines get “laid down” on hills from slipping induced by this very cause.

HOW TO USE SAND.

The first consideration in this regard is to have clean, dry sand, and easy-working box-valves. Then the engineer should know how far the valves open by the distance he draws the lever. In starting from a station, or working at a point where slipping is likely to commence, the valves should be opened a little, and a slight sprinkling of sand dropped on the rails. This often serves the purpose of preventing slipping just as well as a heavy coating of sand. And it has none of the objectionable features of thick sanding. Trains often get stalled on grades by the sand-valves being allowed to run too freely. It is not an uncommon occurrence for engineers to open the valves wide, and let all the sand run upon the rails that the pipe will carry, so that a solid crust covers each rail, and every wheel on the train gets clogged with the powdered silica; and, after the train has passed over, a coating is left for the next one that comes along.

The wheels scatter their burden of powdered sand into the axle-boxes, and it grinds its way inside the rod-brasses, and part of it gets wafted upon the guides; and in all these positions it is matter decidedly in the wrong place. And this body of sand under the wheels increases the resistance in the same way, as a wagon is harder to pull among gravel than it is on a clean, hard road: the indiscreet engineer complains about the train being stiff to haul; and the chances are, that he goes twice up the hill before the whole train is got over. Uncle Toby’s plan is, when pulling on a heavy grade, to open the valve enough to let the drivers leave a slight white impression on the rails. If they slip, he gives a few particles more sand, but decreases the supply again so soon as the drivers will hold with the diminished quantity. Uncle Toby seldom needs to double a hill.

SLIPPERY ENGINES.

These remarks apply to ordinary engines with ordinary rail-conditions. Occasionally we find an engine inveterately given to slipping, and no conditions seem able to keep it down. Such an engine is as ready to whirl its wheels as an ugly mule is to kick up its heels, and upon as little provocation. With a dirty, half-wet rail, an engine of this kind loses half its power. The causes that make an engine bad for slipping are various. Very hard steel tires, or excess of cylinder power, are the most frequent causes of slipping; but badly worn tires sometimes produce a similar effect; or the blame may rest in a short-wheel base, deficient in weight, or in too flexible driving-springs. To get a slippery engine over the road when the rails are moist and dirty, requires the exercise of unmeasured patience by the engineer. Job was a cantankerous old Arab beside the engineer who passes cheerfully through this ordeal. The tendency of an engine to slip may be checked to some extent by working with the lever well ahead towards full stroke, and throttling the steam. This gives a more uniform piston-pressure than is possible while working expansively. Of two evils, it is best to choose the least. The smallest in this case is losing the benefits of expansion, and getting over the road.

FEEDING THE BOILER.

Some engineers claim that the most economical results can be obtained from an engine by running with the water as low as possible, consistent with safety. They hold, that, so long as the water is sufficiently high to cover the heating-surfaces, there is enough to make steam from; and the ample steam-room remaining above the water, assures a more perfect supply of dry steam for the cylinders than can be had from the more contracted space left above a high-water line. Old engineers, running locomotives furnished with entirely reliable feeding-apparatus, may be able to carry a low-water level advantageously, especially with light trains and level roads; but with ordinary men, average pumps or injectors, and the common run of roads, a high-water level is safest. With a high-water level the temperature of the boiler can be kept nearly uniform; for the increased volume of water holds an accumulated store of heat, which is not readily affected by the feed. And the surplus store is convenient to draw upon in making the best of a time-order, or in getting over a heavy grade. Then, if the pumps or injectors fail, a full boiler of water often enables a man to examine the delinquent feeding-apparatus, and set it going; whereas, with low water, the only resource would be to dump the fire.

CHOICE OF PUMP AND INJECTOR.

The engine on this train has one pump and one injector. The pump is preferred for ordinary feeding-purposes, and is kept graduated to supply the needs of the boiler while the engine is working, without the foot-cock being moved. On a heavy pull, the pump in this condition would not keep up the water-level; so the injector is called upon to make up the deficiency. When the engine gets upon the heavy part of the grade, it makes steam very freely; and, when the indications of getting hot appear, the injector is started. During the remainder of the ascent, the water is supplied as liberally as it can be carried; and the top of the grade finds the engine with a full boiler. This enables the engineer to preserve a tolerably even boiler temperature; for in running down the long descent which follows, where the engine runs two miles without working steam, the pump can be shut off, and sudden cooling of the boiler avoided. The preservation of flues and fire-box sheets depends very much upon the manner of feeding the water. Some men are intensely careless in this matter. In climbing a grade, they let the water run down till there is scarcely enough left to cover the crown-sheet when they reach the summit. Then they dash on the feed, and plunge cold water into the hot boiler, which is then peculiarly liable to be easily cooled down, owing to the limited quantity of hot water it contains. The fact of having the steam shut off, greatly aggravates the evil; for there is then no intensity of heat passing through the flues to counteract the chilling effect of the feed-water. If it is necessary to pump while running with the steam shut off, the blower should be kept going; which will, in some measure, prevent the change of temperature from being dangerously sudden. There will probably be some loss from steam blowing off, but that is the smaller of two evils.

Engineers are not likely to feed the boiler too lavishly when working hard, for the injection of cold water instantly shows its effect by reducing the steam-pressure. But this is not the case when running with the throttle closed. The circulation in the boiler is then so sluggish, that the temperature of the water may be reduced many degrees, while the steam continues to show its highest pressure.

Writers on physical science tell us that the temperature of water and steam in a boiler is always the same, and varies according to pressure; that, at the atmosphere’s pressure, water boils at 212 degrees, and produces steam of the same temperature. At 10 pounds above the atmospheric pressure, the water will not evaporate into steam until it has reached a temperature of 240 degrees, and so on: as the pressure increases, the temperature of water and steam rises. But under all circumstances, while the water and steam remain in the same vessel, their temperature is the same. This is an acknowledged law of physical science; yet every locomotive engineer of reflection, who has run on a hilly road, knows that circumstances daily happen where the law does not hold good.

FALL OF BOILER-TEMPERATURE NOT INDICATED BY THE STEAM-GAUGE.

If an engine, of the class represented as pulling our train, passes over the top of the grade with half an inch of water in the glass, there will be about 700 gallons in the boiler. Now, suppose it runs down the hill without using steam, and keeps pumping till the water rises six inches in the glass, there will be about 200 gallons more water in the boiler. It is no unusual thing to do this with a mild fire, and yet have no diminished tension of steam shown by the gauge, although 200 gallons of water of about 60 degrees have been injected amongst 700 gallons at 361 degrees, the temperature due to a steam-pressure of 140 pounds. This ought to reduce the mean temperature below 300 degrees, yet the pointer of the steam-gauge keeps indicating 140. That the pressure of steam and the temperature of the water do not accord, is shown directly the throttle is opened to perform work. The brisk circulation due to the rush of steam through the dry pipe now brings the temperature of water and steam to equilibrium, and backward the index of the steam-gauge travels. The steam-pressure goes back faster than is due to the supply drawn for the cylinders; because the latent heat of the steam passes into the water, helping to bring the whole contents of the boiler to an even temperature.

SOME EFFECTS OF INJUDICIOUS BOILER-FEEDING.

Meanwhile, with an engine operated in this fashion, the train will probably stand for fifteen minutes, till sufficient steam is raised to proceed with.

The fact that newly injected water does not immediately rise in temperature to the heat indicated by the pressure-gauge, can also be tested by filling up a boiler with an injector while the engine is at rest on a side-track. Working an injector causes greater circulation than feeding with a pump, and the water goes into the boiler at a higher temperature. For this reason the injector is superior to the pump as a feeding-medium. But, if the engineer pulls out directly after filling up the boiler with an injector, the steam will go down a few pounds, no matter how good a fire may be on the grates.

On level roads, the pump or injector should be set to supply the needs of the boiler; and a skillful engineer can regulate this so well, that the foot-cock has seldom to be moved. The best results in getting trains over the road, and in preserving boilers, are obtained in this way. The runner who adopts the intermittent system of feeding is always in trouble, or, as the boys say, “he is always nowhere.”

CAREFUL FEEDING AND FIRING PRESERVE BOILERS.

A case where the conservative effect of careful firing and feeding was strikingly illustrated, came under the author’s notice a year or two ago. During the busiest part of the season, the fire-box of a freight engine belonging to a Western road became so leaky that the engine was really unfit for service. Engines, like individuals, soon lose their reputation if they fail to perform their required duties for any length of time. This engine, “29,” soon became the aversion of train-men. The loquacious brakeman, who can instruct every railroad-man how to conduct his business, but is lame respecting his own work, got presently to making big stories out of the amazing quantity of water and coal that “29” could get away with, and how many trains she would hold in the course of a trip. The road was suffering from a plethora of freight, and extreme scarcity of engines; and on this account the management was reluctant to take this weakling into the shop. So the master mechanic turned “29” over to Engineer Macleay, who was running on a branch where delays were not likely to hold many trains. Mac deliberated about taking his “time” in preference to the engine, which others had rejected, but finally concluded to give the bad one a fair trial. The first trip convinced the somewhat observant engineer that the tender fire-box was peculiarly susceptible to the free use of the pump, and to sudden changes of the fire’s intensity of heat. So he directed the fireman to fire as evenly as possible, never to let the grates get bare enough to let cold air pass through, to keep the door closed except when firing, to avoid violent shaking of the grates, and never to throw more than three or four shovelfuls of coal into the fire-box at one time. His own method was, to feed with persistent regularity, to go twice over heavy parts of the division in preference to distressing the engine by letting the water get low, and then filling up rapidly. This system soon began to tell on the improved condition of the fire-box. The result was, that, within a month after taking the engine, Mac was pulling full trains on time; and this he continued to do for five months, till it was found convenient to take the engine in for rebuilding.

OPERATING THE DAMPERS.

According to the mechanical dictionary, a damper is a device for regulating the admission of air to a furnace, with which the fire can be stimulated, or the draught cut off, when necessary. Some runners regard locomotive dampers in a very different light. They seem to think the openings to the ash-pan are merely holes made to let air in, and ashes out; that doors are placed upon them, which troublesome rules require to be closed at certain points of the road to prevent causing fires. Those who have made their business a study, however, understand that locomotive dampers are as useful, when properly managed, as are the dampers of the base-burner which cheers their homes in winter weather. To effect perfect combustion in the fire-box, a certain quantity of oxygen, one of the constituents of common air, is required to mix with the carbon and carbureted hydrogen of the coal. The combination takes place in certain fixed quantities. If the quantity of air admitted be deficient, a gas of inferior calorific power will be generated. On the other hand, when the air-supply is in excess of that needed for combustion, the surplus affects the steam-producing capabilities of the fire injuriously; since it increases the speed of the gases, lessening the time they are in contact with the water-surface, and a violent rush of air reduces the temperature of portions of the fire-box below the heat at which carbureted hydrogen burns.

LOSS OF HEAT THROUGH EXCESS OF AIR.

In the fire-boxes of American engines, where double dampers are the rule, far more loss of heat is occasioned by excess of air than there is waste of fuel through the gases not receiving their natural supply of oxygen. The blast from the nozzles creates an impetuous draught through the grates; and when to this is added the rapid currents of air impelled into the open ash-pan by the violent motion of the train, the fire-box is found to be the center of a furious wind-storm. The excess of this storm can be regulated by keeping the front damper closed, and letting the engine draw its supply of air through the back damper. When the fire begins to get dirty, and the air-passages between the grates become partly choked, the forward damper can be opened with advantage. So long as an engine steams freely with the front damper closed, it is an indication that there is no necessity for keeping it open. With vicious, heavy firing, all the air that can be injected into the fire-box is needed to effect indifferently complete combustion; and the man who follows this wasteful practice can not get too much air through the fire. Consequently, it is only with moderately light firing that regulation of draught can be practiced. Running with the front damper open all the time is hard on the bottom part of the fire-box, and the ever-varying attrition of cold wind is responsible for many a leaky mud-ring.

LOSS OF HEAT FROM BAD DAMPERS.

In Britain, where far more attention has been devoted to economy of fuel than has been bestowed upon the matter this side of the Atlantic, locomotives are provided with ash-pans that are practically air-tight, and the damper-doors are made to close the openings. In many instances, the levers that operate the dampers have notched sectors, so that the quantity of air admitted may equal the necessities of the fire. British locomotives, as a rule, show a better record in the use of their fuel than is found in American practice; and a high percentage of the saving is due to the superior damper arrangements.

Imagine the trouble and expense there would be with a kitchen-stove that had no appliance for closing the draught! Yet some of our locomotive builders turn out their engines with practically no means of regulating the flow of air beneath the fire.

CHAPTER VII.
FINISHING THE TRIP.

RUNNING OVER ORDINARY TRACK.

The hill which our train encounters nearly at the beginning of the journey is the Pons Asinorum of the division. The style in which it is ascended shows what kind of an engine pulls the train, and it tests in a searching manner the ability of the engineer. Our engine has got over the summit successfully; and the succeeding descent is accomplished with comfort to the engine, and security to the train. And so the rest of the trip goes on. The train speeds merrily along through green, rolling prairies, away past leafy woodlands and flowery meadows: it cuts a wide swath through long cornfields, startles into wakefulness the denizens of sleek farmhouses, and raises a rill of excitement as it bounds through quiet villages. But every change of scene, every varied state of road-bed,—level track, ascending or descending grade,—is prepared for in advance by our engine-men. Their engine is found in proper time for each occasion, as it requires the exertion of great power, or permits the conservation of the machine’s energy. Over long stretches of undulatory track the train speeds; each man attending to his work so closely that the index of the steam-gauge is almost stationary, and the water does not vary an inch in the glass. This is accomplished by regular firing and uniform boiler-feeding, two operations which must go together to produce creditable results.

STOPPING-PLACES.

There are few stops to be made, and these are mostly at water-stations. Here the fireman is ready to take in water with the least possible delay; and, while he is doing so, the engineer hurries around the engine, feeling every box and bearing, and dropping a fresh supply of oil where necessary. And, while going thus around, he glances searchingly over the engine, his eye seeking to detect absent nuts, or missing bolts or pins: any thing wrong may now be observed and remedied.

At the coaling-stations the fireman finds time to rake out the ash-pan, and the engineer bestows upon the engine and tender a leisurely inspection besides oiling around.

KNOWLEDGE OF TRAIN-RIGHTS.

Next to studying the idiosyncrasies of his engine, our model engineer prides himself on his intimate acquaintance with the details of the time-table. The practice becoming so common on our best-regulated railroads, of examining candidates for promotion to the position of engineer on their knowledge of the time-table, has a very salutary effect upon aspiring firemen, and induces them to acquire familiarity with the rules governing train-service, which they never forget.

Our engineer is well posted on all the rules relating to the movement of trains; his mind’s eye can glance over the division, and note meeting or passing points; and the relative rights of each train stand blazoned forth in bold relief before his mental vision. This knowledge regulates his conduct while nearing stations; for, although every stopping-point is approached cautiously, those places where trains may be expected to be found, are run into with vigilant carefulness, the train being under perfect control. Depending blindly upon conductors and brakemen to keep safe control of the train at dangerous points is opening the gate of trouble. An engineer is jointly responsible with the conductor for the safety of his train, and he should make certain that every precaution is taken to get over the road without accident.

PRECAUTIONS TO BE OBSERVED IN APPROACHING AND PASSING STATIONS.

Running past stations where trains are standing side-tracked, requires to be done with special care, particularly in the case of passenger trains; for, at such points, there is danger of persons getting injured by stepping inadvertently past a car or a building, in front of a moving train. This peril is guarded against by reducing the speed as far as practicable, after whistling to warn all concerned, by ringing the engine-bell, and keeping a sharp lookout from the cab.

THE BEST RULES MUST BE SUPPLEMENTED BY GOOD JUDGMENT.

Rules framed by the officers of our railways for the guidance of employes are always safe to follow as far as they go, and neglect of their behests will soon entail disaster. But circumstances sometimes arise in train-service to which no rule applies, and the men in charge must follow the dictates of their judgment. This happens often, especially on new roads; and the men who prove themselves capable of wrestling successfully with unusual occurrences, of overcoming difficulties suddenly encountered, are nature’s own railroaders. It is this practice of acting judiciously and promptly, without the aid of codified directions, which gives to American railroad men their striking individuality, known to the men of no other nation following the same calling. European railway servants carry ponderous books of “rules and regulations” in their pockets, and these rules are expected to furnish guidance for every contingency; so, when an engine-driver or guard gets into an unusual dilemma, he turns over the pages of his rule-book for counsel and direction. The American engineer or conductor under similar circumstances takes the safe side, and goes ahead.

OPERATING SINGLE TRACKS SAFELY.

For many years to come, the great majority of our railroads will be single tracks, as they now are. The operating of single-track roads is only done safely by the exercise of unsleeping vigilance on the part of all concerned in the movement of trains. Delays sometimes occur through mistaken excess of caution, as in the case of an engineer in Iowa, who mistook the lantern of a benighted farmer for the headlight of an approaching train, and backed to the nearest telegraph station; or that of a conductor in Michigan, who side-tracked his train to let the evening star pass. Such mistakes make pleasantry among train-men, but all acknowledge that it is better to err on the safe side than to run recklessly into danger.

On this subject the remarks of Kirkman are strongly applicable. Writing on the “intelligent discrimination exercised by train men,” he says, “It is observable in the practical application of the system under which trains are operated, that the employes connected with the train service do not always attach the significance to specific signals or rules that would naturally be supposed. Especially is this so in reference to use of signals. Their acquaintance with the every-day working of trains teaches them that allowance must always be made for the ignorance, stupidity, or thoughtlessness of employes; and they strive constantly to protect themselves, and the passengers and property intrusted to their care, from the fatal effects that would oftentimes follow a blind obedience to the orders given them.... The engineer of an irregular train that is running under special telegraphic instructions at the rate of sixty miles an hour, can not depend implicitly upon the accuracy of the reports he receives in reference to the location and intention of other trains.... His orders are to proceed. He has been trained to obey. Outwardly he is unconcerned, but inwardly he is filled with apprehension; and, as he proceeds on his course, he scrutinizes the track with an intensity and a sagacity that never wearies.”

CAUSES OF ANXIETY TO ENGINEERS.

“The anxiety upon the part of the engineer is not occasioned by fear for his personal safety, though that doubtless has its influence; but it is the knowledge born of observation and experience, that blind adherence to orders, no matter what the circumstances, or from whom emanating, may not only cost him his life, but may involve the lives of many others,—the lives of people believing in him, and trusting in him, and as unconscious of danger as they are helpless to avoid it.”

ACQUAINTANCE WITH THE ROAD.

Next in importance to knowing well how to manage the engine, and intimate familiarity with the time-table and its rules, comes acquaintance with the road. In the light of noonday, when all nature seems at peace, when every object can be seen distinctly, the work of running over a division is as easy as child’s play. But when thick darkness covers the earth, when the fitful gleam of the headlight shines on a mass of rain so dense that it seems like a water-wall rising from the pilot, or when blinding clouds of snow obliterate every bush and bank, it is important that the engineer should know every object of the wayside. A person unaccustomed to the business, who rides on a locomotive tearing through the darkness on a stormy night, sees nothing around but a black chaos made fitfully awful by the glare from the fire-box door. But even in the wildest tempest, when elemental strife drowns the noise of the engine, the experienced engineer attends to his duties calmly and collectedly. A cutting or embankment, a culvert or crossing, a tree or bush, is sufficient to mark the location; and every mile gives landmarks trifling to the uninitiated, but to the trained eye significant as a lighted signal. One indicates the place to shut off steam for a station, another tells that the train is approaching a stiff-pull grade; and the engine-men act on the knowledge imparted. And so the round of the work goes. Working and watching keep the train speeding on its journey. Nothing is left to chance or luck: every movement, every variation of speed, is the effect of an unseen control. As a stately ship glides on its voyage obedient as a thing of life to the turn of the steersman’s wheel; so the king of inland transportation, the locomotive engine, the monarch of speed, the ideal of power in motion, pursues its way, annihilating space, binding nations into a harmonious unit, and all the time submissive to the lightest touch of the engineer’s hand.

To get a freight train promptly over the road day after day, or night after night, an engineer must know the road intimately, not only marking the places where steam must be shut off for stations or grades, but every sag and rise must be engraved on his memory. Then he will be prepared to take advantage of slight descents to assist in getting him over short pulls, where, otherwise, he would lose speed; and the same knowledge will avail him to avoid breaking the train in two while passing over the short depressions in the track’s alignment, called sags in the West.

FINAL DUTIES OF THE TRIP.

With an engine properly fired, there is but little special preparation needed for closing up the trip without waste of fuel. The fire is regulated so that a head of steam will be retained sufficient to take the engine into the round-house after the fire-box is cleaned out. In drawing the fire, the blower should be used as sparingly as possible; for its blast rushes a volume of cold air through the flues, which is apt to start leaks. Many engineers find flues, or stay-bolts, which were dry at the end of one trip, leaking when the engine is taken out for the next run. In nine cases out of ten, the cause has been too much blower. So soon as the ash-pan is cleaned out, the dampers should be closed so that the fire-box and flues may cool down gradually.

CHAPTER VIII.
RUNNING A FAST PASSENGER TRAIN.

Materials for the following notes were taken during a trip on the Pennsylvania Railroad:—

AVERAGE SPEED.

The New York and Chicago limited express train, run on the Pennsylvania system of railroads, passes over the distance of 912 miles between the two cities in twenty-five hours and twenty-nine minutes, making an average speed of 35.29 miles an hour. All the known resources of mechanical science have been ransacked to produce appliances for reducing delays, so that the highest possible percentage of the time provided for the journey should be devoted to running. Water for steam-making is collected, as the train runs along, from troughs placed in the middle of the track; a system of absolute block signals, controlled by vigilant train-dispatchers, provides a clear line; and stops are made only for the purpose of changing the locomotives at the end of divisions. The lines over which the train runs traverse a multitude of cities and towns, most of them having the streets crossing the track on the level; and a great many other railroads are crossed at grade. Therefore, although the actual stops between Jersey City and Chicago are only seven, a run exceeding ten miles without meeting with the necessity of checking the speed is rare.

SPEED BETWEEN JERSEY CITY AND PHILADELPHIA.

The run of ninety miles from Jersey City to Philadelphia is made at an average speed of 45 miles an hour, leaving an average of 34 miles an hour for the remainder of the journey. To keep on time, some parts of the first division must be traversed at a speed over 60 miles an hour, while 50 miles an hour must be maintained over a considerable portion of the other divisions.

REQUISITES OF A HIGH-SPEED LOCOMOTIVE.

The first essential for a high-speed locomotive is the means of generating steam freely as fast as it is used up by the cylinders. The next consideration is properly designed steam-distribution gear, and well-proportioned machinery, so that the heat energy produced by the boiler may be converted into useful work in propelling the engine with the least possible loss of power. To handle the fast trains between New York and Philadelphia, the mechanical talent of the Pennsylvania Railroad, aided by fifty years’ inherited experience, has produced the form of engine known as Class K. This is an anthracite-coal-burning locomotive, with 1,205 square feet of heating-surface to supply steam to cylinders 18 inches by 24 inches, which turn two pairs of coupled drivers 78 inches in diameter. The traction force of the engine is thus (18² × 24)/78 = 99.69 pounds for each pound of effective pressure per square inch of the pistons. The valves are the plain slide, with 1¼ inch outside lap, no inside lap, 1/16 inch lead in full gear, and a full travel of 5½ inches. The steam-ports are 16¾ inches long and 1½ inches wide; while the exhaust port is 3¼ inches wide, securing free emission of steam.