Locomotive engineer

“ 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. ”

“ For distances greater than two miles, the locomotive record has not as yet been surpassed by the automobile. A locomotive on the Plant system, for example, is credited with a run of five miles in two and one-half minutes (in 1901) . But, of course, there is nothing except the mere matter of speed that makes the locomotive engineer's performance comparable to that of the chauffeur. The engineer is driving a machine that runs on a fixed track. He has to do little more than keep up steam and open the throttle. ”

“ In referring thus to the railway works, he must refer also to the improvement of the locomotive engine. This was as remarkable as the other works were gigantic. They were, in fact, necessary to each other. The locomotive engine, independent of the railway, would be useless. They had gone on together, and they now realized all the expectations that were entertained of them. It would be unseemly, as it would be unjust, if he were to conceal the circumstances under which these works had been constructed. No engineer could succeed without having men about him as highly-gifted as himself. ”

“ And this is especially true of the men who ride at the front, on that marvel of modern mechanism, the locomotive. Theirs is the post of danger and of responsibility, and singularly brave, cool, thoughtful, watchful, intelligent men they grow to be. You will all, I presume, become locomotive engineers. The way to the engineer’s seat, I am informed, is from the fireman’s side. I hope promotion will not be slow. The engineers, it is said, are the best paid body of skilled workmen in America. ”

“ The intelligence, quickness of perception and capacity for taking care of themselves—that combination of qualities which, taken together, constitute individuality and adaptability to circumstance—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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Under Amtrak rules, the locomotive engineer is responsible for observance of signals and for control and regulation of train movement. He is also responsible for instructing apprentice engineers and for ensuring that they are familiar with engine duties During the accident investigation, Amtrak officials and locomotive engineers stated that the locomotive engineer of Amtrak train 66 should have instructed the apprentice engineer to start braking the train at the Pickle Factory, a landmark structure at MP 225.7. ”

“ 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, or32 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. ”

“ With literal and historical accuracy, the typical railway engineer sees the modern locomotive as just an elaborated pit pump-engine placed on wheels, and engaged all day in hauling coal-laden trollies from the pit mouth to the cities, and all night in hauling them back empty. ”

“ 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. ”

“ If a little too much wood is in the fire-box, he must take it out, and then go to work cleaning and scouring the dust and rust from off the bright work and from the boiler. Every bit of cleaning in the cab and above the runboard, including the cylinders and steam-chest, must be done by him; and any one who will look at the fancy-work on some of our modern locomotives, can judge something of what he has to do after the day's work on the road is done. Every thing is brass, or covered with brass; and all must be kept polished like a mirror, or the fireman is hauled over the coals. ”

“ To most travellers time is more valuable than money, and so everything about a train is planned to facilitate rapid travelling. Almost every part of a locomotive is controlled from the cab, which prevents unnecessary stopping to correct defects; from his seat the engineer can let the condensed water out of the cylinders; he can start a jet of steam in the stack and create a draft through the fire-box; by the pressure of a lever he is able to pour sand on a slippery track, or by the manipulation of another lever a snow-scraper is let down from the cowcatcher. ”

“ Through its locomotive engineer training program, Amtrak is trying to provide the same basic operating knowledge and skills, but within a much shorter time frame and more structured setting. Prospective engineers now receive at least part of their training in classes, and operating information pertaining to equipment and train control is technologically more advanced. ”

“ They were going at a terrific rate of speed, but Peter Bracken, the brave engineer of the "Texas," knew his locomotive so well, and handled her with such a nice eye for her weak as well as her strong points, that the pursuers gradually shortened the distance between them and the raiders. The "General" was a good locomotive in its day and time, but it was in unfamiliar hands. Any locomotive engineer will tell you that a man must be thoroughly acquainted with his machine, and somewhat in love with it to boot, to get the best speed out of it, when speed is necessary. ”

“ He has produced a most ingenious electrical device which is attached to railway locomotives. It is quite automatic, and acts independently of either the locomotive engineer or the stoker. Its object is to prevent collisions and the disastrous telescoping of trains, which is unfortunately so frequent on the railways of America, and, indeed, in this country as well. Suppose two trains are approaching one another along a single line of railway, each concealed from the other by a curvature of the track, and intervening forest or hill. ”

“ It is the general opinion of locomotive superintendents that it is not essential that the men who run locomotives should be good mechanics. The best runners or engineers are those who have been trained while young as firemen on locomotives. Brunel, the distinguished civil engineer, said that he never would trust himself to run a locomotive because he was sure to think of some problem relating to his profession which would distract his attention from the engine. It is probably a similar reason which sometimes unfits good mechanics for being good locomotive-runners. ”

“ In their report to the proprietors at their annual meeting on, the 27th March, 1828, they state that they had, after due consideration, authorised the engineer “to prepare a locomotive engine, which, from the nature of its construction and from the experiments already made, he is of opinion will be effective for the purposes of the Company, without proving an annoyance to the public.” The locomotive thus ordered was placed upon the line in 1829, and was found of great service in drawing the waggons full of marl from the two great cuttings. ”

“ 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 ”

“ He knows exactly where he must run on to a side track to allow the express in the other direction to pass, and he knows just where he must slacken speed in order to get safely around a dangerous curve, or cross a bridge which is undergoing repairs, or which is not quite as substantial as it would be if he, instead of millionaire railroad directors, had the control of the bridge construction and repair fund.
To catch an idea of the responsibility of a locomotive engineer, it is necessary to ride a hundred miles or so in an engine. ”

“ Nearly every boy and girl in the world has seen one; many boys, particularly, can tell you how the locomotive engine operates; and more than one boy can even operate the locomotive himself. But it was not so one hundred years ago. The locomotive was a rare machine. And all the locomotives that people saw then in America had been made in England. But in 1831, the officers of the Germantown and Norristown Railway commissioned a young mechanical engineer, named Matthias Baldwin, to build for them a locomotive engine. ”

“ He is on duty longer than any other man connected with the train. He must be on hand before the engine comes out of the shop, to start a fire and see that all is right about the engine. Usually he brings it out upon the track; and then, when all is ready, he begins the laborious work of throwing wood; which amounts to the handling of from four to seven cords of wood per diem, while the engine and tender are pitching and rolling so that a "green-horn" would find it hard work to stand on his feet, let alone having, while so standing, to keep that fiery furnace supplied with fuel. ”

“ Next comes the erecting shop, where the various parts of the locomotive are fitted together, and it is built up much as a ship from the keel. These semi-completed engines have a singularly helpless look—out of proportion, without limbs, and many mere skeletons. Close by is the department where engines out of repair are made good. Some American engineer started the idea of a railway thirty feet wide, an idea which in this place is partially realized. ”

“ Five recommended that none but machinists should be locomotive26 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. ”

“ Howe, Williams, or Stephenson?—America claims the credit for the improvement.—Beyer’s single-plate frame engines.—Early Crewe engines.—Robertson fits a steam brake to a locomotive.—Engines for working the Cowlairs incline.—Bodmer’s reciprocating or “compensating” engines.—Tried on the Sheffield and Manchester, South Eastern, and London and Brighton Railways.—They prove failures.—McConnell’s “Great Britain.”—Dewrance’s coal-burning “Condor.”
Edward Bury, the celebrated locomotive engineer, of Liverpool, contracted to supply the London and Birmingham Railway with locomotives. ”

“ The great step which has been taken in locomotive construction since 1840 is the invention of the “link motion,” 338by Williams, which, perfected by Howe, admits of varying the travel of the valve, and thus using the steam under any desired rate of expansion. By this arrangement, the power of regulating the force applied to the piston, according to the work to be done, is placed in the engineer’s hands, to be used at any time under whatever conditions the engine may be working. ”

“ It kicks the cars out, just beyond the cover of the train-shed and while it is hurrying to the turntable the cars are being hastily swept and dusted. An hour will be allowed the engineer to turn his engine and get his coal and water supply, and then he will start out again on his local run. This performance will be repeated one or more times, before the coaches are sent to the yard for thorough cleaning and stocking, and the locomotive housed for a little rest in the programme. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”