R. C. Richards

“ Every man in the train, engine, and switching service ought to have every requirement of these rules by heart, understand exactly what they mean, and be ready at any instant, and in any weather, to execute them to the letter, and no punishment should be too severe for failure to observe them to the very letter, for on their faithful observance depend the lives of passengers—it may be some of your own loved ones—of employees, and the safety of the property entrusted to the companies for transportation, as well as their own. ”

“ Everyone is supposed to know that neither passengers or tramps should be ejected from a train when it is in motion, and, in the case of passengers, the ejectment must only be made at an open station, so that the person ejected will have a place of shelter if at night or if it is storming; that women and children of tender years must not be ejected at all; and that if a person refusing to pay his fare is in such condition as to be unable to care for himself, he must be placed in custody of the nearest station agent. ”

“ Before leaving this subject of accidents at highway crossings I want to call attention to Rule 12, which says that when cars are being pushed by an engine (except when shifting or making up trains in yards) a flagman must be on the leading car, and Rule 9, which requires that when cars are being switched over highway or street railway crossings a man must be stationed on the ground to act as flagman. Too much importance cannot be placed upon the observance of these rules, not occasionally, but always. If employees would comply with them fewer people would be injured. ”

“ Occasionally we have an accident in which trespassers are killed or injured while walking or playing on the tracks, which might be avoided by greater care and watchfulness to discover their danger, by warning them of the approaching train, either by continuous sounding of the whistle, by slowing up, or by stopping when you have reason to think they do not know a train is coming, especially on the double track when trains are moving on both tracks. The most heartrending of them all are injuries to children, and, sometimes, to women. ”

“ In the lumber and sawmill country it is especially important that this be done, and where engines are working in or around sawmills, lumber yards, powder and tie plants, and other places where danger of fire is great, the apparatus for preventing the escape of fire should be absolutely perfect, and it ought to be the personal business of the engineman to know that fact; he should be present when the inspection is made, and see that it is done thoroughly, the same as he would if he and not the company had to foot the bill if the engine started a fire. ”

“ You men who are running stations should see that your platform lamps are not only kept clean and properly filled, but that after dark they are burning so that passengers won't get hurt falling off platforms in the dark, and that the platforms are kept clear of freight as per Rule 17; that baggage and express trucks are placed where patrons won't fall over them, and, if there is a fast train coming, especially a mail or newspaper train, notify the passengers and get them inside the depot, the only safe place at such times. ”

“ Accidents caused by carelessness, thoughtlessness, or neglect of employees are the large majority of all that happen, and if we could eliminate them, or one-half of them, there would be little cause for complaint on the part of the management of the companies, or criticism on the part of the public, and the claim agent would have a bed of roses instead of the busiest and hardest worked office on the road, and I believe that when the employees really understand the matter many of them will be eliminated. ”

“ After we get the men, the track, the equipment, rules and supervision, we should see that all employees know and understand the rules and their duties and how to perform them. Some day we will have a training school for this purpose, just as the government has for its soldiers and sailors, and many municipalities for their police. Employees should study and familiarize themselves with the time-tables and rules, the same as they do with their pay schedule—they all understand that. ”

“ To me, it seems not a difficult or unreasonable precaution to look, before you throw out a heavy bag of mail or half a dozen packages of newspapers, to see that no one will be hit by them, and that they could and should be dropped just beyond the far end of the station platform, but never in a street or public highway; and don't throw your clinker bars or ash bars off engines, or anything else for that matter, without looking to see if anyone is passing and when through with them put them in a safe place so they won't project and strike anyone on the next track or fall off and injure someone. ”

“ About nine times out of ten you can do it without an accident, but the tenth time some one will get hurt and you will get a vacation from 30 days to life. I know it is tantalizing, when you are pulling a fast train and are, perhaps a little late, to be compelled to stop and wait until the other train has pulled out, and its last car passed the end of the platform nearest you, when you could sneak through the station and save a little time, and perhaps no harm be done and no one be the wiser ”

“ When persons are injured while coupling or uncoupling cars or in getting on or off cars, whether passenger or freight, or in any other way, in which the accident may have been caused by defective appliances or machinery, the cars or appliances must be immediately examined by the person in charge, or by the agent, to ascertain their condition, and report made of the inspection, giving the numbers and initials of cars examined and the names of the persons making the inspection. ”

“ Now why a man switching cars will not take the trouble to put them far enough in on the track to clear himself riding the next cut in on the adjacent track, or why a man will go under an engine or car to repair it or for any other purpose, without protecting himself from injury by putting out a flag as required by Rule I, passes my understanding. ”

“ When you have an accident caused by a window falling examine it immediately and, if the catches are all right, show the injured person or, if a child, the man or woman in whose charge it is traveling, that is was not the fault of the window catch, and at the same time call the attention of some intelligent passenger and of your brakeman to the matter and have them try the window catch, and send in their names and addresses with your report. ”

“ My experience leads me irresistibly to the conclusion that after all it is the man, not the safety appliance, that we must depend on to prevent accidents, as has been demonstrated by any number of cases that have occurred at points where the track has been lined with safety appliances. ”

“ Don't try to run around curves 50 or 60 miles an hour, as a train I was riding on a few weeks ago did and went in the ditch; neither should freight or passenger trains run over interlocking switches faster than 15 and 25 miles an hour, respectively, because it is not safe to do so, and Rule 5 says you must not. Conductors, who are in supreme command of the train, should pull the air on any engineman who is running too fast around curves, over bad places, or through stations, and when you get in, report the matter to your superintendent, as reckless running should not and will not be tolerated. ”

“ I shall next call your attention to accidents caused by defects in the equipment, especially in that of freight cars and engines. They are of such frequent occurrence as to no longer attract attention, but when the time comes that the man who inspects reports not to the foreman, whose duty it is to keep the equipment in repair, but to a superior, whose duty it is to find defects, there will be a material reduction in such cases. Train and enginemen should report defects discovered by them on Form 995 and attach card to truss rod of car or locomotive tank. ”

“ When you get a train order the conductors must read it aloud and then sign it and show it to the engineman, the rear brakeman or flagman, and the engineman must show it to the fireman and in case of freight train to the head brakeman, who are required to read it, the object being that every employee on the train will know what the order is and if the engineman or conductor forget it the brakeman or fireman may remember and by remembering prevent an accident. ”

“ In removing a person from the train, the conductor must use extreme care to avoid controversy and not indulge in abusive language or in any manner insult or maltreat the person to be removed, or use unnecessary force in so doing, unless in a clear case of self-defense, when an assault is made upon the conductor or his men, and then the infliction of unnecessary injury must be carefully avoided. ”

“ Conductors must collect the proper fare from every passenger not provided with a ticket or pass in proper form. In all cases, on the refusal of any passenger to produce a proper ticket or pass, or to pay the fare, the conductor shall cause the train to be brought to a full stop at a regular open station and shall require such person to leave the train, and, on refusal, shall remove him therefrom, and must procure and report the names and addresses of persons who were present and witnessed the controversy. ”

“ But rather than take the time, which the company pays for, they take the chances, and then if they get across, like the man who drove over in front of the engine at the last highway crossing and waited on the other side to see the train go by, they wait until the tail end comes along and get on there, but if they get caught blame the engineman for coming too fast, or the company for not having the track nickel plated, or for having a handhold in the wrong place. ”

“ Whenever an accident happens to any train on which passengers are carried, whether collision or derailment, of whatever nature, on main line or siding, or within the yard limits where trains are reconstructed, conductors must take down the name and address of every passenger on the train, and ascertain from the passenger, and note opposite his or her name, what injury, if any, they received. ”

“ The following operating rules are referred to in the foregoing:
In case of doubt, adopt the safe course.
Speed must always be sacrificed for safety.
1. A blue flag by day and a blue light by night, displayed at one or both ends of an engine, car, or train, indicates that workmen are under or about it. When thus protected it must not be coupled to or moved. Workmen will display the blue signals, and the same workmen are alone authorized to remove them. Other cars must not be placed on the same track, so as to intercept the view of the blue signals, without first notifying the workmen. ”

“ Freight trains in going through stations should reduce their speed and do so under control, as per Rule 6. The fireman, as well as the engineman, should be on his seat keeping a lookout, and not engaged in waving a signal to some one on another train or elsewhere, or putting in a fire, and the engineman should see that he does this. On the double track when you are going to meet another train at a crossing, try to get the engine over the highway before the tail end of the other train gets by it. ”

“ Another reason is because of the unnecessarily hard usage given the couplers, especially in the yards where trains are made up. Just why an appliance to save life and limb should be abused by the employees, for whose benefit it was put on the cars and engines, is one of the things which it would take a mind-reader to answer. But the truth of the matter is, as every experienced adjuster knows, that the automatic coupler has cost the railroads for equipment and freight damaged many times over what it cost them to settle claims for personal injuries caused by the old link and pin coupler ”

“ As the traffic and population increase, cases of this kind grow in number, and, for some unknown reason, the public think that, while they must keep off the property of private individuals, where there is no danger, they are privileged to go onto a railroad track where everyone knows there is great danger, and after doing so a few times, the courts say they have a license to do so, and that we must look out for them and see that they don't get hurt. ”

“ And as it sometimes happens that an engineman will not notice that his headlight has gone out, especially when there is snow on the ground, any employee who sees an engine moving after dark without the headlight burning should stop it and tell the engineman; if you can't do it yourself call up the train dispatcher, so he can do it at the next station. ”