Roadmaster

“ He puts so much fear of paper work in the minds of the section foreman that few aspire to be roadmasters. Instead of a clerk, why not have an assistant roadmaster, a real understudy, promoted from section foreman at a slight increase in pay and allowances? Get the working atmosphere of the section into the roadmaster's office. Perhaps some of the section foremen are not relatively as stupid as certain superiors who take snap judgment on possible qualifications. ”

“ Our engineers thread the cuts and are glad to get safely through them. Our roadmasters keep up the elevations, hoping some night the blooming right of way will tumble into perdition. Our despatchers, studying under shaded lamps, think of it with their teeth clinched and hope there never will be any trouble on that stretch. Trouble is our portion and trouble we must get ”

“ Presently he came near the roadmaster, drew a chair, and said, as though he were telling a new, strange story to a little child: “I knew a section boss once who let a flat car get away on the hill at Collinsville; the car ran out on the main line, collided with the President’s private car, wrecked it and killed a trainman. He was discharged, reinstated after a few months, and is now—”
“That was not my fault,” broke in the roadmaster, “I sint a man to set the brake.”
“Denis McGuire sent a man to flag, but—”
“And he should have seen the flagman beyent th’ curve before loadin’ th’ push kayre.” ”

“ People traverse it, not with the object of arriving at any particular destination, but for the delight of the road itself, of the joy it gives to the eye and to the imagination. Its only traffic is what the transport agent would call “holiday traffic”; for when the idle season ends the highway is deserted. In earlier days there would rumble along the road the carriage and four of the traveller of great means; then came the humbler vehicle hired from the town; then the sleek motor; and finally, as a sign of democratic progress, the char-à-banc, the omnibus, and the motor-brake. ”

“ Road-masters will have charge, under the superintendent of the road, of the maintenance of the road-bed and superstructure of divisions of from twenty-five to fifty miles in length, depending upon the care that the road-way may need. ”

“ Although the freight and express traffic of those days lacked the picturesqueness of the passenger coaches, nothing illustrates so conclusively what the great road meant to an awakening West as the long lines of heavy Conestogas and rattling express wagons which raced at "unprecedented" speed across hill and vale. Searight, the local historian of the road, describes these large, broad-wheeled wagons covered with white canvas as
visible all the day long, at every point, making the highway look more like a leading avenue of a great city than a road through rural districts.... ”

“ Proper regulation and control of traffic are accordingly as essential to a GOOD highway system as are proper plans for its building and the use of proper materials in its construction.
Engineers and builders are the men behind the line in the battle for good roads. Maintenance forces and traffic officers are the men on the firing line. The maintenance engineers must see that roads once built are maintained in adequate condition for travel. Traffic officers must see that travel uses these roads properly. ”

“ In writing this book, then, I have had constantly in mind the myriads of people who have not the time, and possibly not the facilities, to search the pages of the literature of the past for the origin and development, or to work out their present importance, of our amplification of roads and of road uses. It is felt that many of these people laudably desire a conversational knowledge of the origin, evolution and present status of highway transportation, even though it be glimpsed by a very rapid passage through a very large subject. ”

“ Notwithstanding the immense amount of business transacted 457by such a road, so complete is the organization and management of employees, that the general superintendent, sitting in his New York office, can at any moment tell, within one mile, where each car or engine is, what it is doing, with what loaded, the consignor and consignee, and the time of arriving and departing the several stations, and other trains; and thus at any moment may perceive and correct faults and remissness, and in reality control the whole road. ”

“ I do not propose, of course, that all these improvements should be made at once—and most assuredly all the improvements must be made with a due preservation of the beauty and charm of our country roads and the districts they traverse—but, no doubt, as soon as the importance of the roads, so long overshadowed by the railways, revives there will be a great and pressing cry for highway improvements. ”

“ The modern highway is seldom in a direct line. A hill, a ford, or a wood sufficed to render it circuitous. All roads indeed through hilly countries were originally struck out by drivers of pack-horses, who, to avoid bogs, chose the upper ground. Roads were first made the subject of legislation in England in the sixteenth century: until then, they had been made at will and repaired at pleasure. ”

“ Just at this moment, perhaps fortunately, for there is nothing so difficult to satisfy as the appetite of people for specific information, a motor-car whizzed past, the driver holding up his hand in greeting, and the road-worker and I responding in accordance with the etiquette of the Great Road.
“There he goes in the ruts again,” said the husky road-worker. “Why is it, I'd like to know, that every one wants to run in the same identical track when they've got the whole wide road before 'em?”
“That's what has long puzzled me, too,” I said. “Why WILL people continue to run in ruts?” ”

“ While building upon these bases of knowledge, highway designers were often in a dilemma as to which features of wagon roads should be retained, modified, or rejected, which characteristics of railroad practice should be incorporated, and what new concepts were needed to satisfy the peculiar qualities of automobile traffic. ”

“ This opposition, however, did not prevent the progress of turnpike and highway legislation; and we find that, from l760 to l774, no fewer than four hundred and fifty-two Acts were passed for making and repairing highways. Nevertheless the roads of the kingdom long continued in a very unsatisfactory state, chiefly arising from the extremely imperfect manner in which they were made.
Road-making as a profession was as yet unknown. Deviations were made in the old roads to make them more easy and straight ”

“ But in so extensive a concern as the system of roads, involving so great an expense, we may naturally look for small beginnings and very gradual advancement. Accordingly, we find in the first formation of highways, before their utility could be fully understood or experience had shown the benefits of science in the practice of the engineer, the early road-maker only increased the breadth of the horse-track, and strewed it over with gravel from the neighbouring brook. ”

“ In Italy alone it is estimated that they had about fourteen thousand miles of good roads. Their laws relating to the construction and maintenance of highways were founded in reason and a just conception of the uses and objects of public ways; and they are the basis of modern highway legislation. By their law the roads were for the public use and convenience, and their emperors, consuls, and other public officials were their conservators. ”

“ Under him are supervisors of bridges and supervisors of road, each assigned to a certain territory. The supervisors of bridges make frequent and minute examinations of every piece or member of every bridge and trestle, report in advance all the repairs that become necessary, and make requisition for the material needed.
The superintendent of roadway or chief engineer comes first, having charge of track, bridges, and buildings. In his office are collected maps of all important stations and junction points, kept up to date with changes and additions ”

“ Many "weekenders" make this trip nearly every Saturday to Monday in the year, and get to know every rut and stone in the roadway and every degenerate policeman of the rapacious crew who hide in hedges and lie in wait for poor unfortunate automobilists who may have slipped down a sloping bit of clear roadway at a speed of twenty and one-tenth miles per hour (instead of nineteen and nine-tenths) , all figured out by rule of thumb and with the aid of a thirty-shilling stop-watch. ”

“ Where there is occasion for one driver to pass another going in the same direction, the foremost driver may keep the even tenor of his way in the middle or on either side of the road, provided there is sufficient room for the rear driver to pass by; but if there is not sufficient room, it is the duty of the foremost driver to afford it, by yielding an equal share of the road, if that be practicable ”

“ Section 1: Transfer of trunk roads to Minister of Transport 1.— (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the principal roads in Great Britain constituting the national system of routes for through traffic which by virtue of this Act become trunk roads shall be known by that name and as from the date upon which any road becomes a trunk road the Minister of Transport (hereinafter referred to as "the Minister") shall be the highway authority for the road. ”

“ Added to that the facts that the gasolene motor-car of the steel highway is protected at all times by the flange of the rail—skidding is not an infrequent accident upon the paved road—and by the telegraphic order—collisions are not unheard-of things upon the State highways—and operated by a skilled and trained employee are other talking points that would have quick appeal to any man of advertising sense. ”

“ The railways gradually drove the coaches and the post-chaises off the roads, but the introduction of cycles in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, and the motor-car at the beginning of the twentieth century have revived the use of the highways for traffic, and there is a great time for the old roads just ahead of us to-day. ”

“ As it was, an automobilist journeys along the road—which is practically across the kingdom—his eyes glued to it, his heart in his mouth, and he bumps and slides over the wearying kilometres until he all but forgets the beauties of the Meuse now so far behind. Kilometre after kilometre of this vile road is paved with blocks of stone as big as one's head, half of which are out of place. And when one's automobile sinks into the holes one can but shudder. One hears of a road that is paved with good intentions. ”

“ The highways of England, the old coaching roads, are among the best in the world, being generally of a beautiful smoothness and well maintained; they vary, naturally, in different districts, but in many even the local roads are superior to some main roads in other countries. The supersession of the stage coach by the railway took a vast amount of traffic away from the main roads, but their proper maintenance did not materially suffer; and a larger accession of traffic took place subsequently on the development of the cycle and the motor-vehicle. ”

“ We found the roads in most places worthy of the name “highways”; but on the steepest grades, where the outside of the road shelves off into space, with a drop of hundreds of feet, there are no walls or fences, not even railings, to prevent accidents. In the main, the roads are sufficiently wide to allow two cars to pass; in some places, however, the smaller car must back down to a siding to allow the Government cars, which have the right of way on the inside of the road, to pass. ”

“ The highway now becomes extremely steep and narrow, with countless hairpin turns, though all danger of collision is eliminated by the regulations which permit no down-traffic in the morning and no up-traffic in the afternoon. During the final fifteen miles, in which is made an ascent of more than six thousand feet, one has the curious experience of passing, in a single hour, from the torrid to the temperate zone. ”

“ Only some three hundred and fifty years have elapsed since wheeled conveyances for passengers came into use in England; but, once introduced, they rapidly found favour with all classes of society, more especially in cities. The progress of road-making and that of light horse-breeding are so intimately connected with the development of carriages and coaches that it is difficult to dissociate the three. In the early days of wheeled traffic the roads of our country were utterly unworthy of the name, being, more particularly in wet weather, such quagmires that they were often impassable. ”

“ The unfortunate motorist is perhaps ploughing his way steadily along through the gravel, dust, and sand. He encounters a barrier across the road bearing a notice that repairs are going on and that he must follow the detour indicated. The road selected, I believe, is generally the one with the most pot-holes, ruts, mountains, canyons, etc., in its formation in the surrounding district. ”

“ The highways of the present day, radiating from London and the other large centres of industry, and extending their arms to every corner of the land, are wellnigh perfect in their kind, and present a picture of careful and efficient maintenance. Whether we look, for example, at the great north road leading from London, the Carlisle to Glasgow road, or the Highland road passing through Dunkeld, we find the roads have certain features in common: a broad hard roadway for vehicles ”

“ On the big road the great motor lorries slip and strain and beat the surface into huge ruts. When a car is stranded it is pushed into the ditch by the side. The men attached to it paddle about barefooted, hopelessly, doing little things they know will do no good. They must wait for the road to come to its senses. The pack-trains abandon the road completely and strike across the open country.
Ox-carts the final reliance of transport department But the ox-carts groan and creak and waggle on. The little oxen sway and grunt under the goad. Progress is infinitely slow, but there is progress. ”