IRLF 
 
 375 
 
 
REESE LIBRARY 
 
 OF THK 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Received .. i^/^*^L, i8p./. 
 
 Accessions 
 
THE 
 
 ELEMENTS OF 
 
 RAILROADING. 
 
 A SERIES OF SHORT ESSAYS REPRINTED FROM THE 
 RAILROAD GAZETTE, 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES PAINE. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 THE RAILROAD GAZETTE, No. 73 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. 
 1885. 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1884, 
 
 BY 
 THE RAILROAD GAZETTE. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 SURVEYING AND CONSTRUCTION. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Selection of Men Final Location Tact Accurate 
 Notes Specifications Overseeing Foundations 
 Tracklaying ........ i 
 
 CHAPTER il. 
 REAL ESTATE AND RECORDS. 
 
 Titles The Land Department Acquiring Titles Title 
 Records Maps A Modern Instance Preservation 
 of Records Retaining Possession Miscellaneous 
 Reports ......... 14 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 DRAINAGE. 
 
 Results of Bad Drainage Ditches at Top of Slope Tile 
 Drains Pole Drains Draining Yards Ditching 
 Provision against Floods 25 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 MAIN TRACK. 
 The Ideal Track Ballast Surfacing Joints Sleepers . 39 
 
IV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 TRACKMEN AND SIDINGS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Treatment of Trackmen Tools and Equipment 
 Shoveling Snow Locating Sidings Frogs and 
 Switches 48 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 STATIONS. 
 Roomy Sites Location Offices and Waiting Rooms 
 
 Water Closets Freight Houses Water Works . 58 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 SHOPS AND ENGINE-HOUSES. 
 
 Location Buildings Heating Foundry Interior Fit- 
 tings Sanitary Arrangements Cranes Round- 
 HousesTurn-Tables 71 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 TELEGRAPH LINES AND* FENCES. 
 Poles, Wires, etc. Uses of the Telegraph Telegraphers 
 
 Fences Barbed Wire Posts Gates . . . . 85 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 LOCOMOTIVES. 
 
 Runners should be Rotated Locomotives Continuously 
 Worked Interchangeability of Parts Inspection 
 during Construction Leading Freight Engines 
 Premiums to Enginemen Firing Painting Pat- 
 terns Weights, etc . 97 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 CARS. 
 
 Quality of Axles Wheel Threads Round Wheels Trucks 
 and Safety Attachments Interchangeability of Parts 
 Interchange of Cars Lubrication Limit of Loads . 112 
 
CONTENTS. V 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 THE MOVEMENT OF FREIGHT. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 To make all Cars Available Prompt Loading and Un- 
 loading Reporting Foreign Car Mileage Scales and 
 Cranes Charging Separate Items Avoid Switching 
 Long Trains Freight Blockades .... 125 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 THE MOVEMENT OF PASSENGERS. 
 
 Treatment of Passengers Discipline of Trainmen Inspec- 
 tion of Coaches Uniforms Refreshments Local 
 Trains Porters Baggage . . . . . 137 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 EMPLOYES. 
 
 Promotions Treatment of Derelicts Selection of Em 
 ployes Rewards and Punishments Provisions for 
 Comfort Associations 147 
 
ELEMENTS OF RAI .ROADING. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 SURVEYING AND CONSTRUCTION. 
 
 THE SELECTION OF MEN FINAL LOCATION TACT ACCURATE 
 NOTES SPECIFICATIONS OVERSEEING FOUNDATIONS 
 TRACKLAYING. 
 
 The organization of the engineering party for the 
 survey of a new railroad is usually intended to be a 
 temporary one, yet its results are often enduring 
 in their effect upon the road and upon the persons 
 engaged in the surveys ; the men, who go as rod- 
 men, chainmen, and axemen, naturally become 
 attached to the road in one capacity or another, 
 even if a long interval shall elapse between the 
 first surveys and construction. When the ground 
 is broken, they will surely be at hand, and persist 
 in being identified with the fate of the enterprise. 
 
2 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 It is, therefore, worth while, in the beginning, to 
 select the men with care ; and if the men, of 
 course, all the more the officers who are to com- 
 mand them. 
 
 The chief engineer in charge of the surveys 
 should be chosen for well-known ability and ex- 
 perience in construction, united to an acquaintance 
 with the needs of a road in operation ; and not 
 for any other kind of availability. An ignorant 
 and unskillful location may cost not only unneces- 
 sary sums in construction, but perpetual expendi- 
 tures afterward in the cost of hauling trains, or 
 large outlays to remedy the defects of the road as 
 first built. We may imagine a piece of country 
 in which the location or construction of a railroad 
 would be a very simple matter ; but a region 
 which is at all difficult will present problems 
 requiring a high order of talent for their solution. 
 
 These are truths which are perfectly familiar to 
 engineers ; but are so often ignored by capitalists, 
 or by their representatives, who undertake the 
 direction in the building of railroads, that it seems 
 advisable to reassert them whenever there is a 
 favorable opportunity to do so. 
 
 The best location can not be determined except 
 upon the ground ; the most trained and expert 
 imagination can not take in from contour maps all 
 the details which are seized on a view of the prob- 
 lem upon the natural scale. The maps may be of 
 great value in its determination after a study of 
 
TACT. 3 
 
 the ground, or they may enable an experienced 
 person to form an opinion as to whether a loca- 
 tion is good or decidedly bad ; but a line drawn 
 in the office by the chief engineer, when he has 
 not had time to visit the spot, is not sure to be the 
 best. On this account, the final surveys should 
 not be too much hurried ; if a necessity for haste 
 exists, then there is necessity also for more than 
 one engineer to whom the decision of difficult 
 problems maybe confided ; for, it is insisted upon, 
 they ought to be decided in the field. It seems 
 frequently to be supposed that it is the instru- 
 ments which perform the location, and not the 
 understanding and judgment which direct them. 
 
 It is a mistaken economy which strives to 
 accomplish cheap surveys, or a cheap supervision 
 of the construction of a railroad. 
 
 In setting out upon a railroad survey, it is not 
 uncommon for a party to proceed like an army in 
 the enemy's country, without the smallest regard 
 to the rights of the proprietors over whose land 
 they must pass ; trampling growing crops, throw- 
 ing down fences, cutting valuable trees, appro- 
 priating fence rails or fence boards to make stakes, 
 and afterward expressing surprise at the unfriendly 
 disposition of the owners of the soil. The dislike 
 of the railroad company and of railroad men 
 which this first impression engenders, frequently 
 endures, in an agricultural community, for many 
 years after the railway has gone into operation ; 
 
4 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 nothing could be more impolitic than such a 
 beginning, and nothing is more unnecessary. Of 
 course, it is not possible to avoid crossing the 
 fields, but straggling through them can be pre- 
 vented ; when a fence is taken down it should be 
 carefully restored ; a valuable tree should not be 
 cut, except upon final location; and then it should 
 be explained to the owner that he will be paid for 
 it. As " a soft answer turneth away wrath," so an 
 expression of regret to him at the invasion of his 
 domain, which duty has compelled the party to 
 make, and an assurance that it shall do as little 
 injury as possible, will often convert him into a 
 friend, especially if he finds it to be true that he 
 is not damaged more than need be. For this 
 reason, the material for stakes should be pur- 
 chased ; the best way, where there is a saw-mill 
 accessible, is to have them manufactured in bun- 
 dles, and delivered at the most convenient points. 
 They will be better stakes, and cost less than if 
 the material for them is stolen, and they are made 
 in the field by an axeman. 
 
 After the line has been determined, it is very pru- 
 dent, and will prove most convenient, to fix it at 
 frequent intervals by references, recorded in the 
 note-books, to permanent objects beyond the mar- 
 gins of the works, such as trees, ledges, heavy 
 bowlders, fence corners and buildings, where they 
 can be availed of ; and by reference-plugs when 
 they can not. No one can foresee at what moment 
 
A CCURA TE NO TES. 5 
 
 operations may be suspended, nor for how long, 
 nor what may befall the stakes or the center 
 plugs, which are sometimes plowed up, often mali- 
 ciously removed by persons who have a grudge to 
 satisfy ; and always exterminated by the operations 
 of the contractors. With frequent reference 
 points in his notes, the constructing engineer can 
 smile at the attempts to annoy him in this way: 
 and if the completion of the work should be 
 delayed, even for a generation, his successor will 
 bless him for the ready means which he has pro- 
 vided for restoring his line. 
 
 Having in view the various possibilities which 
 may devolve upon another the completion of the 
 work which he has begun, the conscientious engi- 
 neer will require that all note-books shall be dated 
 and shall state by whom the notes were written ; 
 and, so far as practicable, to what they refer. If 
 the final location is arrived at, or what is presumed 
 to be such, the note-books, plans and profiles hav- 
 ing reference to it should be inscribed accordingly, 
 and should be carefully annotated if any subsequent 
 change is made. There is no minute detail which 
 does not become precious to any one who follows 
 a preceding engineer upon railroad work, and it is 
 each one's duty to make his notes so full that they 
 shall be easily understood by whomsoever he may 
 be succeeded ; yet the characteristic of many note- 
 books, as also of many office plans and profiles, is 
 meagerness ; they contain nothing that could pos- 
 
6 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 siblybe omitted, and rarely any thing by which the 
 part of the world to which they have reference 
 can be readily known. Of course those now 
 referred to are the working plans. It is probable 
 that their incompleteness is due to the haste with 
 which nearly all office work must be done, and to 
 the fact that no one is expected to use them except 
 he who makes them or who has them made. Yet 
 a title and a date, if only in pencil, will be a sure 
 guarantee of future usefulness, and should be in- 
 variably required by instructions to all assistants 
 and draughtsmen from their superiors. The dis- 
 covery of such a date upon a plan which bore the 
 outlines of the then condition of an important 
 work once proved the chief means by which a 
 great lawsuit was decided, for it enabled the prin- 
 cipal witness to recall the circumstances under 
 which he had made the plan, which was then only 
 to be used for an approximate estimate ; but, after 
 ten or twelve years had elapsed, became valuable 
 for a final one. 
 
 There should always be more than one copy of 
 all notes of information which is likely to be per- 
 manently valuable. Immense damage and uncer- 
 tainty may result from the loss of a note-book, if 
 it contains, for instance, the only notes of the first 
 cross-sections of borrow pits or other excavations ; 
 a loss which is not only possible, but, according to 
 experience, is a frequent one. Even if the infor- 
 mation which is lost could be recovered, it is 
 
SORROW-PITS. 7 
 
 cheaper and more convenient to have recorded it 
 in the office, than to be compelled to make another 
 survey. Let no haste, or other consideration, 
 tempt an engineer to permit any excavation to be 
 attacked, before all the cross-sections of the sur- 
 face have been taken which will be required for an 
 accurate estimate; for he can not foresee the causes 
 of delay which may intervene before he can per- 
 form the leveling, after the digging has begun. 
 
 Shrewd contractors are on the look-out for such 
 instances of neglect, and will take advantage of 
 them, when they claim, as they often do at the 
 last, an underestimate. At such a time, when 
 before the courts, the engineer's judgment or recol- 
 lection as to the surface of the ground is no more 
 valuable than that of the contractor's foreman ; 
 but his instrumental determination of it is gener- 
 ally conclusive. 
 
 Specifications generally do, and always should 
 provide that borrow-pits must be finished to regu- 
 lar lines and surfaces, according to the direction 
 of the engineer ; yet they are almost always left 
 unfinished to any line and in a condition to be an 
 eyesore to every traveler ; filled with scattered 
 stumps, bowlders and pools of stagnant water, 
 making the area over which they extend unfit for 
 any use whatever. 
 
 Even if some small economy were effected by 
 leaving them in this disorderly state, it could not 
 justify the conversion of a fair piece of hillside or 
 
8 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 meadow into a hideous pit, to deface the railroad 
 margin and the neighborhood ; but usually the con- 
 tract price covers the cost of having the ground 
 left in acceptable shape, and only the engineer 
 in charge is to blame that it is not left so. He 
 should remember that, although he may be build- 
 ing through a wilderness, his work is likely to 
 make it " blossom as the rose," for population 
 surely follows the railroad. Even in the wilder- 
 ness the roadway should be neat and orderly, first, 
 as a matter of discipline, and second, because it is 
 easier and cheaper to keep it so than neglect it. 
 The twigs and weeds can be easily mowed, and 
 burned while small ; if neglected, they will intrude 
 beyond endurance, and when they have grown 
 strong the task of clearing the roadway is a serious 
 one. It is not alone as to borrow-pits that the 
 specifications are not enforced, or purposely say 
 more than they intend, leading to loose habits and 
 bad work ; for the contractor seeks to avoid com- 
 pliance in particulars of importance, because others 
 of less consequence are not firmly insisted upon. 
 The just way is carefully to prescribe in them 
 exactly what will be required, and no more. 
 
 In nothing is the mechanical law, that what is 
 gained in speed is lost in power, more clearly 
 exemplified than in the engineering department 
 of a railway, both in surveys and in construction. 
 If there is much important work, and it is to be 
 pushed, the number of the engineers in charge 
 
VERSE KING. 9 
 
 must be increased in proportion to the vigor 
 required. One engineer, however competent, is 
 physically capable of only a- certain amount of 
 oversight, and no satisfactory results can be relied 
 upon except through supervision by persons of 
 judgment and experience. The faults of construc- 
 tion which have been lamented upon so many 
 railroads, after they have gone into operation, 
 have been due chiefly to the insufficiency of the 
 engineering force employed. If a sufficient num- 
 ber of assistants have been engaged, the low rate 
 of pay allowed has not been enough to secure men 
 of experience to decide wisely the innumerable 
 problems which must be promptly settled, so that 
 the work shall not be delayed. Left to himself, 
 the chief engineer, if competent, will rarely fail 
 to provide an efficient and capable staff; he is 
 generally limited in this respect by the financial 
 administration, and makes up by his own over- 
 work so much of the deficiency as he can. The 
 remedy for this must, perhaps, be left to time, 
 showing by unfortunate experiences the bad 
 results of a mistaken policy. Examples are 
 plenty enough already, if they had their due 
 effect. 
 
 It would be better for the company that the 
 chief engineer should err in having too many com- 
 petent assistants, rather than by having employed 
 too few ; for the loss in the first instance would be 
 limited to a few salaries, and to the period of con- 
 
I O ELEMENTS OF RA ILROA DING. 
 
 struction ; in the last instance the damage may be 
 incalculable and perpetual. 
 
 The most critical of all work upon a railway is 
 the construction of foundations, whether for the 
 more important bridges or for culverts which are 
 comparatively insignificant in magnitude, but 
 which may involve, by their failure, the most seri- 
 ous destruction of life and interruption of traffic. 
 The decision of the vital questions affecting these 
 smaller structures, as the depth to which the 
 excavation shall be carried, and the sufficiency of 
 the bottom, is very often left to the sub-assistant, 
 which is really a criminal neglect of duty on the 
 part of the division engineer, if it comes from 
 laziness or indifference on his part ; if from having 
 too much else to attend to, he is certainly bound 
 to protest to his superiors against being compelled 
 to neglect the most important service upon which 
 he can be employed. There are occasional failures 
 of works of masonry due to their faulty workman- 
 ship, or to an insufficient thickness of the walls, 
 but they are rare in comparison with the numbers 
 which fail from defective foundations, and it is to 
 this part of his work that the engineer, the less 
 experienced one particularly, should give his most 
 earnest study. With all the information which he 
 may derive from text-books and from the pub- 
 lished examples of the works of others, he will find 
 occasions for the use of his best common sense to 
 apply his learning to the case in hand. 
 
FO UNDA TIONS. 1 1 
 
 The great value of concrete in foundations is 
 slowly coming to be appreciated, yet is not availed 
 of largely in railway works, except those of the 
 most imposing character ; while the cheapness, 
 convenience and superiority in all respects to any 
 other sort of base, should recommend it for uni- 
 versal use. It enables the engineer to build his 
 superstructure on a monolith as long, as wide and 
 as deep as he may think best to construct, which 
 can not fail in parts, but must go all together, if of 
 suitable proportions. 
 
 We are favored in this country with cheap 
 natural cements of excellent quality, seldom quite 
 equal to the artificial cements in strength, but 
 sufficient for all needs in walls and foundations, if 
 properly chosen and carefully inspected ; but 
 nothing is more likely to vary than one lot of 
 cement from another of the same manufacture. It 
 demands, therefore, great care in its use to obtain 
 the best results ; but these are so valuable when 
 attained, that no masonry should now be built 
 without cement mortar. The common mortar of 
 quicklime and sand is not fit for thick walls, be- 
 cause it depends upon the slow action of the atmos- 
 phere for hardening it, and, being excluded from the 
 air by the surrounding masonry, the mortar in the 
 interior of the mass hardens only after the lapse 
 of years, or perhaps never ; the mortar of cement, 
 if of good quality, sets immediately, and continues 
 to harden without contact with the air, and, so far 
 as is known, forever. 
 
12 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 At the time when tracklaying begins, the en. 
 gineering force is fully employed in hastening the 
 completion of the grading, running lines and 
 centers, and is probably harassed also by the de- 
 mand for final estimates from impatient contract- 
 ors. It will often be convenient, therefore, to 
 place the inspection of lumber, sleepers, rails, 
 spikes, bolts, angle-plates and similar supplies for 
 the superstructure, in charge of a separate depart- 
 ment organized to receive and forward these ma- 
 terials to the places where they are to be used. 
 The inspector can usually act as a tallyman and as 
 a forwarding agent also; he should be governed 
 in his inspection by the specifications from the 
 engineers. 
 
 However this may be arranged, it will be found 
 advantageous to have all supplies inspected, and 
 as near to the place of manufacture as possible ; 
 for there will often be some materials offered 
 which ought to be rejected, and there will be no 
 loss suffered from transportation, and therefore 
 less occasion for protests on the part of manufact- 
 urers when they are thrown out before shipment. 
 
 Steel rails need to be examined to insure that 
 they are not brittle, that they are straight, of ex- 
 act height, not depressed at the ends (a common 
 and serious defect, and not to be remedied in the 
 track, is this depression), and that they do not 
 vary unreasonably in length. Of course they must 
 be inspected for flaws; but the mills do that 
 
TRA CKLA YING. 1 3 
 
 usually quite thoroughly, since they have a good 
 market for rails of second quality. The common 
 defects in spikes are brittleness and imperfect 
 points ; in joint-bolts, bad material, loose nuts, 
 shallow threads ; in angle-plates, a variation from 
 the true section which makes them fit badly a 
 serious and not uncommon fault. It will require 
 careful tallying and careful accounting to keep 
 track of all the materials, to insure that none are 
 stolen, and, more than all, that none are wasted. 
 If track is laid by contractors, the proper allow- 
 ance of them per mile should be determined and 
 delivered to them upon receipts ; otherwise the 
 spikes and joint-bolts will be scattered and buried, 
 as if they were without value. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 REAL ESTATE AND RECORDS. 
 
 TITLES THE LAND DEPARTMENT ACQUIRING TITLES 
 TITLE RECORDS MAPS A MODERN INSTANCE PRESERVA- 
 TION OF RECORDS RETAINING POSSESSION MISCELLA- 
 NEOUS REPORTS. 
 
 The titles by which real estate or landed prop- 
 erty is held have always been the object of pecu- 
 liar care among civilized nations, and one of the 
 most important functions of our civil government 
 is to provide for the accuracy and safety of the 
 records by which they are perpetuated ; so that one 
 could expect that the conveyances taken by a rail- 
 road company would be cared for almost instinct- 
 ively ; yet it has been the misfortune of many a 
 railway president or manager to find that his 
 predecessors had given no attention to the preser- 
 vation or completion of the titles to the property 
 belonging to the company over which he had been 
 called to preside. 
 
LAND DEPARTMENT. 15 
 
 It will often be found that the original deeds, 
 or the awards in condemnation proceedings, have 
 never reached the office of the company ; they 
 have perhaps been handed to some local attorney 
 who acted temporarily for the company, and may 
 be lost in one of his dustiest pigeon-holes ; indeed, 
 conjecture can scarcely go astray in guessing what 
 may have befallen a railroad company's title deeds, 
 if they have not been carefully looked after by 
 some person who has had exclusive charge of them. 
 
 In the organization of a railroad company for 
 the purpose of building a new railroad, after the 
 engineering corps has been created, the very first 
 necessity is the establishment of a land depart- 
 ment with a capable officer at the head of it, who 
 shall be responsible only to the president, or to the 
 officer, by whatever name, who is charged with the 
 chief responsibility in the construction of the 
 road. The person selected for the head of the 
 land department should have had some familiarity 
 with land titles ; if he is an experienced convey- 
 ancer, so much the better, and he must be an en- 
 ergetic man, who will insist on having a perfect 
 title to each piece of property paid for. A weak 
 man will accept almost any title that is offered. 
 A fair lawyer of the right character is likely to 
 prove as serviceable as any person, if he is one of 
 those who have been trained to be methodical in 
 the care of papers, and if he can write a legible 
 hand. 
 
1 6 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 The papers concerning land titles should not be 
 trusted to the care of the engineer's department, 
 as they often are ; that department has too many 
 other matters to attend to ; its personnel r is too apt 
 to change frequently, while it is desirable that the 
 person who has become familiar with the titles of 
 the property shall remain in charge of them. 
 
 The engineering department should prepare a 
 small map of each property which is to be pur- 
 chased or otherwise acquired, to be firmly and per- 
 manently attached to the papers; this will render 
 the description clear to all parties and will serve to 
 correct any clerical error which may occur in the 
 description. 
 
 Generally it is best that the engineer's depart- 
 ment shall prepare the description, to be revised 
 by the conveyancer. The most thorough examina- 
 tion should be made of the validity of the title to 
 be acquired, for any plausible possession of a 
 property will seem to most holders to justify them 
 in giving a warranty deed to a railroad company, 
 provided that company will pay for it. Such ex- 
 aminations or searches are most readily conducted 
 by a reputable attorney who has been long settled 
 in the county where the property is situated, for 
 he will be already familiar with the history of most 
 of the older titles in his neighborhood ; yet his 
 approval of a deed should always be accompanied 
 by an abstract from the county records, to be 
 carefully scrutinized by the conveyancer at head- 
 
TITLE RECORDS. 17 
 
 quarters. The president, or whoever approves 
 the vouchers for the purchase of real estate, 
 should refuse to sign one until it has been first 
 certified by the conveyancer that the title acquired 
 by the company will be good and sufficient. 
 
 The title deeds having been signed, sealed, and 
 acknowledged before a magistrate, they must be 
 sent to the appropriate recorder's office, and an 
 entry of the date when they are sent should be 
 made in some proper place. A convenient method 
 of keeping in view all the proceedings relating to 
 the procurement of rights of way and other prop- 
 erties is to make a list, in a suitable book, of all 
 such properties in regular order, beginning at one 
 end of the line and following through to the other 
 end, with columns ruled in which to insert under 
 proper headings the date when condemnation 
 proceedings, if any, were commenced ; when 
 concluded ; when deed was taken ; amount paid 
 as consideration ; kind of deed, as warranty, quit- 
 claim, or award ; date of forwarding to recorder ; 
 date when returned ; number and file in which the 
 deed is to be kept; with a broad column for re- 
 marks. The entries in this book should be, at first, 
 several lines apart, to admit of interlineation which 
 will be required, because of discoveries which will 
 be made of several ownerships, in what is supposed 
 to be one property, and because of borrow-pits, 
 station grounds and other pieces of land which 
 will be wanted later on. 
 
iS ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 It is well, for these reasons, to give the deeds, 
 when filed, only a provisional number, at first in 
 pencil, corresponding with the number in the list 
 in the book, until the final number shall have been 
 arrived at, when they should be carefully numbered 
 in red ink and filed in the order of numbering. 
 Stout paper boxes, of a size to contain fifty or one 
 hundred deeds, should be provided for them, and 
 lettered on the outside, showing the numbers con- 
 tained in each ; it is sometimes convenient to note 
 on the outside of the boxes the names of the 
 county or townships in which the property cov- 
 ered by the contents of the box is situated. 
 
 The railroad company should have blank forms 
 for its deeds prepared by its conveyancer and 
 printed, so as to secure uniformity in style and 
 shape, and as a convenient means of insuring 
 against the omission of important clauses, also to 
 save much writing, which would be necessary in 
 using the ordinary blanks. 
 
 The deeds and all other valuable papers of any 
 well ordered railroad company should be kept in 
 a vault, or at least in a safe, taking care that the 
 safe is one which will carry them through a fire ; 
 for it is incredible, almost, how often such docu- 
 ments have been imperiled, and how often lost, by 
 a neglect of this most evident precaution. 
 
 As soon as the exigencies of the surveys will 
 permit the engineer's department should be re- 
 quired to prepare an atlas of the property of the 
 
MAPS. tg 
 
 railway company on a scale of not less than one 
 inch to 100 ft., preferably upon a larger scale, 
 showing the right of way, every outlying corner or 
 lot, every borrow-pit, carefully surveyed and 
 figured in the clearest manner. It is best to tint 
 the boundaries of the railroad company with some 
 pale color, using always the same, upon the inside 
 of the line, to make the area owned by the com- 
 pany distinguishable at a glance. The atlas 
 should be duplicate or triplicate, being traced 
 easily on thin paper by a boy in the office, the 
 sheets to be afterward bound into an atlas. The 
 properties shown in these volumes should bear on 
 the maps the names of the owners from whom 
 they are bought, character of title, when paid for, 
 consideration paid, so as to avoid a reference to 
 any other list or document for such information, 
 which is that most frequently required. It is very 
 useful to have the names of adjoining owners in 
 their proper places in the atlas, for it will often 
 save a visit to the place or a special survey when 
 additional width is required. 
 
 The distances and courses to all corners should 
 be carefully surveyed, and their relations to the 
 railroad boundaries should be showii and figured 
 on the atlas. Many railroad land m ^a and atlases 
 would be found not to contain one ogure which 
 would determine the exact relation of the railroad 
 line to any other line or point whatever. It is 
 also desirable to note in the atlas the relations of 
 
20 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 the " center lines " to the boundaries, to the 
 corners and to the first track laid, if only one track 
 is laid ; for without such a notation, the coming 
 generation may be totally in the dark about them. 
 In the history of a certain railroad company, its 
 board of directors and its policy were changed ; 
 from having contemplated a single track as the 
 extent of their undertaking, during which period 
 the first track was laid in the center of the right 
 of way, the possibility that a second track might 
 at some future date be required entered the presi- 
 dential mind, and it was decided to lay the first 
 track thereafter six feet to one side of the center of 
 the right of way; yet no minute of any change ap- 
 peared in the land-maps, neither in the deeds nor 
 elsewhere, so far as the successors to the builders 
 of the road could find. The fences had been 
 built so irregularly that they gave no certainty, 
 scarcely a hint, of the change, and by no means 
 indicated where the change had been made. Sus- 
 pecting such a change, however, correspondence 
 was had with the former chief engineer and with 
 his principal assistant ; they both believed it had 
 been made, did not recollect where, and both 
 remarked that the land-maps ought to show it. 
 Finally it was remembered that among the assist- 
 ant engineers who had been stationed on many 
 parts of the road was a painstaking man who kept 
 a diary, and from that invaluable record he kindly 
 sent an extract which gave all the information 
 
PRESER VA TION OF RECORDS. 2 1 
 
 required. Several law suits were necessary to main- 
 tain the boundaries established by this memoran- 
 dum; yet, as about one hundred and fifty miles 
 of road were affected by it, they had to be carried 
 through. 
 
 The land atlas is a convenient place in which to 
 note the position, character and elevation of bench- 
 marks, referred to the base of levels adopted for 
 the profiles of the line ; and a profile of the natural 
 surface plotted upon the maps is sometimes of 
 the greatest value and convenience. It is well 
 enough to add the grade line ; but that is so much 
 departed from, even during construction, as to be 
 of little importance. The base adopted for its 
 levels should be noted upon the title page of the 
 atlas ; also the date when the atlas was made. 
 Indeed, every plan or drawing which issues from 
 an engineer's office should be very distinctly dated. 
 In order that one copy of this valuable atlas, 
 which we have taken so much pains to describe, 
 shall be certainly preserved, the several copies 
 should not be kept together, that is, in the same 
 building : the distribution of them depends upon 
 the final organization adopted. The most natural 
 destination would be one copy to the superin- 
 tendent's office, one to the chief engineer's, and 
 one to the attorney's, provided each of these had 
 a fire-proof receptacle for his copy. 
 
 Although great trouble, uncertainty and expense 
 must attend the loss of the title deeds of a ra>\- 
 
22 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 way company, yet such losses occur every little 
 while even with companies which are believed to 
 be quite perfectly organized. Mention is made 
 of a great railroad corporation which stored these 
 papers for fifteen years in a cupboard, in shameful 
 disorder ; at last a fire destroyed every vestige of 
 them and of its land-maps, so that its whole line 
 required to be resurveyed, and it was years before 
 the company's records could be restored. 
 
 The cost to a corporation of a vault for the 
 storage of its valuable papers would be small, in 
 comparison with the expense which their loss 
 entails ; so that it may be held to be obligatory 
 upon the officers of a company to provide, from 
 the first, for the positive safety of its valuable 
 documents. A vault need not be burglar-proof, 
 only dry and fire-proof ; it can be cheaply built 
 inside or outside of almost any building ; it should 
 be convenient of access from the offices, other- 
 wise the papers will not be regularly returned 
 to it. 
 
 But, however carefully the records and titles 
 may be preserved, the land acquired may be lost 
 by neglect, as hinted in the preceding anecdote of 
 the unrecorded change in the position of the first 
 track. The boundaries of the railroad company's 
 property should be remorselessly fenced, with per- 
 fect exactness, from the beginning; heedless of 
 the requests and suggestions which will be made 
 by adjoining proprietors, who will wish to use the 
 
RETAIN POSSESSION. 23 
 
 margins of the railroad territory until they shall 
 be required for the uses of the company. 
 
 At first, such requests do not appear unreason- 
 able ; but they should always be refused, for if 
 the property is not included within the fences 
 from the beginning, it is very likely to be for- 
 gotten until too late ; the second fence will follow 
 fhe line of the first, and so on. Twenty years, a 
 short period in the life of a corporation, will give 
 the adverse party, who has occupied it, permanent 
 possession, of which advantage will surely be 
 taken ; a less period gives a right of way across 
 or over land which has been used for a lane, or 
 for the public to travel over. It might be worth 
 while, upon roads approaching the age of twenty 
 years' existence, to have the position of their 
 fences compared with their correct place, before it 
 is forever too late to get possession of what land 
 has not been fenced in. 
 
 It is more than probable that many railway 
 companies are the owners of houses occupied by 
 their employes or by strangers, from which they 
 ought to receive rent regularly, but do not ; it 
 sometimes happens that only some old trackman 
 or other ancient employe knows that the build- 
 ings belong to the company. From this it 
 will be seen how important it is to prepare for 
 the treasurer and paymaster a rent-roll from the 
 beginning, on which the location of every house, 
 name of occupant, if any, and rent collectible 
 monthly should duly appear. 
 
24 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 Akin to the preservation of a company's title 
 deeds, is that of the materials for its history, such 
 as the reports made from time to time by its chief 
 officers, and particularly the annual reports, 
 whether printed or not ; but especially if printed, 
 for such documents are mistakenly believed to 
 take care of themselves. The secretary is 
 naturally the proper officer upon whom to de"- 
 volve this duty. We shall never know how few 
 railroad corporations possess even one complete 
 file of their annual reports ; yet it is known that 
 many of the most important of them have not 
 such a collection. 
 
 They should be bound in volumes as fast as 
 they accumulate enough to warrant it. There 
 should be several copies of each report so pre- 
 served, for the volumes will constantly be wanted 
 for reference by the various departments ; quite 
 as likely by the law department as by any. 
 
 All contracts of importance should be printed, 
 so that copies may be distributed to the officers 
 whose duty it is to execute them, and as a 
 security against loss. 
 
 It is not uncommon tofind division superintend- 
 ents, master mechanics and others acting under 
 contracts of which they have no knowledge, hav- 
 ing never even seen a copy of them. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 DRAINAGE. 
 
 RESULTS OF BAD DRAINAGE DITCHES AT TOP OF SLOPE TILE 
 DRAINS POLE DRAINS DRAINING YARDS DITCHING 
 PROVISION AGAINST FLOODS. 
 
 There is probably no written book treating of 
 the construction of roads or of railroads in which 
 the necessity of drainage is not more or less in- 
 sisted upon ; yet in the building of our railways it 
 really seems to be the last matter to be attended 
 to. Examine any newly opened road, and you 
 will see that the engineers have been careful to 
 have the works completed with care, to conform 
 to the standard sections. The assistant in charge 
 of any division has possibly quarreled with the 
 contractor a half-dozen times about each cutting, 
 in order to get the slopes dressed to a true plane, 
 instead of being left a warped surface. It would 
 
26 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 be a marvel, nevertheless, if any measures had 
 been taken to preserve the slopes, or the ditches 
 at the bottom of them, which are relied upon to 
 drain the ballast. Generally the first hard rains 
 of spring, aided by the thawing of the frozen earth, 
 suffice to break down the slopes, fill up the ditches, 
 and reduce the force engaged upon maintenance 
 of way to a condition of despair ; for the ballast 
 must become saturated with water, the outer 
 portion of it gets filled with mud, destroying its 
 usefulness in great part ; it is not unusual for the 
 track to be floated by the mud and water, before 
 the ditching train can remove enough of the 
 sloughing banks to enable the water to run away 
 at the sides of the cut. Matters are the worst in 
 clay cuttings, of course, although bad enough in 
 any wet soil ; that is, in any soil which does not 
 drain itself, as sand or gravel will do, if the clay 
 substratum is not too near. If the sloughing is 
 very bad, it is probable that a heavy stone wall 
 will be decided upon as the proper thing to hold 
 the slopes back ; or, where stone is scarce, the pile- 
 driver will be called into requisition to drive a 
 stout row or two of piles to resist the forces of 
 Nature ; but the cause of the sloughing is un- 
 affected, it continues to undermine the banks, 
 frequently topples over the wall, and after a few 
 years surmounts the piles or crowds them into the 
 cut. 
 
 Meanwhile, the mud-train has had to struggle 
 
DITCHES A T THE TOP. 27 
 
 each fall and spring with the mud which would 
 get over, through or around the protection which 
 had been erected. 
 
 Now, in most cases, all this trouble could have 
 been avoided, the perfect form of the slopes and 
 ditches, as well as the integrity of the ballast, 
 would have been preserved, and no one would 
 ever have thought of building a slope wall or 
 driving piles to hold back the mud, if the engineer 
 who built the road had looked to the drainage. 
 
 It may be broadly stated, as a general proposi- 
 tion, that if the water is removed from any bank 
 of earth, that bank will stand at a slope of one 
 and a half to one, the usual earth slope, or at a 
 steeper angle ; if the water is not removed from a 
 wet bank, the slope will take a flatter angle, 
 depending upon the degree of its saturation. 
 The most effectual mode of removing the water 
 from a wet cut is the cheapest one to adopt ; but 
 remove the water you must, if you wish for peace 
 and quiet. It is best -to begin at the top ; most 
 railroad men begin at the bottom, because that is 
 nearest to the track, it may be supposed. If the 
 cutting is through sloping ground, as most cut- 
 tings are, one side of the cut will be exposed to 
 the flow of water from the ground above it, which 
 should be intercepted by a ditch at the top of the 
 slope ; a short distance back from the edge is the 
 best. If the surface soil is porous, resting upon a 
 clay subsoil, the ditch should be lined, if possible, 
 
28 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING, 
 
 with cement or bitumen, or with plank if neces- 
 sary ; the object being to catch the water and 
 carry it away, as an eave-trough does, not letting 
 it soak down into the clay below, which is usually 
 too wet already. 
 
 The next place to give trouble is the foot of 
 the slope ; the water which falls upon the slope, 
 that which percolates through the bank, and that 
 which comes from the ballast, unite to soak and 
 thereby to soften the earth at the bottom of the 
 slope, which has to sustain the entire load of the 
 hill above, which it can do only so long as it is 
 dry and consequently firm ; as soon as it becomes 
 soft it must yield to the pressure from above. 
 Get this water away as quickly as you can ; you 
 can not be too quick about it. If your cut is upon 
 a very steep grade, it is possible that you may be 
 able to run the water off in the ditches, at the foot 
 of the slopes ; if on any ordinary grades, the best 
 way is to lay TILE DRAINS in the bottom of the 
 ditches at a depth, say 5 ft., sufficient to have 
 them secure from frost, and so ready to work con- 
 tinuously day and night, summer and winter, 
 which they will do if put below frost. If any 
 springs are discovered in the slopes of the cutting, 
 they should be piped into the main drains which 
 you lay in the bottom of the ditches ; if the whole 
 is wet, it can be perfectly drained by lines of 
 small tiles laid diagonally down the slopes, at inter- 
 vals of from 20 to 40 ft., according to the amount 
 
TILE DRAINS. 29 
 
 of water to be taken care of. A little experience, 
 with a little good judgment, will enable any one 
 to proportion the sizes of tiles used to the length 
 and wetness of the cutting to be drained. Begin- 
 ning at the mouth of a cutting with tiles of 5 in. 
 in diameter, they may diminish in size to 3 in. at 
 the summit of the grade to which the tiles are 
 laid, or at the upper end of the cut. Two or three 
 lines of tiles may be laid in the same trench if 
 the quantity of water requires more room than is 
 afforded by one line. The tiles for piping off the 
 water in the slopes should not be of less than 2 in. 
 bore. The drain tiles of round section are the 
 best, as least likely to be removed out of line, as 
 a little reflection will show. They are frequently 
 made with flat bottoms ; these, if canted or rolled 
 over by any cause, must get out of line, and so 
 interrupt the continuity of the drain. They 
 should be- one foot in length ; the frequency of the 
 joints is an advantage, as it allows the water to 
 get readily into the drain. Whoever begins the 
 use of drain-tiles will suppose that he must pro- 
 vide some porous material, like gravel, to cover 
 them with, in order to afford a free passage for 
 the water into the drain ; but he need have no 
 anxiety about that, for the water is bound to get 
 in if the drain is there. A good stiff clay is the 
 best covering for the tiles, as it does not wash nor 
 fall into them at the joints as fine gravel does. 
 In some very soft quicksand cuts, in which the fine 
 
30 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 sand filled the tiles rapidly, destroying their use- 
 fulness, a thick sod was laid in the bed of the 
 ditch, the grassy side up ; the tiles were laid in 
 this and covered with another sod, grassy side, 
 down ; the ditch was then filled up with earth. 
 The result was a very successful drain. When 
 round tiles are used, the .bottom prepared for 
 them should be semi-circular and as nearly as pos- 
 sible of the exact size of the tiles, which is easily 
 accomplished by having tools of the proper form 
 and dimensions. The men who are accustomed 
 to laying these drains have acquired much skill, 
 and in ordinary soils do not disturb or handle any 
 more material than is necessary to allow the inser- 
 tion of the tiles; they will often make an opening 
 of less than one foot in width at the top of a ditch 
 5 ft. deep ; and they will contract for laying such 
 drains at a price per rod which will astonish the 
 inexperienced engineer or track-master. If an 
 expert can be got to superintend the first opera- 
 tions, he will be cheap at almost any price ; yet 
 no one who will act upon these hints can go far 
 wrong ; nor will the cost of his work be any thing 
 like that of not draining his road bed, if it is wet. 
 When the drain is completed, if he will notice the 
 flow of water from it and calculate the quantity 
 which flows out each day, and consider that it 
 never entirely ceases ; he will begin to wonder 
 where it all went to before the drain was built, 
 and he will be entirely satisfied that the cost of 
 
POLE DRAIN'S. 31 
 
 the drain was small compared with the resulting 
 benefit. In a double-track cut, perfection of 
 drainage is secured by laying another line of tiles 
 between the tracks. 
 
 If, in summer, there should be little or no water 
 passing through the drains, the moles, snakes and 
 even muskrats will harbor in the ends of them, 
 obstructing them with their nests. To guard 
 against such intrusions requires some precautions, 
 as building a small trap # or catch basin near the 
 mouth of the drain ; a U trap has been used with 
 success made of baked clay like the tiles. All 
 such devices require to be cleaned out frequently, 
 for the mud brought down in the water is deposited 
 in them ; if not cleaned out, the drains would 
 become obstructed, which would injure them seri- 
 ously. 
 
 In very wet cuts, where the quicksand flows in 
 faster than it can be removed, a good drain can be 
 laid of poles, roughly trimmed of their limbs, laid 
 heads and points, so as to keep the drain of uni- 
 form section. Such a drain from 12 in. to 1 8 in. 
 square, will pass a great quantity of water, and 
 one in each ditch will drain almost any cutting ; if 
 there is plenty of water, it will last forever, and 
 keep itself clear ; if there is not a large flow of 
 water, it will soon become filled up. 
 
 Let any person in charge of roadway select his 
 wettest cutting for experiment, if he has any doubt 
 as to the efficacy of the mode of drainage here 
 
32 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 recommended ; and he will certainly find his track 
 lie as still in the winter, in an excavation so 
 drained, as if it were on a bank of gravel. But it 
 is not important to use the methods here described ; 
 it is of vital importance to get rid of the water, in 
 one way or another. 
 
 The drain tiles will be found of inestimable 
 value for the drainage of large station yards where 
 ditches would be inconvenient, and even in such 
 places as will admit of ^surface ditches, because 
 they can and should be placed deep under the sur- 
 face ; for it is of great benefit to remove all water 
 to a distance of 5 or 6 ft. from the ballast upon 
 which the tracks lie. Capillary attraction will 
 raise moisture from 5 ft. in depth in sand or loam ; 
 and when freezing weather begins, the dryer the 
 ballast and the soil upon which it rests may be, at 
 the depth to which freezing extends, the less 
 heaving of the ground there will be, and conse- 
 quently the slighter will be the disturbance of the 
 track. In bad soils, the grounds surrounding 
 shops, engine houses and station buildings are wet 
 and uncomfortable in autumn and spring, or in 
 any wet weather. This may be completely pre- 
 vented by tile drains, provided an outlet for them 
 can be secured. Of course the more fall there is 
 for any drain, within reasonable limits, the better 
 for the drain ; yet even when carried level they 
 will do a great deal of good. By their use, the 
 thickness of the ballast or of gravel under tracks 
 
DRAINING YARDS. 33 
 
 and around stations may be reduced about 
 one-half an economy which will pay well for 
 laying the tiles, where ballasting materials are 
 scarce. 
 
 Among the most difficult places to maintain 
 in busy yards are the crossings of tracks, particu- 
 larly those that cross nearly at right angles. 
 Knowing this, the person in charge of the track 
 generally excavates deeply at such a point and 
 fills in with broken stone or with the best mate- 
 rial he can get, providing in this way an excellent 
 drainage well for the adjacent road-beds. If he 
 will supplement his labors by laying drain tiles in 
 each direction through the bed of ballast which 
 he has prepared for his crossing, taking care to 
 give them a. free discharge, he will find that he 
 will need do nothing more for that crossing until it 
 is worn out. Some idea of the quantity of water 
 discharged by these drains may be conveyed to 
 the inexperienced if they will notice the flow 
 from the eave-spouts of a small shed during a 
 smart shower, and remember that an equal volume 
 of water falls upon the same area of track or 
 yard, soaking the ground permanently, if means 
 are not provided for its removal. A perfectly dry 
 cellar under a warehouse in a wet clay soil was 
 secured by the use of these drain tiles ; and in 
 another instance they maintained the bottom of 
 the pit of a transfer table in an excellent dry state. 
 A water section was secured near a very wet cut 
 
34 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 by turning the drain into a cistern ; and it hap- 
 pened in this case, as it might in many others, that 
 the cistern afforded the most convenient outlet 
 for the drains that could be had. 
 
 There are thousands of miles of imperfectly 
 ballasted or wholly unballasted road-bed in this 
 country, lying near the natural surface of the 
 ground, which would be rendered passably safe 
 against the worst effects of wet and frost, if only 
 a deep ditch were dug on each side of the road- 
 bed to allow the water falling on the surface to 
 flow quickly to a considerable depth below the 
 surface on which the sleepers rest. The chief 
 reason why broken stone and gravel make the best 
 ballast is that they permit the water to pass 
 through and to flow away from them so rapidly; 
 if other materials can be so treated as to approxi- 
 mate to their condition, they will approach just so 
 nearly to them in value for supporting the track. 
 On poor railways, where expenditures must be 
 kept at a minimum, and where the track-master is 
 allowed only men enough on each section to 
 operate the hand-car, it often seems quite impos- 
 sible to get any ditching done, however sore the 
 need. The section foreman's idea of usefulness 
 and duty is confined to " keeping up the joints 
 and centers ;" he and his men are always tamping 
 the ties and disturbing the road-bed, when they 
 are not screwing up the joint bolts or riding over 
 the section on the hand-car. These are important 
 
DITCHING. 35 
 
 matters, of course, but may be overdone, while 
 ditching is left undone. Under this conviction, 
 in the straitened circumstances which have been 
 described, and determined that the necessary 
 ditches should be cut before the autumnal rains, 
 the section foremen, upon a hundred miles of new 
 road in operation, were told that they must not 
 touch a joint, neither surface nor tamp any part of 
 the track, unless it became positively dangerous ; 
 they must devote their time and energy to ditch- 
 ing ; any foreman found doing any thing except 
 ditching would be dismissed, unless he could offer 
 an acceptable excuse. These orders were issued 
 in August, with the result that by the first of 
 November the entire line was well ditched, at all 
 important places, and the track passed through 
 the winter and spring very comfortably, notwith- 
 standing a lamentable want of ballast. 
 
 The neophyte placed in charge of a division of 
 track should be warned that the section foreman 
 of common mold always begins a ditch at the 
 upper end, and, however well he may carry it on, 
 he never opens the lower end of it, so that it may 
 discharge freely, until the track-master finds the 
 ditch full of water and orders the necessary out- 
 let to be provided. It is best, therefore, to give 
 special directions about this, in each case, to 
 begin with. 
 
 The earth thrown out of the ditches should be 
 evenly spread over the surface outside of them, 
 
36 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 making a gentle slope toward the ditch, when- 
 ever possible. The sooner this is done the 
 cheaper it will be done ; for freshly moved earth 
 shovels much easier than that which has been con- 
 solidated by rain. When the earth has been 
 spread in this way, the roadway can be cultivated 
 or easily kept clear of brush and weeds, and as 
 nothing is more discreditable than a disor- 
 derly roadway, this is a matter worthy of atten- 
 tion. 
 
 All this has no reference to what is considered 
 the main drainage system of a railroad, which 
 looks to provision for passing the streams and 
 rivers safely through or under it ; only on rare 
 occasions over it. There are many large and 
 scientific treatises on these matters, which should 
 be studied before the tyro undertakes to act as 
 engineer in their construction ; yet there are a 
 few hints not found in all the text-books, which 
 may be useful. 
 
 In this country, the habits of all streams are 
 likely to be very much altered by the building of 
 a railroad into any new part of it. Generally the 
 marshes will be ditched, the woods will be felled 
 and other changes made, which w T ill concentrate 
 the water into fewer channels than it originally 
 flowed through, and it will reach them much 
 quicker than it formerly did ; consequently 
 the water-way provided for them should be very 
 much greater than that which they would require 
 
PROVISION FOR FLOODS. 37 
 
 if they could be expected to retain their original 
 size. The very best judgment and the largest 
 conceivable allowance may altogether fail (and 
 often do fail) to anticipate to what dimensions 
 any stream may attain ; but as a minimum the 
 following has proved a tolerably safe rule : Ascer- 
 tain the area occupied by the stream, at its high- 
 est known flood ; double this to arrive at the area 
 to be provided before the water shall rise above 
 its previous flood level ; and allow at least a half 
 more of room for extra floods, before your struct- 
 ure can be considered full. 
 
 But, however much room may have been pro- 
 vided, the labors of the engineer may come to 
 naught from the neglect to construct or maintain 
 a clear channel for the water to enter in a direct 
 manner or to flow freely away from the bridge, or 
 arch or culvert. So often are these channels 
 neglected, particularly under deep embankments, 
 where it is somewhat difficult or fatiguing to visit 
 them, that the track-master or superintendent 
 who has some such structures under his charge, 
 which he has not lately looked after, would do 
 well to take a hand-car or special engine at once 
 and see how they appear. They have been often 
 found blocked with brush and flood wood, when 
 they appeared clear and right from above ; or the 
 channel has begun to wash out at the lower end 
 of the paving to a depth which the next flood 
 would render dangerous ; or the last flood started 
 
38 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 an opening into the embankment behind one of 
 the wings, etc.. for all which evils there is an easy 
 remedy, if taken in time ; but after the next 
 storm it may be too late. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 MAIN TRACK. 
 THE IDEAL TRACK BALLAST SURFACING JOINTS SLEEPERS. 
 
 The foundation of all good railroading is a good 
 track, without which, no matter how superior all 
 other appliances and equipments may be, there 
 can be no success. Speed, safety and economy 
 in operating expenses, all depend upon the 
 character of the track. Every other department 
 of the administration may be pinched or slighted 
 with less evil results than that of the maintenance 
 of way. Doubtless the absolute minimum of 
 expenses would exist upon a road where the con- 
 dition of the track should be perfect, with nothing 
 to be desired in the way of betterment. It might, 
 indeed, cost too much, rendering the interest 
 account too large in comparison with the traffic 
 carried over it ; but the expenses of operation, as 
 repairs of roadway, of engines, of cars, would be 
 less than have ever been realized. 
 
40 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 An ideal track, such as this, may not be 
 altogether attainable, yet it should be continually 
 approached, with the knowledge that every de- 
 parture from the ideal condition is a certain cause 
 of expense. This perfect condition demands, first, 
 that the surfaces of the rails shall be exactly true 
 to the plane of the grade, so that no vertical 
 shock shall be given to the wheels as they roll 
 over the track ; and second, that the line of the 
 rails shall be so true that the flanges of the wheels 
 will seldom touch them, and then without a jar. 
 If the speed of all trains were uniform, the 
 elevation of the outer rails^could be so exactly ad- 
 justed as to fulfill this second demand upon curves, 
 as well as upon straight lines; since, however, the 
 speed of trains varies widely, it is necessary to 
 " split the difference " and to accept an elevation 
 too great for low speeds and really less than is 
 desirable for high speeds. It is safer, with our 
 tendency to higher speeds, to adopt a higher 
 elevation than the average rate would require. 
 This second demand will also compel an addition 
 of width to the gauge, in proportion to the rate 
 of curvature. A neglect to " spread the gauge " 
 in this way, in the turn-outs for sidings, is a fre- 
 quent cause for derailment in switching. This 
 widening of the gauge may be larger in amount 
 than is necessary to conform to the rule, rather 
 than too little. Every one should know where to 
 find the rules and tables for the super-elevation of 
 
THE IDEAL TRACK. 41 
 
 rails and for the widening of gauge, for they are 
 advertised in the Railroad Gazette. 
 
 Too little care is taken, in general, to secure 
 perfection of line. After curves have once been 
 laid according to centers from the engineers, they 
 are left for years, perhaps forever, subject to the 
 eccentricities of vision of each succeeding section 
 foreman. No human eye can be relied upon to 
 run a true curve unaided. So, after track has 
 been raised to final grade, each curve should be 
 carefully run with a transit, and centers, not more 
 that 50 ft. apart, should be permanently fixed as 
 a constant guide for the trackmen. Perfection 
 can not be arrived at upon straight lines without 
 the use of the transit, and it would be profitable 
 upon the larger roads to furnish for each section 
 a cheap, plain transit, without graduated circle or 
 compass, to secure better alignment and to save 
 the time of men when lining track. Upon small 
 roads, where there is no permanent corps of 
 engineers, it would pay well to employ a force 
 temporarily, to fix the lines by permanent stakes. 
 
 It is not very difficult to put a piece of road 
 into a condition nearly approaching the ideal 
 perfect state just described; the important 
 problem for practical men is, how to keep it so. 
 In a perfectly dry climate this problem would 
 resolve itself into a question of the proper num 
 ber of suitable sleepers, and of any material under 
 them, which should have sufficient stability to 
 
42 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 prevent their being pressed into it by the passing 
 loads ; but in our climate, the rain or snow will 
 saturate and render semi-fluid all materials which 
 will absorb much moisture; as soon as wet, these 
 materials, such as loam or clay, yield to the pres- 
 sure, and the labor which may have been expended 
 in adjusting the track is lost. Following this 
 comes the frost, which heaves the wet soil up, 
 carrying the track along with it, until the spring, 
 when the particles of ice which have distended 
 the earth are melted, and it slumps down, affording 
 .no support whatever to the track. Evidently 
 those materials which will hold the least moisture 
 are the best to use for maintaining a track, and 
 the best among such is broken stone, whether in 
 the form of gravel or broken artificially ; of which, 
 it has been found by experience, that about two 
 feet in depth, upon well settled embankments or 
 in thoroughly drained cuttings, will maintain a 
 severely worked track in fair condition through- 
 out the year. By so much as this thickness of 
 ballast is reduced, by so much will the labor be 
 increased which will be necessary to keep the 
 track in an equally good state ; yet even six 
 inches in depth under the sleepers will be of great 
 value. Broken stone is superior to gravel in 
 general for ballast, because there is usually some 
 admixture of loam or clay, or of too fine sand, in 
 gravel in its natural state. If these objectionable 
 materials were to be screened out, or, still better, 
 
BALLAST. 43 
 
 washed out, a very excellent ballast might be in 
 many places procured, at a less cost than by 
 breaking up stone. Where a good supply of 
 water can be had the cost of washing gravel need 
 not be excessive. In hydraulic mining the ordi- 
 nary cost of washing gravel for gold is stated at 
 from two to four cents per cubic yard ; for the 
 hardest material, cemented gravel, it sometimes 
 amounts to 12 cents. 
 
 Of natural materials the next in value for bal- 
 last is very coarse sand, because it will retain less 
 moisture than any other except stone in a coarse 
 form ; yet it has not stability enough to support a 
 track permanently, which, when ballasted with 
 sand, requires a constant and large expenditure of 
 labor in raising and retamping it. Sand is objec- 
 tionable also as always more or less dusty. Fur- 
 nace slags, and even hard-burned brickbats, have 
 been used with much advantage where stone and 
 gravel could not be got. They are friable, and, 
 like soft stones, do not endure well the tamping 
 necessary to consolidate the ballast under the 
 sleepers. The harder the stone the better, if it 
 can be broken into cubes of from one to two 
 inches on the side, by hammers or in the crusher. 
 It is not worth while to put expensive ballast 
 upon new, unsettled embankments, for it will be 
 lost ; where track must be laid upon them before 
 they have become consolidated, it should be sur- 
 faced with the best cheap material at hand. 
 
44 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 A track laid upon good ballast of sufficient 
 thickness, if once well surfaced and tamped, should 
 require very little labor upon it afterward, except 
 as renewals are needed ; but when laid upon a 
 material containing loam or clay, it will need to 
 be constantly readjusted ; yet it may be raised 
 and tamped too often. The only hope with bad 
 materials is that they may become consolidated, 
 and shed the rain instead of absorbing it. This 
 can be promoted by giving the surface as steep a 
 slope from the center of the track each way, to the 
 edge of the embankment or ditch, as the proper 
 bedding of the sleepers will allow. If the earth 
 has been freshly stirred, it will soak in all the 
 water that falls upon it and becomes mud ; of 
 course, all the labor which has been expended in 
 raising such a track is lost during the first heavy 
 storm. Bad materials should never be tamped 
 after the approach of the rainy season ; the only 
 way then to raise the low places is by wooden 
 shims between the sleepers and the rails until the 
 dry season comes round again. The poorer the 
 ballast the more grass will grow in it ; when 
 allowed to vegetate undisturbed it will soon work 
 much harm to the ballast, and ought therefore to 
 be promptly removed. Special tools are made for 
 cutting up the grass in gravelly road-beds, with- 
 out disturbing the surface too deeply, and more 
 rapidly than it can be done with a shovel. 
 
 Next in importance to good drainage and good 
 
RAILJOINTS. 45 
 
 ballast, in the maintenance of a railroad, is a first- 
 rate joint for the rails. For a very long time, in 
 this country, experiments we:e confined to seek- 
 ing the cheapest device which would carry a train 
 safely; it did not enter the minds of men to in- 
 vent the best possible joint regardless of cost, as 
 they ought to have done first ; when, having found 
 a perfect standard, they might have calculated 
 how far they could afford to depart from it. It is 
 likely that they would have become satisfied, very 
 soon, that the best joint is the cheapest in the 
 long run ; for it is a difficult thing to hold together 
 stiffly the adjacent ends of two shallow bars, such 
 as our rails, under the impact of the heavily loaded 
 wheels of a railroad train. The first fish-plates 
 used were little more than a hinge ; the short 
 angle plates leave something to be desired ; laid 
 between the sleepers, they certainly have not ful- 
 filled the expectations of their advocates; length- 
 ened to extend over three sleepers, one of which 
 is under the joint, they make a splice which 
 carries the wheels better than any thing yet 
 tried. 
 
 For a long time, it has been an unsettled ques- 
 tion whether to lay the joints, in the two lines of 
 rails which constitute a track, opposite or alterna- 
 ting ; theory, of course, woulci counsel that they 
 should alternate, yet the weak joints used at first 
 caused a track so laid to impart a rolling motion 
 to the train, which was more disagreeable that the 
 
46 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 square jump made when the joints were opposite ; 
 a remembrance of this still survives among old 
 track-masters, who are reluctant to believe that 
 this objection has been overcome by strengthen- 
 ing the joint ; nevertheless, they may convince 
 themselves of the truth by riding over a good 
 track so laid, or by inspecting the diagrams taken 
 by Mr. P. H. Dudley's admirable testing car, 
 which prove it conclusively. 
 
 The best sleepers (the name cross-tie is a mis- 
 taken use of a word which belongs to the bridge 
 builders) are of white oak ; they should be peeled, 
 with ends squared exactly to length. As they 
 cost less here than steel rails, we can afford to use 
 more of them under the rails, rather than to in- 
 crease the height or weight of the rails, one or the 
 other of which things ought to be done, on many 
 of our railroads ; for the sleepers should be so 
 near together that there will be no sensible de- 
 flection of the rails between them, under the 
 heaviest loads, which is not the condition now 
 generally existing. An extensive use of iron or 
 steel for sleepers will not probably prevail in- this 
 country, for many years yet. The impossibility 
 of getting strong, durable timber sleepers at 
 reasonable cost, has led to the use of metal ones 
 in countries where-there is very little or no frost ; 
 in this land, where every thing is more or less rigid 
 in winter from freezing, the superior elasticity of 
 wood under the rails will continue to make wooden 
 
SLEEPERS. 47 
 
 sleepers preferred ; and if they were to be creosot- 
 ed, they might prove not only better on this ac- 
 count, and cheaper, but even as durable as the 
 iron ones. It is a question at this time, worth the 
 attention of managers, whether or not it would be 
 profitable to creosote them ; probably the slightly 
 increased cost of handling would be more than 
 repaid by the increased durability of the sleepers, 
 to those roads which import their supplies of them 
 through one or two depots. 
 
 Chestnut and the best Southern yellow pine 
 rank next after white oak in value for sleepers; 
 other woods are either very much inferior to these 
 in durability in their natural state, or are to be 
 had in too small quantities to make it worth while 
 to classify them. There are many kinds which 
 would be very valuable if creosoted ; the requisites 
 then would be that they should possess a firmness 
 of fiber sufficient to stand up under the load of 
 trains, and to hold a spike. There are several 
 other processes for preserving timber which would 
 be of value, yet creosoting has established itself as 
 the most satisfactory one for sleepers. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 TRACKMEN AND SIDINGS. 
 
 THE TREATMENT OF TRACKMEN TOOLS AND EQUIP- 
 MENT SHOVELING SNOW LOCATING SIDINGS FROGS AND 
 SWITCHES. 
 
 Although the better the track the fewer the 
 men required to keep it in good order, yet a cer- 
 tain number will be required upon any track to 
 look after it and to make immediate repairs when 
 needed ; and, as in other work, experience is of 
 value in the performance of the duties of a 
 laborer on track. If he is possessed of a little 
 judgment he will waste less time,about a job than 
 if he has none ; so that old trackmen who have 
 been under the training of a good foreman are 
 entitled to be classed as skilled laborers, and a 
 railroad company should try, by a little increase 
 of wages and of privileges, to keep them in its 
 service rather than to allow them to be replaced 
 by green men. The same is true as to foremen 
 in a greater degree. They are, indeed, every- 
 
TREA TMENT OF TRA CKMEN. 49 
 
 where paid as skilled men ; yet the value to a 
 company of a trusty man, who is acquainted with 
 his section and who has learned how to keep his 
 men well at work, and how to teach them, is not 
 always appreciated. Such men are rare and are the 
 most necessary to the proper maintenance of the 
 track. It should be the aim of every trackmaster 
 or supervisor to increase their number ; for this 
 reason, and to add to the efficiency of the track 
 force, it is advisable to have at least two foremen 
 in embryo, upon each section, distinguished by 
 authority and by a small increase in wages from 
 the other men ; the higher in rank may be called 
 assistant foreman and the other spiker. These 
 small allowances in their pay will be well returned 
 to any company, if the track-master has selected 
 the promoted men with judgment. It has been 
 found useful, as a means of discipline and of 
 instruction, to require frequent written reports 
 from the section foremen ; they should not be too 
 long nor relating to unimportant matters ; but 
 they may embrace all the statistics which would 
 be useful, and convey lucid information as to any 
 notable events which occur on the section. 
 Printed forms containing questions to be answered 
 assist in giving an idea of the information wanted. 
 It is common enough to find a severe economy 
 as to the number of men employed, upon roads 
 where very little attention is given to economizing 
 their time, by providing them, for instance, with 
 
50 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 hand cars which run easily and with cold chisels 
 which will stand to cut a rail, or claw-bars which 
 will really pull a spike; and on such roads the 
 working trains will generally be equipped with the 
 least useful engines, which will get stalled in the 
 pit or even on the main track, resulting in the loss 
 of hours of the time of the men. A little reflec- 
 tion, or a brief calculation, should convince any 
 railroad officer that such neglect involves the most 
 useless waste. Better to pay the highest price for 
 the hire of a serviceable locomotive, rather than 
 to use an incompetent one for a working train. 
 On roads where this train is required to serve at 
 distant places, boarding cars with arrangements 
 for lodging the men will prove very economical of 
 their time, and will more than repay the cost of 
 fitting up. The force may then be laid off at any 
 siding, at night, without unnecessary running to 
 headquarters. 
 
 It is not everywhere made one of the special 
 duties of the trackmen to clear the road of snow 
 in the winter, depending upon the snow-plows run 
 by the locomotives to accomplish this ; yet a force 
 on foot, armed with shovels, can often anticipate 
 the plow, or lend great effect to its finishing work 
 by roughly trenching the drifted cuttings. In 
 fact, the quickest mode of opening a badly-drifted 
 road is by shovelers rather than by locomotives. 
 It is an excellent plan, on such a road, to author- 
 ize each section foreman to hire as many men as 
 
SHOVELING SNOW. 51 
 
 he can after a violent storm, to help in clearing 
 the track. The whole neighborhood will generally 
 assist with great cheerfulness, and the drifts will 
 have disappeared in no time, if the wind has gone 
 down. Immense service in clearing away the snow 
 cheaply may be rendered, on tracks not too 
 busily occupied by traffic, by snow-plows of rough 
 planks, such as are used for common roads, drawn 
 by oxen. Such means are not to be despised, 
 even on great main lines, where several locomo- 
 tives frequently fail to drive through the most 
 magnificent regulation plow on wheels. The 
 principle of overcoming the enemy in detail, or in 
 small detachments, is'well illustrated in the suc- 
 cessful " fighting of snow-drifts." 
 
 Whenever a siding is to be laid, leading out of 
 a main track over which the trains run rapidly, a 
 new source of danger is introduced into the oper- 
 ations of the road, and it should be a matter of 
 grave reflection how to construct it in the manner 
 which will involve the fewest chances of accident. 
 The most convenient or the least expensive posi- 
 tion for the switches may be where they will be 
 the most concealed from the view of approaching 
 trains ; and it would be better, in the long run, to 
 spend a larger sum for the sake of having them 
 visible from afar, or to protect them by interlocked 
 danger signals, at a safe distance. 
 
 In England, the risks from " facing points," 
 that is, from switches leading out of the line from 
 
52 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 the direction in which the train is moving, were 
 formerly regarded as so considerable, that on 
 many roads none were permitted ; any train 
 taking the siding had to run by and back in ; and 
 although the exigencies of traffic have now com- 
 pelled the use of " facing points " there, they are 
 generally guarded by devices for locking them 
 which insure that they are well home, before a 
 train is allowed to pass. 
 
 In the United States, the enormous number of 
 accidents occurring at switches and frogs goes to 
 prove that a distrust of them is warranted and 
 that we can not guard them too carefully. 
 
 There are a few suggestions which maybe borne 
 in mind, when a siding is to be located. It is bet- 
 ter to place it on the outside of a curve than on 
 the inside; for, when occupied by a train, the 
 view of the line from the main tracks will not 
 then be obscured. The cross-overs from one main 
 track to the other may almost always be arranged 
 so as to avoid facing points ; even if safety 
 switches are used, it is safer to run from than 
 against the points of the frogs. It is prudent to 
 place switches as far from bridges or deep ravines 
 as the circumstances will admit, so that if any 
 thing about them were to fail, the locomotive may 
 not certainly plunge into a gulf. When sidings 
 are upon a grade inclined toward the main track, 
 they should open into a safety-end by a switch 
 which should be kept set for the safety-end, ex- 
 
LOG A TIXG SIDINGS. $3 
 
 cept when communication with the main track is 
 desired ; so that if cars are moved down the 
 grade by wind or by gravity, they will not foul 
 the main line. If the switch which leads into the 
 safety-end is interlocked with that in the main 
 track, so that it shall always move with it, it will 
 avoid mistakes on the part of trainmen. This is 
 a much safer arrangement than beams of wood or 
 iron fastened across the siding, although even that 
 device is better than to make no provision against 
 one of the common causes of accident. It is 
 often convenient, upon a road with double track, 
 to place a siding for meeting and passing trains 
 between the main tracks and communicating with 
 both of them. In such a case it is best to make 
 it long enough to accommodate two ordinary 
 trains or, better, two of the longest trains, for 
 they will be quite sure to reach it together. In 
 general, however, sidings are more convenient, 
 even for meeting points, if at the side of the main 
 tracks ; if not too far from the one to the next, 
 having in view the volume of traffic upon the 
 road, they may be laid out alternately on one 
 side and the other of a road with double main 
 track, avoiding to a great extent the use of the 
 cross-overs ; for a train may wait a short time to 
 be passed at a siding which leads out of its own 
 track, rather than run further and be delayed by 
 crossing over the other main track and back 
 again. It is in favor of outside sidings, that 
 
54 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 others can be led out from them without adding 
 to the number of switches in the main track. 
 Sidings upon the passenger side of the tracks 
 should stop short of the passenger station, say 
 200 feet, if possible, never passing before it, if 
 avoidable. Although 6 feet has been the standard 
 width between the adjacent rails of contiguous 
 tracks, a greater width is very desirable on many 
 accounts. The latest instance of a double track 
 road has 8 feet between the main tracks. Unless 
 parallel sidings are to be used for transferring 
 freight from car to car, a greater width than 6 
 feet should be taken, if possible. It is generally 
 desirable to have a bunting post, or some other 
 kind of a stopper at the ends of stub tracks, al- 
 though where they are not too long for the en- 
 gineer - and trainmen to communicate easily 
 together, as in passenger yards, the absence of 
 any stopper is an effectual restraint upon careless 
 shunting. The very best stop, where there is 
 room, is a bank of gravel or cinders, about two 
 feet deep, across the track ; and it may be given 
 a neat appearance by walling it in on the sides 
 and rear. Iron brackets gripping the rails are 
 neatest, however, and occupy least room. 
 
 It is impossible to touch upon frogs and switches 
 without also touching inventors ; yet there are 
 general principles to which they must conform to 
 reach the best results. For instance, as to frogs : 
 no doubt the best are made from steel rails ; no 
 
FROGS AND SWITCHES. 55 
 
 doubt the best mode of fastening them together 
 is by clamps and keys, so far as possible, instead 
 of by bolts ; no doubt that the rails should, be 
 worked in the planer instead of in the fire, at least 
 in the present state of the art ; no doubt that a 
 frog for the main track should have a spring rail 
 on the outside, to avoid the jar which is otherwise 
 caused in passing over it at high speed. In yards, 
 where the trains take first one track and then 
 another, and at low speed, the movable wing rails 
 may not be worth their extra cost. Opinions vary 
 as to the most desirable angles to be used ; it is 
 common to use a less angle (a higher manufacturer's 
 number) in turning out of the main line than is 
 used in the yards. In frogs, as in almost all things 
 used on a railroad, it is best to have a few fixed 
 standards ; the supply to be carried for repairs 
 will be thereby much reduced. The safe use of a 
 frog requires a guard rail, which should be strongly 
 braced opposite the frog point, not relying upon 
 spikes to hold it in place, as is often done. New 
 roads will find it convenient and economical to 
 have them furnished with the frogs, as they 
 require to have a part of the flange cut away, and 
 this is better done by the planer than by the cold 
 chisel. 
 
 The standard switch of the world is some variety 
 of the split switch; for places where it is to be 
 constantly used, no doubt the most convenient of 
 any possible form. 
 
56 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 It is light, easily adjusted and taken care of, 
 and admits of operating by an interlocking ap- 
 paratus more readily than any other. It is, how- 
 ever, a fearful danger, if out of order. If not 
 fitted with springs to admit of running through 
 it when mis-set, without breaking the tie-rods, it 
 is likely to be so run through, and to wreck the 
 next train which passes over it ; if it is fitted with 
 springs, a little thing may prevent the point from 
 closing, which will as surely cause an accident. 
 Our annals are full of disasters from these causes. 
 The only safe way is to know, by one means or 
 another, that the switch is certainly all right before 
 each train passes. When interlocking signals are 
 used, the arrangements usually provide for locking 
 the point securely in its place before the danger 
 signal can be lowered. 
 
 Admitting the advantages of the split switch, 
 where it is in constant use and can be watched 
 over and attended, no switch at all is the best, 
 where it can not be so thoroughly looked after ; 
 and the nearest approach to this is the Wharton 
 safety switch. It is not agreeable to call names, 
 but there is nothing with any other name to class 
 with this. It is not a switch except when it is 
 required for use, for it forms no part of and does 
 not interrupt the main track ; it lies inert at the 
 side of the track, untouched by the wheels except 
 when needed to cross them into the siding ; con- 
 sequently it suffers little from wear and tear ; it 
 
BUY FROGS. 57 
 
 does not admit of rapid shunting, but should be 
 passed over rather slowly. For use in the main 
 tracks at country stations and sidings, which are 
 entered by only a small portion of the traffic, it is 
 the safest and most suitable switch yet offered. 
 
 There was a time when frogs, switches and 
 signals were better made by each railway com- 
 pany for itself than any which it could buy; but 
 this is so no longer. The manufactories devoted 
 to the construction and perfection of these devices 
 have now sufficient patronage to enable them to 
 employ special tools, which will do the work better 
 and cheaper than can be done in ordinary shops. 
 It is therefore unwise for companies, whose shops 
 are too small for their locomotive and car repairs, 
 to encumber them with the manufacture of frogs 
 and switches. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 STATIONS. 
 
 ROOMY SITES LOCATION OFFICES AND WAITING-ROOMS 
 WATER-CLOSETS, ETC. FREIGHT HOUSES WATER-WORKS. 
 
 It is plain, upon the slightest consideration, 
 that there are many circumstances which may 
 affect and even control the site chosen and the 
 arrangements adopted for any station ; yet there 
 are certain general principles which may be stated, 
 according to which one would wish to build it if 
 he could. 
 
 Upon a new road in a new country, the choice 
 of a site will not be difficult, although there, as 
 everywhere, an ample space of land, nearly at 
 grade, is the first desideratum ; to this, many 
 other good reasons for another location ought to 
 yield. For instance, a limited area, somewhat too 
 small for present, or at any rate for future needs, 
 may be available nearer the business center of the 
 town ; and persons interested in that property 
 may be very anxious to have the station estab- 
 
STATION SITES. 59 
 
 lished in its neighborhood ; yet it is certain that 
 the interests of the railway and of the town, so 
 far as its future is concerned, will be promoted by 
 the selection of the larger ground ; for it is im- 
 portant to all parties that the station shall be 
 large enough to allow all necessary facilities to be 
 constructed upon a liberal scale. 
 
 However grand our anticipations may be 
 respecting the future of any town, it is more than 
 probable that they will be short of what may be 
 realized in the course of twenty or fifty years ; so 
 that no harm will result to the company if a large 
 margin of room is secured for expansion. Gen- 
 erally, such land can be bought, before the site of 
 a station has been fixed upon, at the price of 
 farming lands ; and often, soon afterward, the 
 prices for any additions to the station grounds 
 are at the rate for town lots. It not seldom hap- 
 pens that the establishing in a town of one enter- 
 prising manufacturing company creates more 
 business for the railway than its station grounds 
 can accommodate, which is not a flattering 
 commentary upon the foresight of its con- 
 structors. 
 
 The consideration of proximity to the business 
 should have some force, yet not too much ; for 
 when the freight or the passengers are once 
 mounted on wheels, a small additional distance to 
 be traversed is of little moment. 
 
 It is very desirable, when it can be done, to 
 
60 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 place the passenger buildings all on one side of 
 the line, throughout its length ; it makes it 
 simpler for the passengers who are unfamiliar with 
 the road to debark, in the night especially ; and 
 it allows of greater uniformity in the signaling 
 arrangements. There are sometimes reasons for 
 a departure from the general rule, but they should 
 be important ones, such as the greater part of a 
 city being on the other side of the track, although 
 if the drive between the city and the station can 
 be easily carried over or under the tracks, that 
 ceases to be a good reason. 
 
 It is preferable to have the passenger station 
 on the south or west side of the tracks, so that 
 the offices which face the tracks will have an 
 eastern or northern exposure ; for this will make 
 the occupants of them more comfortable than if 
 placed so as to receive the direct rays of the west- 
 ern sun. It is a species of cruelty to require tele- 
 graph clerks or others to write all day in the glare 
 of the sunlight ; the temperature of the rooms in 
 summer is pleasanter, too, when facing north or 
 east. 
 
 The size of the offices is the first thing to be 
 taken into account ; a mere cupboa'rd is not a fit 
 place to transact any business in, still less is it a 
 suitable place in which to compel a person to pass 
 the greater portion of the working hours. For 
 one person a space of 12 by 12 ft. is the least that 
 should be allowed ; two persons can get along 
 
WAITING-ROOMS. 61 
 
 with less than twice this room ; but when desks, 
 chairs, ticket cases and so forth are allowed for, 
 not with much less. It is better to allow for an 
 increase of force at large places, rather than to 
 have to alter and enlarge after ; and it is of more 
 importance to give room enough to the em- 
 ployes than to the public, for the first must 
 occupy their offices for longer periods than the 
 passengers do the waiting-rooms. 
 
 But the waiting-rooms should not be scrimped 
 in size nor in comfort ; at large stations, such as 
 important junctions, passengers find it convenient 
 often to remain at the station between trains, par- 
 ticularly ladies and children ; the more attractive 
 and convenient the rooms are, the oftener they 
 will go over the road. A fire-place in each wait- 
 ing-room adds not only to the cheerful appearance 
 of the room, especially in spring or autumn, when 
 a little fire only is needed, but it insures ventila- 
 tion in the easiest way, which is a valuable result, 
 for all public rooms should have ventilation to be 
 comfortable, although we have become accus- 
 tomed from long habit to tolerate bad air. A 
 few chairs, of a strong pattern, which can be 
 moved about, should always be provided in the 
 ladies' room for the use of mothers with infants, 
 or for persons who would like to sit in a group ; 
 it is not possible for more than three persons to 
 talk together upon a bench, and an infant can 
 not be suitably dandled or nursed upon one. 
 
62 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 These are trivial matters, but they concern the 
 rights and comforts of travelers. 
 
 So does the matter of lighting the rooms. No- 
 where are the waiting-rooms so well lighted, in 
 the day time, as in the United States ; in part 
 because we have the most cheerful sun, and in 
 part because we have taken care to avail of it ; 
 but generally it is impossible to read at all in them 
 after dark ; not often because there are not lights 
 enough, but that they are placed too high. 
 
 It is often difficult for the passenger to see his 
 money or ticket, while he is buying it at the 
 window, with sufficient distinctness to enable him 
 to correct a mistake, if one were made. 
 
 There should be ample shelves outside of the 
 ticket offices and telegraph offices near the 
 windows, upon which the travelers may open out 
 their wallets or write their dispatches. The tele- 
 graph office should have a projection on the track 
 side, with windows commanding a view up and 
 down the line; the hexagonal form is not so good 
 as the rectangular, for the vision is more distinct 
 through a pane which is parallel to the eyes than 
 through one which is oblique. 
 
 There is more reason to fear that passenger 
 buildings will be placed too near the track than 
 too far away ; there is too little room between the 
 station door and the track, at almost every one in 
 this country. This limited space is uncomfort- 
 able upon almost all occasions ; and when there is 
 
WATER-CLOSETS. 63 
 
 a crowd, as upon excursions or festivals, it be- 
 comes really dangerous. Not less than 24 ft. in 
 width of platform, in front of the building, should 
 be allowed at country stations, and more in pro- 
 portion should be given as the population of the 
 place is larger. J 
 
 If drainage can be had, or if it is not necessary, 
 the station should be provided with a cellar, to 
 contain fuel and a furnace or steam apparatus for 
 heating the entire building. There is no other 
 convenient or so neat mode of storing the fuel ; 
 the risk of conflagration and the nuisance of dirt 
 are both lessened by having only one fire to attend 
 to, and that out of sight. 
 
 The matter of drainage will settle the question 
 of water-closets also ; if that can be secured, they 
 are the most convenient of any form of privy, for 
 water can be pumped by hand into a tank suffi- 
 cient to provide for them, where other means do 
 not exist. But water-closets must be kept warm 
 enough not to freeze. Where drainage can not 
 be had, the dry earth closet will answer the pur- 
 pose perfectly ; it requires no skill nor unusual 
 labor, only energy on the part of the agent to see 
 that it is properly attended to. The horrible 
 vaults which have so long disgraced our civiliza- 
 tion should not be tolerated by a respectable rail- 
 road officer, even if the improved sanitary vigi- 
 lance of the towns would permit their use. There 
 has not been any invention yet, however, which 
 
64 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 will secure neatness on the part of the public 
 which uses the privies ; they must be watched, 
 and attended to when necessary, at once ; if neg- 
 lected, the Augean stables were nothing in com- 
 parison with what they will attain to ; yet that 
 does not excuse a public corporation, which fails 
 to provide decently those conveniences, which it 
 professes to afford its patrons. 
 
 The urinary vessels always give much odor 
 unless the urine is discharged into cold water; if 
 the water, which is generally discharged at the 
 bottom of the vessel, were allowed to fill it and 
 to overflow at the top there would be no odor. 
 Try this ! In winter they must not be allowed to 
 freeze, of course. 
 
 A cheap means of providing more waiting 
 room, at a station likely to be crowded, is to place 
 benches outside, under shed roofs or overhanging 
 eaves ; they will be frequented in any tolerable 
 weather by smokers and by many other persons 
 who prefer fresh air. A well with a good pump in 
 it and a cup attached is a comfort at every station ; 
 or a drinking hydrant and even a fountain where 
 water is abundant ; either is much more attractive 
 than a water cooler, apt to be not too well at- 
 tended to. As to the surroundings, let them be 
 neatly kept, at any rate. The addition of trees 
 and grass with graveled paths suggests itself. 
 Flowers are beautiful and attractive, but require 
 more care and more expense, while they are of 
 
FREIGHT HO USE S. 65 
 
 less consequence. The ash heap, so common at 
 country stations, does not seem to be needed, and 
 the ashes spread over muddy roads will serve some 
 good purpose if distributed not too thickly. 
 
 One side of the track being selected for the 
 passenger side, all extra tracks, freight yards and 
 so forth will fall naturally to the other side. The 
 signaling arrangements which have been provided 
 for the single or double main track will not have 
 to be disturbed, whatever the changes the in- 
 crease in freight business or yard room may occa- 
 sion. If additional main tracks become necessary, 
 as has already occurred in the life of many other 
 railroads, it will be a simpler problem to arrange 
 for them, if carried along on one side of the ex- 
 isting tracks, than if on both ; and it will not be 
 necessary in any case to move the passenger 
 buildings. On roads already built, where a similar 
 scheme has not been borne in mind during con- 
 struction, opportunities occur to carry it out grad- 
 ually, if decided upon. New buildings are fre- 
 quently required and alterations are made in old 
 ones, which can be brought into conformity with 
 a general plan, if it exists. Much foresight and 
 judgment are required in any scheme to avoid 
 future changes, but this admits of keeping quite 
 free of them on one side of the line. On general 
 principles, it is advisable to place water tanks, and 
 such other structures as will admit of it, at the 
 outer limits of the premises. The most desirable 
 
66 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 location for the freight house is on the other side 
 of the tracks from the passenger station, not quite 
 opposite, for that interferes with the view from 
 the windows of the station, and gives a confined 
 air to the arrangements generally ; not too far 
 away, for it is well to have it so near that one 
 agent and one telegraph office can conveniently 
 serve both the freight and the passenger station, 
 at all but quite large towns. 
 
 The freight house should be put, at first, where 
 it is expected permanently to remain, leaving 
 space enough between it and the main track to 
 admit of laying all the parallel tracks which can 
 ever be wanted in the future. This will cost a 
 little more to begin with, but will avoid the 
 trouble and expense of moving the building at a 
 future time, as also the suspension of business 
 involved in such moving ; and as the track-scales, 
 stock-yards, platforms, cranes and other conven- 
 iences are constructed along the track which accom- 
 modates the freight-house, to place this in its per- 
 manent place is to save future alterations in the 
 position of these. Some managers are quite 
 unwilling to incur the expense of track-scales and 
 cranes or derricks at stations, even of considerable 
 importance, but experience has shown that they 
 are a profitable investment. 
 
 Freight houses are almost always too small ; 
 built too small in the first place, they are reluct- 
 antly increased in size ; business suffers in con- 
 
WA TER STA TIONS. 67 
 
 sequence ; cars have to serve as warehouses and 
 are detained when in very great demand, because 
 there is no place in the freight house for their 
 contents. 
 
 Water stations, to be good, or at all satisfac- 
 tory, must be expensive ; the effort to build very 
 cheap ones has proved this proposition, so that it 
 is scarcely worth while to try the experiment 
 again. A small reservoir with small pipes and 
 supplied by a small pump cannot be relied upon 
 to yield a large supply. To change these every 
 little while, in order to keep pace with the grow- 
 ing demands of the traffic, involves the sacrifice 
 of nearly the whole of each successive plant. It 
 is better, therefore, to build, at first, a minimum 
 number of water stations and to have them first- 
 rate ones, than to construct a larger number of 
 poor ones. This number having been fixed upon, 
 and the desirable site of each station determined, 
 the sources of supply which are available near 
 each are to be examined. A sufficient quantity 
 at all seasons of the year is the first necessity, and 
 the next that it shall be as free as can be from 
 the salts of lime, which form the scale in boilers. 
 Running streams are less likely to be of hard 
 water than springs or wells, at least during the 
 rainy season. A convenient test of water for 
 boiler use is to prepare a solution of white soap 
 in rain water, or better in distilled water. A few 
 spoonfuls of this stirred into a glass of the water 
 
6 8 ELEMEN 7 'S OF &A 1LROA DING. 
 
 to be tested, will produce coagulation of the lime 
 and soap, according to the quantity of salts in the 
 water: and by treating a glass of each kind of 
 water to be compared with the same measure of 
 soap solution, a very marked difference will appear 
 in a short time, if it exists. Three or four spoon- 
 fuls of a solution of oxalate of ammonia in distilled 
 water, poured into a glass of water to be tested, 
 will cause the salts of lime to be precipitated, and in 
 the course of a few hours all will have settled on 
 the bottom of the glass ; by comparison of the 
 quantity so precipitated from any two kinds of 
 water, a very accurate knowledge can be had of 
 their relative values for steam boiler use. 
 
 It will doubtless be found that at some of the 
 places selected at first, sufficiently pure water in 
 ample quantity can not be found, and some redis- 
 tribution of places may be necessary. If a 
 storage reservoir of sufficient size, not too far off, 
 can be availed of to supply the stand-pipes, from 
 which water is taken into the tender, by gravity, 
 it will be best to use that as the direct source of 
 supply to the stand-pipes ; but the head of water 
 above the rails should not be less than 25 ft.; any 
 height above that, up to 300 ft., is all the better. 
 With 25 ft. head, and a pipe of 8 or 10 in. in 
 diameter between the reservoir and the stand- 
 pipes, past the station buildings, the flow into the 
 tender will not be too slow, and hydrants near the 
 buildings will be available for sprinkling and use- 
 
RESERVOIRS. 69 
 
 ful in case of fire. It is advisable to use stand- 
 pipes (of not less than 7 in. opening) at first, upon 
 a new road, even though it may be intended 
 afterward to use the Ramsbottom troughs, or 
 " jerk-water " system for filling the tenders while 
 the train is in motion ; because the troughs can not 
 well be maintained except upon thoroughly settled 
 level planes, with the track in perfect condition. 
 
 If a natural elevation for the reservoir is not 
 available, Burnham's frost-proof tank, or its 
 equivalent, upon posts is the next best means of 
 storing a large quantity at a sufficient height. 
 This may be filled by gravity or by pumping 
 according to circumstances, remembering that one 
 may go a long distance for a gravity supply rather 
 than to have to pump by steam. Where there is a 
 favorable exposure to the wind and not too large 
 a demand to be supplied, wind-mills will pump 
 very cheaply and satisfactorily. 
 
 Generally, it has been expected of a small wind- 
 mill that it should pump as much as a more costly 
 steam engine ; whereas, a larger sum may be 
 afforded for the wind-mill than for the steam pump, 
 because it requires no fuel and less attendance : 
 wear and tear are also less. Where a quantity of 
 more than 25,000 gallons per day is needed, it is 
 better probably to use a steam pump than a wind- 
 mill. In all cases, it is advisable to use larger 
 pipes than have been generally employed for 
 pumping through : for the demand upon them is 
 
70 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 almost sure to increase. A pump that proves too 
 small can be easily moved to another place where 
 it will be useful, and a substitute provided which 
 will be satisfactory, without much loss ; but it is 
 a very expensive job to replace a long line of 
 pipe. It is also in favor of the larger pipe that it 
 takes less coal to pump a given quantity of water 
 through it than through the smaller one. 
 
 Wooden pipes bound with a spiral of hoop iron 
 and coated with coal tar are least costly and have 
 proved very satisfactory and durable in wet soils. 
 In other soils, cast-iron pipes coated outside and 
 inside with coal-tar preparations are certainly as 
 good as any. 
 
 It is important and useful to have standard 
 patterns and uniform arrangements in the water 
 works of a railroad company as in any other de- 
 partment, and an experienced, intelligent superin- 
 tendent of water works, who is penetrated by this 
 conviction, will be of untold value to the company 
 which he serves. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 SHOPS AND ENGINE HOUSES. 
 
 LOCATION BUILDINGS HEATING FOUNDRY INTERIOR FIT- 
 TINGS SANITARY ARRANGEMENTS CRANES ROUND- 
 HOUSES TURN-TABLES. 
 
 The best location for the machine shops for 
 repairs of locomotives, upon a road less than two 
 hundred miles long, is at one of the termini ; 
 upon a longer road, they should be placed as near 
 the middle as may be ; upon a very long road with 
 branches, as near the center of traffic as may be ; 
 always supposing that a sufficiently large tract of 
 nearly level ground can there be obtained upon 
 which to place them. It would be wiser to pay a 
 large sum for a suitable area, well situated, than to 
 accept another unsuitable, or one not well situat- 
 ed, for nothing. Generally, however, the erection 
 of shops is regarded as of so much advantage to 
 any town or neighborhood that the necessary land 
 will readily be given by its citizens to secure them. 
 
72 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 If near to a city of from ten to fifty thousand in- 
 habitants, not in it, but so near that the workmen 
 and their families can easily go to the town " to 
 trade," it will be an advantage. It is a very com- 
 mon mistake to take too little land, even by dona- 
 tion, at first, and afterward to pay for additions 
 much more than the entire area finally acquired 
 would have cost in the beginning, because of the 
 enhanced value of property due to the shops. 
 This increase in the value of adjoining lands may 
 be certainly counted upon, and ought to be availed 
 of, by any railway company which pays for the 
 land used for its shops, by buying the adjacent 
 ground, to be sold or leased to employes and 
 others. 
 
 The area required for the buildings and yards 
 about them will vary in every instance with the 
 particular road for which they are designed ; but 
 from an examination of the grounds occupied by- 
 similar establishments already erected, and observ- 
 ing that they are almost always in need of more 
 room, a liberal mind may arrive at an approxima- 
 tion to the probable requirements. It is better to 
 err, in a matter of so much importance, upon the 
 safe side, and to be sure of enough. 
 
 It is much more economical for any road to have 
 one grand machine shop, at which all the principal 
 work of construction and of heavy repairs shall be 
 done, than several smaller ones. The best and 
 cheapest work is done by costly special machinery, 
 
LOCATING SHOPS. 73 
 
 which ought to be provided for any great estab- 
 lishment, but can not be afforded for several shops ; 
 such machines are generally capable of doing all 
 the work that could be required of them for the 
 largest road, and need not be duplicated if the 
 important repairs are concentrated at one place. 
 The number of high-priced men to be employed 
 is lessened by having the work which requires the 
 best skill and superintendence all executed at one 
 shop ; and this will also assist much in securing 
 uniformity and interchangeability of parts in 
 engines and cars. Small adjuncts at engine-houses, 
 fitted with a forge, drill, lathe and small planer, 
 are necessary, of course, and are not referred to 
 here in speaking of shops. 
 
 The shops for the construction and repairs of 
 cars should be at one of the termini, on a short 
 road ; and at both of them and in the middle upon 
 a longer road ; it is convenient and economical 
 to associate one of them with the principal 
 machine shops, if not upon a very large scale : if 
 it is to be a great shop, it will require a separate 
 outfit of tools and a special staff of foremen, so 
 that there will be no advantage in such a connec- 
 tion. Usually only one of the car shops need be 
 upon a grand scale ; but cars are less substantially 
 built than locomotives and are very much more 
 numerous ; there is therefore a necessity for more 
 shops in which to repair cars than for repairing 
 engines. 
 
74 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 The cost of buildings of equal character is 
 somewhat in proportion to their cubic contents. 
 In disregard of this fact, many shops have been 
 built with high roofs and with trusses of wide 
 span, involving not only useless cost but other 
 disadvantages without corresponding gain. Shops 
 built with walls high enough for the uses which 
 they are to serve, with low roofs, as flat as may 
 be, say with a slope of I in 12, carried by light 
 trusses of short span, supported by posts, are in 
 every respect the best as well as the cheapest. 
 They are more easily warmed and ventilated ; 
 they can be better lighted ; the shafting may be 
 more readily suspended ; the posts are a positive 
 convenience for the attachment of cranes, tool 
 racks, etc. When it is desirable to use traveling 
 cranes, as it is in erecting shops and others, a 
 clerestory can be carried up on the posts for their 
 accommodation. 
 
 It is best to make the walls of brick and the 
 posts and roof trusses of iron ; if the roofs are 
 covered with tarred felt and gravel, or something 
 equivalent, and if the planking of the roof is 
 whitewashed upon the inside, the buildings will be 
 almost fire proof ; and the roofs will be much 
 more accessible in case of fire than those with 
 high trusses are. 
 
 The low roofs are convenient, if built with a 
 due amount of strength, for the attachment of a 
 light hoisting apparatus at any point desired; 
 
SHOP BUILDINGS. 75 
 
 such are required over every engine pit and are 
 useful at all tools where heavy parts are handled. 
 A skylight can be inserted at any place where one 
 is wanted, to the great saving of artificial light, in 
 the course of a year ; and the intensity of the 
 illumination from a skylight low down is im- 
 mensely greater than from one high up. If walls 
 are of brick it is best to make them hollow, with 
 a 2-in. space in them, well bonded ; which ex- 
 cludes cold and damp, costs little or nothing 
 except oversight during construction, and saves 
 fuel permanently. Insert windows everywhere 
 that it is possible, high as the walls, wide as the 
 panels in the doors and over them, if necessary 
 to insure abundant light, always indispensable to 
 good or rapid work. Where brick and iron are 
 not available, or would be too costly, wooden 
 buildings, with the same general features which 
 have been described, are recommended. 
 
 All shops require a firm floor, which, over such 
 large spaces, must rest upon the ground. Wooden 
 floors perish rapidly, requiring constant renewal, 
 to the great interruption of work and at consider- 
 able cost. It is better to use some of the many 
 forms of mineral pavement, such as asphalt on 
 concrete, or blocks of asphalt, which are whole- 
 some, easily cleaned, durable, and easily repaired 
 when injured. Being impervious to damp, such 
 floors are better than any other kind, when laid 
 on the earth, regard being had to the health of 
 
7 6 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 the workmen, which is likely to suffer from damp 
 or decaying wood ; and, with such floors, other 
 foundations are not required for ordinary tools; a 
 block of wood or metal under each foot, to give 
 a broader bearing upon the asphalt, is sufficient. 
 
 The only proper mode of heating shops is by 
 steam-pipes carried in accessible trenches lined 
 with masonry and covered by iron gratings; the 
 pipes may, without loss, be carried upon the 
 walls ; the other is the better way, unless the 
 trenches are likely to be wet ; yet there is no ob- 
 jection to the use of the trenches for draining off 
 clean water if it does not touch the pipes, which 
 may be supported above the bottom on brackets 
 or trestles. Excellent radiators for steam heating 
 may be made from old boiler tubes which are un- 
 fit to use in boilers, and are cheaper, for those 
 who have the old tubes on hand, than any other 
 kind. 
 
 One of the most important of all shops for a 
 railroad company is a good foundry, fitted to 
 make every casting that can be required, from the 
 largest to the smallest. It need not necessarily 
 be a very large foundry, but it should not be a 
 very small one, and it should have all the best 
 appliances of cupolas, cranes and ovens. It will 
 generally be found profitable for the foundry to 
 make castings enough to at least consume the 
 scrap iron which is accumulated by the company ; 
 it can always be run at a profit, if reasonably well 
 
SHOP FIXTURES. 77 
 
 managed, and it maintains a wholesome check 
 upon the foundries from which supplies are pur- 
 chased ; yet, perhaps, the greatest advantage to 
 be derived from it lies in the quickness with which 
 important castings can be furnished to the 
 several ^departments of the road when a sudden 
 breakage occurs, sometimes saving great deiays, 
 which may be costly and are proverbially dan- 
 gerous. Indeed, most experienced men will 
 agree that a good foundry is the greatest con- 
 venience which can be mentioned. 
 
 It is not intended here to enter into minute 
 details concerning the interior fittings of shops, 
 for they would vary much according to circum- 
 stances, but a few things deserve mention which 
 have a general application. It is better to drive 
 the main line of shafting directly from the engine 
 than to use a belt between tie engine and shaft- 
 ing. This of course compels the use of an 
 engine without a driving pv.lley, and there are 
 many suitable varieties of such manufactured. 
 
 It is preferable to suspend the shafting, both 
 main and counters, by iron hangers, as may be 
 done from the roof trusses, if low as described, 
 rather than to encumber the space with the 
 masses of timber which have commonly been 
 used. This arrangement is safer against fire, does 
 not accumulate grease or dust and does not ob- 
 struct the light as the timber does. 
 
 Tracks of standard gauge should pass through 
 
78 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 or close to all the shops or departments of each 
 shop, to admit of unloading heavy machinery and 
 supplies as near to the places where they are to 
 be set up or used as may be. Tracks of the same 
 gauge or narrower should connect all the large 
 and small shops, with turn-tables at all intersec- 
 tions, so as to admit of carrying every thing from 
 any one point in the whole system to any other 
 point, on a larry, without unloading. The rela- 
 tive positions of the several shops toward each 
 other should be studied, with a view to make the 
 journeys of the things which go from one to the 
 other shop as short as possible ; and also to work 
 through any shop from one end toward the other, 
 where successive operations are required on the 
 same material ; this is especially important in 
 car shops, but should be had in view in all shops. 
 Grinding machines, wood-planing machines, and 
 such others as create objectionable noise or dust, 
 should be apart from the main shops, in separate 
 rooms. Hot and cold water with set-basins 
 should be provided in sufficient numbers and con- 
 venient for the workmen to wash easily and rap- 
 idly. Good water-closets, self-operating, well 
 warmed in cold weather, and so connected with 
 the shops that the men need not go into the cold 
 to reach them, should be attached in proper num- 
 ber to each shop. They will require an attendant, 
 who may also do sweeping and other chores. 
 Shops and wash rooms and water-closets should 
 
SHOP COMFORTS. 1<? 
 
 all be well ventilated, which can be accomplished, 
 with hardly any expense, by carrying up flues in 
 the piers and walls with openings into the rooms 
 near the floors, and occasionally also near the 
 roofs. These flues become frequently of great 
 convenience, when there is occasion to set up a 
 stove or a hand forge, temporarily, in an unex- 
 pected place. Probably there is nothing so im- 
 portant and which costs so little, which has also 
 been so much neglected in buildings of all kinds, 
 as the provision of flues for ventilation. Large 
 shops should have suitable ventilators also in the 
 roofs ; but they will not be allowed to be open much 
 in winter. There is a common opinion that high 
 roofs and lofty rooms are more easily ventilated 
 than low ones, which is contrary to the facts, for 
 ventilation is accomplished by establishing cur- 
 rents of different temperatures. This is more 
 readily effected in a small space than in a greater. 
 A large passenger shed presents a good example 
 pf the difficulty of ventilating wide and high 
 spaces, if the persistency with which any smoke 
 from engines remains in it is observed. 
 
 Almost all lifting about shops which requires 
 ,nore than the strength of one man should be 
 done by cranes or hoists, for the interest on the 
 cost of such will not usually amount to another 
 man's wages ; where machinery and shafting are 
 already in motion, it requires generally no addi- 
 tion to the existing engine or boiler power to do 
 
So ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 all the hoisting that can be needed. The most 
 convenient of all means of reaching distant 
 points, or those which are not easily accessible by 
 shafting, is by hydraulic pipes, which can be car- 
 ried anywhere, if protected from frost. Hydraulic 
 machinery is now made for performing almost 
 every kind of work, and hydraulic cranes are 
 among the most convenient of all tools. When 
 a hoist is needed in the vicinity of a boiler, a 
 direct-acting steam cylinder is often the cheapest 
 form to employ. 
 
 Engine houses, with walls, roofs and floors of 
 the same type as the buildings for shops which 
 have been described, will be very satisfactory. 
 They will be very much warmer and freer from 
 smoke than the high-roofed buildings. The en- 
 gines should run into them from the turn-table 
 with the smoke-stack first ; this brings the forward 
 part of the engines near the windows, and, in the 
 round-house, which is the best and only convenient 
 form of engine shed, the engines will thus be 
 where the tracks are widest apart and where there 
 will be the most room for working at any repairs. 
 The smoke-pipes, which should always be imme- 
 diately over the smoke-stacks of the engines, 
 will then be at the rear of the building; and, on 
 account of ventilation and for convenience in 
 draining, it is best to make this the higher part of 
 the roof, with the inclination toward the doors. 
 As the arc of the circle at the front of a round-house 
 
ROUND-HOUSES. 81 
 
 is very much shorter than the arc which bounds 
 it at the rear, it will require much less in length 
 of eave troughs to provide suitably for the dis- 
 charge of the water in front than at the rear. 
 Every thing which is of iron which comes in con- 
 tact with the smoke from coal-burning engines, if 
 not kept thoroughly protected by paint, will be 
 rapidly consumed by oxidation ; therefore, iron 
 smoke-pipes upon engine houses are quickly 
 destroyed. Suitable pipes of terra-cotta may 
 now be obtained and should be preferred. 
 A pit is required under the engine at each 
 stall of a properly constructed engine-house, 
 for convenience in repairs and cleaning. 
 The bottoms of these have been usually built 
 concave, as the pits also serve to discharge the 
 . water into when the boilers are cleaned or blown 
 out ; consequently the wiper has generally stood 
 in a pool, more or less deep, of water. It is bet- 
 ter to make the bottoms convex, with narrow 
 channels at each side, so that the wiper may go 
 dry shod. These pits should discharge into a 
 drain carried along their ends nearest the turn- 
 table, where it will be the shortest. This drain 
 should receive the water from the roof, and if its 
 walls are carried up to the level of the floor, and 
 it is covered over suitably, as with an iron grating, 
 it is the most convenient mode of providing an 
 accessible trench or culvert in which to carry 
 the main water and steam pipes, from which to 
 
82 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 lead other pipes into the engine pits, supplying 
 water to the tenders and for washing out or filling 
 boilers, and steam for the heating of the engine 
 house. When the radiators are arranged along 
 the sides of the engine pits, the rising heat is 
 brought to bear most effectually in the winter 
 upon the icy-coated parts of the machinery, 
 enabling the wipers to get to work effectively 
 upon a newly arrived engine in the shortest 
 space of time ; and by having the whole system 
 of pipes arranged in this way, over drains, the 
 small leaks which are apt to occur at joints and 
 valves do no harm nor do they keep the floor 
 wet, as when they are carried above it. Catch- 
 basins and settling basins, easily reached for fre- 
 quent cleaning, should be arranged where the 
 pits discharge into the trench which carries the 
 pipes, and again where this trench discharges into 
 any sewer, for there is nothing so likely to become 
 choked by waste, rags, and all other substances 
 which can interrupt a drain, as the sewer from an 
 engine house. The whole system of pipes, for 
 steam, for water, for drainage and for gas, at en- 
 gine houses and shops, is likely to be tapped con- 
 tinually at new points, to provide for new con- 
 veniences ; it is therefore unwise to put the pipes 
 under floors, or in any place where they will not 
 be easily accessible. 
 
 The doors of engine houses should be provided 
 with glazed sashes, to light the buildings in winter 
 
TURN-TABLES. 83 
 
 when they are closed. Cast-iron sashes have been 
 found to bear the rough usage from which such 
 large doors frequently suffer better than any 
 others ; they assist in stiffening the frames of the 
 doors. Cast-iron hinges, made like strap hinges, 
 and so proportioned that they will not be too 
 strong near the edges of the doors, but will break 
 off when an engine runs out of the house before 
 the doors are opened, are better on this account 
 than wrought-iron ones ; for these will assist the 
 engine to tear down the front of the house ; the 
 cast-iron ones will allow the door to be carried 
 away without further injury, if properly made. 
 
 The form and size of the ground, on which the 
 round-house must be placed, frequently limits the 
 distance at which it may stand from the turn-table ; 
 it is preferable to have space enough between the 
 front of the house and the edge of the turn-table 
 for the longest engine to stand ; it is in favor of 
 as much distance here as may be, that the longer 
 the radius which describes the front wall, the 
 shorter, for a house of equal depth, will the rear 
 wall be. The depth of an engine house, to be 
 comfortable in use, should be at least 10 ft. greater 
 than the length of the longest engine likely to 
 enter it. The locomotives have grown in length, 
 slowly but constantly, from the beginning until 
 now ; it may be presumed they will continue to 
 do so ; on this account the depth of the round- 
 houses should be made rather too great for present 
 
84 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 needs, and the same reasons apply to the con- 
 struction of the turn-tables, which should be of 
 sufficient diameter to accommodate engines some- 
 what longer than are now in use. 
 
 Probably no one would now build a wooden 
 turn-table, although it is but a few years since 
 they were common enough. Wrought-iron tables, 
 of sufficient strength, are doubtless the best of 
 any, if kept well painted ; if they are to be ne- 
 glected, cast-iron ones are better. Almost all 
 wrought-iron tables are deficient in stiffness. 
 They should be made heavier, and it is better to 
 specify the dimensions of the parts for a builder, 
 as for a bridge ; they will rarely be satisfactory if 
 bought, as many are, without other specifications 
 than the length of the girders and the depth of 
 the pit. Yet, however good the turn-table itself 
 may be, it will not turn an engine satisfactorily if 
 the foundations of the center and of the circular 
 track are not perfectly unyielding; they must be 
 of good masonry, extending below the frost and 
 well drained ; the circular track must lie perfectly 
 level. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 TELEGRAPH LINES AND FENCES. 
 
 POLES, WIRES, ETC. USES OF THE TELEGRAPH TELE- 
 GRAPHERS FENCES BARBED WIRE POSTS GATES. 
 
 The telegraph has become the indispensable 
 ally of the railroad ; by its aid the capacity of a 
 single track is doubled, and that of a double track 
 may be very much increased ; aside from its use 
 in the movement of trains, it facilitates the rapid 
 transaction of business to such an extent that it 
 has become quite as important ah aid to the com- 
 mercial as to the operating department. 
 
 It has been sometimes attempted, even upon 
 roads of considerable traffic, to do the business of 
 all departments upon a single wire, no doubt from 
 a mistaken idea of the capacity of the wire rather 
 than from a failure to appreciate the advantages 
 of a prompt service. It would be a grave error 
 to allow any other business to hinder the dis- 
 
86 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 patching of trains, or even to interrupt it ; for it 
 will not do to confuse a telegrapher, during the 
 transmission or receipt of train orders, by hurrying 
 him with other matters. 
 
 It is best for a new road to build its own tele- 
 graph line, and to operate it, at first ; in the rapid 
 construction of a new road, it would be found of 
 great advantage to erect the line as soon as pos- 
 sible after the location of the road had been finally 
 determined ; for the benefit derived from constant 
 and instantaneous communication with head- 
 quarters would more than pay the extra cost of 
 building it without the aid of railroad transporta- 
 tion. If the line were not too long, it could be 
 temporarily equipped with telephones instead of 
 telegraphic instruments, which would postpone 
 the employment of skilled telegraphers for a while. 
 A distance of one hundred miles or more can be 
 talked through very satisfactorily at the present 
 time ; and with the improvements which are 
 announced every few days, we may expect to talk 
 well through a thousand, before long. The cost 
 of building a telegraph line is not very consider- 
 able for a railway company, and a better bargain 
 with any telegraph company for connections, for 
 interchange of business, or for operating the line 
 jointly with the railway, can be made after the 
 telegraph line is completed than before. It should, 
 however, be a thoroughly well built line, upon the 
 best model up to date. The poles are larger and 
 
TELEGRAPH POLES. 87 
 
 longer on the best lines, the wires are of greater 
 diameter and of better material than they were a 
 few years ago. This is the result of a long ex- 
 perience with lines of an inferior character; they 
 cost more to keep in repair than good lines and 
 were not to be relied upon. The size of the poles is 
 perhaps the most important feature of a new line ; 
 for that limits the number of wires which can be 
 strung upon them, and, as it is very sure that they 
 will be loaded to their full capacity within a few 
 years, it is best to set up those of the largest size 
 which are now used in the best practice of the 
 older telegraph companies. Cedar poles are re- 
 garded as best of all ; white oak, chestnut and 
 yellow pine are very good, where more conven- 
 iently obtained. The standard length of telegraph 
 poles was formerly 24 ft. ; it was found that after 
 the part in the ground had decayed, that which 
 had been above ground was still good. This led 
 to the adoption of 30 ft. as the usual length, per- 
 mitting the poles to be cut off at the ground 
 when decayed, and to be reset. From 32 to 36 
 poles per mile is the number required. On some 
 roads the telegraph poles serve as mile-posts, 
 boards with the proper figures upon them being 
 nailed to the post which is nearest to the mile- 
 stake. By attention to this in building the tele- 
 graph line, or by resetting the poles at the mile 
 stakes, the position of these could be cheaply per- 
 petuated and the cost of mile posts avoided. If, 
 
88 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 then, the intermediate posts were somewhat care- 
 fully spaced, they would be of very great conven- 
 ience as reference stakes for the track department ; 
 if those at the mile stakes were to be painted 
 white for their whole length, and those at the 
 half and quarter miles for only a part of their 
 length, they would afford a scale of distances 
 which could be read in passing at the highest 
 speeds, and be of value to the officers of the road 
 in many ways. 
 
 The ordinary cross-arm is calculated for six wires ; 
 if it is probable that arrangements will be made 
 with a telegraph company for connections and for 
 the use of the railroad's right of way, it will be 
 wise to put a second cross-arm on the poles 
 before they are set, and to have the gains cut in 
 the poles for a third cross-arm ; for such work can 
 be more easily done before the poles are set than 
 after. 
 
 But these remarks are not applicable to an 
 obscure branch line in an unsettled country, where 
 possibly a single wire will serve the railway and 
 telegraph companies both, for some years. 
 
 When possible, the poles should be set more 
 than their length from the main track, so that if 
 they should fall from any cause they will not 
 obstruct it. If there are more passenger stations 
 upon one side of the line than the other, it will 
 save crossings of the tracks, which are objection- 
 able, if the poles are set upon the station side. In 
 
INSULATORS AND WIRE. 89 
 
 marshes it is frequently difficult to maintain a 
 telegraph pole erect because of the softness of the 
 ground. This can generally be accomplished by 
 sinking a barrel without any head where the pole 
 is to stand, then setting up the pole inside the 
 barrel and filling between the pole and barrel with 
 gravel or small stones. 
 
 Insulators of many varieties have been experi- 
 mented with, and there are several especially fitted 
 for peculiar situations ; nothing has been found to 
 be better for general use than the cylinder of glass 
 screwed on to an oaken pin, a coarse thread being 
 molded in the glass to correspond with a similar 
 one on the pin. 
 
 No. 9 wire was formerly universally used for 
 telegraphic purposes, now No. 6 has the prefer- 
 ence for long lines and No. 4 has its advocates ; 
 this refers to iron wire, of which none but the 
 very best is fit. There are several kinds of wire 
 of greater conductivity invented and experimented 
 with; none established as equal to iron for main 
 lines, as yet. 
 
 It is not intended to treat of the manifold 
 applications of electricity to railway working ; 
 words would be wanting to represent their value 
 and convenience ; space would be lacking in which 
 to simply mention their variety ; there are excel- 
 lent books on train dispatching, on block-signaling 
 and many other special uses which should be 
 studied by those who wish to be informed. 
 
90 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 Unfortunately, the currents from a battery are 
 not of sufficient strength to do much work ; they 
 can sound a bell or move a hand upon a dial, con- 
 veying almost any information by concerted 
 signals ; they may be arranged to set other more 
 powerful forces at work at any distance, and in 
 this way render very important service in signal 
 ing. It should be oftener remembered that we 
 have at hand this power of notifying in advance 
 the approach of trains, whenever it can contribute 
 to safety or convenience to do so ; and at a trifl- 
 ing cost, even by means which are automatic, so 
 that there is no attendant required. The incessant 
 whistling in great yards might be totally dispensed 
 with, and much more certain information con- 
 veyed by a line of bell signals at the switchmen's 
 cabins. Telephones should communicate between 
 the offices and the principal points in all import- 
 ant yards and termini ; indeed, they can scarcely 
 be placed upon a railway where they will not 
 repay their cost by facilitating the transaction of 
 business. 
 
 In the construction of its telegraph line a 
 railroad company will need the services of ex- 
 perienced men, as well as in its use and mainten- 
 ance afterward. The setting of the poles, the 
 stringing of the wires and other particulars of the 
 work can be accomplished by experts in a fraction 
 of the time that persons without practice would 
 require. As in all other departments the first 
 
TELEGRA PHERS. 9 1 
 
 requisite is an energetic superintendent who 
 thoroughly understands the details of the building 
 and testing of a line, as well as the art of tele- 
 graphing. It will be of great advantage if he 
 also knows something of modern progress in 
 electrical science. 
 
 The telegraph offices should be well lighted by 
 night, which is much neglected, as well as by day; 
 and they should be well ventilated, because there 
 are fumes from all varieties of moist batteries, 
 which taint the air in addition to the ordinary 
 causes of vitiation ; they should be contrived so 
 as to excluded the public and loafers from the 
 apartments in which are the operators and the 
 messengers. Upon railroads, there is a disposition 
 among all classes of employes to make the tele- 
 graph office a sort of club-room, probably because 
 they can there learn the latest news ; and on the 
 part of the telegraphers there is a natural inclina- 
 tion to relieve the tedium of their office hours by 
 social chat. It is, however, due to the accuracy 
 and privacy of this most important mode of 
 correspondence and of giving orders, that the 
 telegraph office shall be entered only by the tele- 
 graphers ; as little as possible even by the higher 
 officials, who can set a good example by remaining 
 outside, unless they must enter upon business. 
 
 This is not the proper place in which to discuss 
 the unfairness of the statutes in regard to fencing, 
 which, in most of the States of this Union, throw 
 
92 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 the burden entirely upon the railroads in oppo- 
 sition to the common law, and compelling the 
 railroads to build fences, professedly to insure the 
 safety of trains, allow the farmer's cattle to per- 
 vade the highways and to frequent the railroad 
 crossings by day or night, without responsibility 
 on the part of the owners for damages to prop- 
 erty or for the destruction of human life, which 
 may result from their neglect to keep their beasts 
 confined. If the railway companies were them- 
 selves to give attention to this matter, it is scarcely 
 doubtful that they might, in the interest of safety 
 to trains, secure legislation which would prevent 
 animals from frequenting the railroad crossings ; 
 at least an enactment such as that which was 
 passed in Canada at the suggestion of the Railroad 
 Commissioners, prohibiting the loosing of cattle, 
 at large, within two miles of any railroad. 
 
 Fences are not a very important item in the 
 first cost, nor in the annual accounts of a railroad, 
 if originally well built and afterward well main- 
 tained ; but if improperly built or if neglected, 
 so as to be chargeable with the payments on 
 account of stock killed, they become a formid- 
 able source of expense. 
 
 At the present time there is no variety of fence 
 which can compare in suitableness for a railroad 
 with that of barbed wire ; which is as cheap as 
 any good fence, easily built, neat in appearance, 
 not likely to be set on fire, sure not to spread fire, 
 
FENCES. 93 
 
 does not harbor weeds, occupies the minimum of 
 space, does not cause drifts of snow, and is a 
 thoroughly satisfactory fence against all but the 
 most unruly animals and sheep. The introduc- 
 tion of extra wires, tying all together by vertical 
 stays between the posts, would probably make it 
 sufficient to exclude sheep ; but their thick fleeces 
 render them insensible to the barbs which secure 
 the fence from the assaults of other animals. 
 Until the farmers shall have used the barbed wire 
 fence for their own fields, as they will do more 
 and more, there will be instances of the mutilation 
 of stock because of the animals' unfamiliarity 
 with the fence ; and where it is new to them it is 
 desirable that they should have a cautious intro- 
 duction to it ; if led up and caused to examine 
 it and to prick their sides and noses a few times 
 against it, they will avoid it as carefully as a 
 burned child does fire. 
 
 The usual height of a lawful fence is 4 1-2 ft. : 
 if an animal jumps over such a fence the law 
 considers it to have violated propriety and will 
 hold the railway company guiltless if it be killed 
 in consequence; but the owner of the beast will 
 seek for a place in the fence which is less than the 
 full height, and, if such is found, will probably 
 recover damages, upon a verdict of his country- 
 men. To avoid contentions of this kind, and 
 because a high fence offers less temptation to a 
 jumping beast than a low one, it is recommended 
 
94 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 to make railroad fences several inches higher than 
 the legal standard, although this will require five 
 wires instead of four ; these should be fastened 
 to the sides of the posts furthest from the tracks. 
 The barbed wire, when properly strained, stands 
 so firmly on few posts that there is a temptation 
 to use fewer of these than experience will justify. 
 The wire manufacturers, in order to cheapen the 
 cost of this fence in comparison with other vari- 
 eties, encourage a reduction in the number of 
 posts used ; 15 ft. between posts is better than a 
 longer distance, although many recommend and 
 use spaces of 20 ft. and more. The life of a fence 
 is in its posts ; the more durable they are, the less 
 the fence will cost per year for maintenance ; of 
 common woods, cedar, locust, chestnut, white oak, 
 are relatively valuable, in the order named, for 
 fence posts ; it is preferable to have them peeled 
 before setting ; to be permanent they must enter 
 the ground at least 3 i-2 ft. in this climate, be- 
 cause of frost. There are various ways in 
 which the life of wooden fence posts may be 
 prolonged, as by charring the part which enters 
 the ground ; or by coating it with hot coal tar, 
 if the wood is seasoned, or still better 
 by burnetizing, kyanizing, or, best of all, creosot- 
 ing them. These processes of injecting the wood 
 with preservative substances will render almost 
 every wood suitable for fence posts and nearly 
 imperishable ; and' as no wear and tear is endured 
 
FENCE POSTS. 9$ 
 
 by them as there is by sleepers, the whole value 
 of the preservative process may be realized when 
 applied to fence posts. There are promising de- 
 vices for iron posts to hold barbed wires ; it is 
 likely that, with the cheapening of iron and with 
 some modifications in design as experience will 
 suggest, they will become useful and perhaps 
 supplant the wooden posts, where timber is not 
 abundant. When wooden posts are pointed at 
 the bottom, they are thrown up out of the ground 
 by the action of the frost, and it is presumable 
 that the pointed cast-iron footings which have been 
 proposed for iron posts, will be acted upon in the 
 same way ; they ought, it is concluded, to be 
 the largest at the bottom. 
 
 The wires of the fence must be kept very 
 taut ; and, in order to maintain the necessary 
 strain, it must be thoroughly braced at all the 
 openings and corners ; the strains upon the wires 
 and the diagonal bracing have a tendency to 
 raise the braced post, which should therefore be 
 anchored ; a cheap mode of doing this is by spik- 
 ing a piece of board crosswise on each side of the 
 post, at the bottom. 
 
 One of the cheapest possible forms of gate is 
 also the best for use zkfarm crossings ; it is made 
 of four horizontal strips of fencing united by two 
 vertical strips at each end and two in the middle, 
 well nailed together with clinched nails. This 
 should run back and forth, with the bottom of the 
 
96 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 top strip resting on a pin, between two posts set 
 near together at one side of the opening in the 
 fence. When half open, if the posts are set right, 
 the gate can be swung half round, nearly at right 
 angles with the line of the fence, leaving a clear 
 opening of the width of the gate. In the post 
 against which the free end of the gate shuts, 
 there should be a hook on which to hang it 
 when closed ; the hook-headed track spike an- 
 swers very well for this purpose, but the post 
 must be bored to receive it, to avoid splitting. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 LOCOMOTIVES. 
 
 RUNNERS SHOULD BE ROTATED LOCOMOTIVES CONTINUOUSLY 
 WORKED INTERCHANGEABILITY OF PARTS INSPECTION 
 DURING CONSTRUCTION LOADING FREIGHT ENGINES 
 PREMIUMS TO ENGINEMEN FIREING PAINTING PAT- 
 TERNS, WEIGHT, ETC. 
 
 Upon every railroad there is, or ought to be, 
 one or more master mechanics, whose duty it 
 is to look especially after the design, construc- 
 tion and repairs of these engines ; there are, be- 
 sides, manufacturers and inventors devoted to 
 their improvement, and most complete books 
 concerning their principles of action and details 
 of construction. Nothing will be attempted here, 
 therefore, beyond some consideration respecting 
 the use of them after they are ready for the road, 
 and as to the selection of them when they are to 
 be built or purchased. 
 
 During the first half century of railroading, 
 the locomotive was regarded with some super- 
 
98 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 stition, if not with awe, by those who ought to 
 have become too familiar with it to be its dupe ; 
 it was the fashion to marry it to one man for 
 life, or for so long as the pair could agree to- 
 gether ; no one but the familiar engineer was 
 thought to understand the caprices of the petted 
 machine ; no one else could get her to pull a 
 heavy load or a quick train ; he only knew her 
 secret springs of action, and when he was tired 
 the locomotive stopped. 
 
 Scientific men wrote about the fatigue of 
 metals, and the unscientific believed them to 
 mean that continuous effort was bad for the en- 
 gine, even though it showed no symptoms of pros- 
 tration. In consequence of these ideas, dimly 
 entertained, no doubt, or, like other superstitions, 
 accepted without consideration from the earliest 
 habit, the locomotive worked less than half the 
 time, on the average ; the remainder of the day 
 it was being polished and wiped and screwed up, 
 and decorated with fancy pictures in the cab, 
 and such other fanciful things as its betrothed 
 engineer could pick up. 
 
 These foolish notions found defenders, for a 
 long time after they were seen by sensible men to 
 be mistaken, on the ground that the sentimental 
 regard of the engineer for his own engine, would 
 retain it in more perfect condition than could be 
 attained in any other way. 
 
 The locomotive is a machine of iron and brass, 
 
ROTATE LO CO MO TI VE R UNNERS. 99 
 
 without sensibilities, and may be run day and 
 night perpetually (except for a little wiping) until 
 worn out or repairs are necessary. To save the 
 investment of capital, we should get every hour's 
 work out of it that we can ; it should be maintained 
 in such good order that any man can run it suc- 
 cessfully, who can run a locomotive at all. Unless 
 in case of necessity upon the road, the runner 
 should have nothing to do with the adjustment of 
 its brasses or with its repairs ; it would be prefer- 
 able that he should not know upon which locomo- 
 tive he was to go on the road ; he would soon find 
 himself compelled to be the better engineer. It 
 is doubtless comfortable for him to run upon one 
 particular train, to learn all its stops and its sched- 
 ule by heart, and those once well learned, to have 
 little else to do than to open and shut the throttle; 
 yet this is scarcely fair sometimes toward 
 the other men ; and there is no doubt that rota- 
 tion, first in first out, will procure the most wide- 
 awake set of men, the smartest competition be- 
 tween them, the fairest apportionment of labor, 
 and the surest readiness for every emergency. In 
 the very first of the trials of this system, there will 
 be some men who will not do perfectly well with 
 trains which they have never run before ; but in a 
 brief period the strife for precedence in credit will 
 make every man ready for every train. 
 
 It must be a familiar experiment with almost all 
 superintendents, to have replaced an old passen- 
 
too ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING, 
 
 ger man, who failed to make time with the ex- 
 press, by an active young freight runner, who 
 would make up something with the same engine. 
 A false notion still prevails with regard to the 
 amount of wiping which is necessary for an engine. 
 Experiment has demonstrated that if the guides 
 and more exposed bearings are wiped once in 100 
 miles, the engines suffer no injury if run continu- 
 ously 500 miles without general cleaning; to all 
 appearance they might have been run 1,000 miles. 
 The saving to be made by less wiping is not an 
 important one ; it is the saving in the time of the 
 engine, which is of great value. Thirty years 
 ago, 100 miles was commonly supposed to be as 
 far as an engine could be prudently run without 
 being laid off, and the runs were generally made 
 shorter than this ; they are fixed now according to 
 the endurance of the men, or the length of the 
 divisions of the road, or the location of the engine- 
 houses ; when there is need of all the engine-power 
 available upon the road, there is no reason why 
 one engine should not run continuously over 
 several divisions, changing men as often as neces- 
 sary. As to men, we know about how many miles 
 or how many hours of running they will safely 
 bear ; but as to a locomotive, we do not know its 
 limit of endurance, which depends somewhat upon 
 the dustiness of the road-bed, the speed of the 
 train, the quality of the oil used, perhaps ; but can 
 be readily determined for each road by a little ex- 
 
CONTINUOUS LOCOMOTIVE WORK. lOt 
 
 perimenting, with unprejudiced observation. The 
 improved condition of the track, and also the vastly 
 improved construction of the movable parts of the 
 locomotive, have altered its demands for read- 
 justment, so that it may be run much further than 
 it could under the unfavorable circumstances which 
 once prevailed. To increase its duty in a given 
 time, is one of the readiest means of lessening the 
 investment of capital, upon which it is already 
 difficult to pay the charges. To wear out old 
 locomotives by honest work and to replace them 
 with modern improved machines, is surely better 
 than to give them half or less than half the service 
 to do, which they might render if kept constantly 
 employed ; and as they are capable of much longer 
 periods of labor than those who run them, the 
 only way to accomplish this is by divorcing the 
 engine from its runner, making it ready to pull a 
 train whenever there is one to go. There will be, 
 on most roads, isolated instances of branch trains 
 or remote switching engines, upon which the men 
 can not be frequently rotated ; yet they should be 
 often changed, to prevent them from becoming 
 slothful and indifferent, which is more or less the 
 effect upon every person of a monotonous life. 
 
 The most satisfactory results of this mode of 
 operating the locomotives will be perceived when 
 they are of few classes, alike in their most im- 
 portant features, and all in a first-rate condition 
 for use. It is very unwise to keep any engine at 
 
102 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 work, which is not in good order, for it is not only 
 wearing itself out unduly, but is causing money to 
 be spent in extra fuel, in tinkering and in delays, 
 which were better expended in restoring the 
 machine to the best condition of which it is 
 susceptible. 
 
 If the engines are out upon the road, earning 
 money, they will not need so much engine-house 
 room as if they must be housed during the half, or 
 a greater part, of their existence. When there 
 was much brass to be shined up on each engine, 
 and a great area of decorative painting to be wiped 
 off upon each tender, it was desirable that the 
 fireman or the wiper should be under cover while 
 engaged in cleaning the machine; now that the 
 engines are built more for business and less for 
 show, it is only needful that they shall stand long 
 enough over the steam pipes, in cold weather, to 
 have the machinery well cleared of ice, so as to be 
 thoroughly wiped ; they will not then suffer any 
 damage from exposure, if properly attended to by 
 the hostler. 
 
 It is found to be better for boilers to be kept 
 constantly warm than to be frequently cooled, be- 
 cause when cooled they suffer a contraction and 
 consequent strain ; it will also result in a saving of 
 fuel to keep an engine, which comes off the road 
 hot, from growing .cold, unless it is to stand too 
 long; for the quantity of coal required to fire up 
 a cold boiler will keep a hot one warm a long 
 
UNIFORM LOCOMOTIVE PA TTERNS. 103 
 
 time. The expense of keeping an engine fired up, 
 out of doors, in cold weather, is not very great, if 
 it stands still, as it may do if provided with in- 
 jectors; it ought not to stand very long, however; 
 it should be at work. Of course, there should be 
 ample room in round-houses and in shops to make 
 all repairs promptly, with the men and machines 
 comfortably sheltered. 
 
 Upon most railways the locomotives have been 
 purchased from several manufactories at various 
 periods, and differ from each other in every possi- 
 ble way, so that there are only a few of one pat- 
 tern, which compels a very large stock of the 
 smallest parts to be carried, in order to be ready 
 to make slight repairs without delay. Opportun- 
 ities occur, when there is a considerable break- 
 down, or when an engine goes into the shop for 
 general repairs, to make alterations which will 
 bring it into conformity with the larger number 
 of locomotives, and it is desirable to make such 
 changes at a comparatively large cost, for the sake 
 of finally bringing about uniformity. 
 
 Nothing is more important upon a railroad than 
 interchangeability of parts in everything which is 
 subject to wear ; whether pertaining to pumps, to 
 tracks, to cars, to signals, or chief of all, to 
 engines. In equipping a new road, it would be 
 inexcusable not to decide upon certain standards 
 and to adhere to them, no matter where the loco- 
 motives were to be manufactured. If it were pre- 
 
104 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 ferred to have them built by several makers, the 
 patterns prepared by one could be duplicated and 
 sent to the others, so as to secure, if not perfect 
 interchangeability, yet a sufficiently near approach 
 to it to admit of the substitution of standard 
 parts, when any renewal is required, without extra 
 cost. 
 
 There is more frequent necessity for the renewal 
 of the smaller parts of a locomotive than there 
 ought to be ; the breaking down of the engine 
 while upon the road occurs oftener than is credit- 
 able to our constructors or to our master mechan- 
 ics. It is proper for the superintendent to expect, 
 when a machine is sent out to take a train, that it 
 will run through, without hindrance from defects 
 in the machinery. It is said to be a very rare oc- 
 currence in England or in France to have an engine 
 disabled upon the road, and this is affirmed 
 upon the best authority ; probably when any 
 thing breaks there from not being strong- 
 enough, they renew it with something stronger, 
 and when any part wears rapidly they renew it 
 before it is entirely worn through. It seems, from 
 the continual break-downs, as if no such lesson 
 was taken to heart upon many American railways. 
 Some improvement may be accomplished in this 
 respect by keeping a careful account of the break- 
 downs which occur, and of the parts which fail ; 
 an interested master mechanic will require all the 
 broken parts to be sent to him and will gather 
 
INSPECTING LOCOMO TI VE BUILDING. 105 
 
 instruction and warning from them. When 
 engines are bought from the manufacturers there 
 are sometimes more frequent failures of small 
 parts than upon the engines which are built in the 
 shops of the railroad company, probably because 
 such work is done by the piece in the manu- 
 factories and by the day in most company's shops. 
 The manufacturers doubtless secure the best work 
 they can. It is for their interest, as well as in- 
 cumbent upon them as honorable dealers, to do 
 so, but their inspectors may not always be so 
 reliable as they presume them to be. On this 
 account, when engines are being built by them for 
 a railway company, it is advisable that it should 
 send its own inspector to supervise their con- 
 struction. It is likely that he will find many 
 things to correct and to object to, as he would 
 even in the company's shops ; so many defects as 
 he prevents there, so many less will there be to 
 remedy after the engines are upon the road. There 
 are frequently two or more modes of doing the 
 same work as to which the manufacturers may be 
 indifferent, but as to which the company's master 
 mechanic or designer may have decisive reasons 
 for a choice; at such times, the presence of the 
 inspector is an advantage to the manufacturers, as 
 it surely will be, also, if he in any respect secures 
 a better engine than would otherwise have been 
 obtained. 
 
 Until recently, there has existed a prejudice 
 
106 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 among many master mechanics against loading 
 the freight engines to their maximum capacity, 
 arising partly from a fear that the engines would 
 be more rapidly worn out than if they hauled only 
 such trains as they could easily pull through, and 
 partly from the faulty manner in which the ac- 
 count of the performance of engines is usually 
 kept. Careful accounts have proved that the 
 repairs per ton hauled are not increased, but on 
 the contrary are much diminished by loading the 
 engines with all they can possibly draw ; indeed, 
 when the repairs are calculated by the mile rurt 
 they are not sensibly increased by the greater 
 loads. The quantity of fuel consumed per mile, 
 not per ton, is of course increased, and as the 
 reports of fuel burned are rendered by the mile, 
 the master mechanic who is doing the best work 
 in this respect, may compare unfavorably with 
 one whose engines are hauling fewer tons over 
 similar grades. Because of this imperfect method 
 of making the locomotive reports, those of one 
 road, or of the several divisions upon any road, 
 can not be compared with any justice, unless by 
 some one who is acquainted with such details as 
 the grades upon each division, the quality of the 
 fuel and the speed of the trains, none of which 
 find place in the published returns. Such com- 
 parisons would be so desirable, if they could be 
 generally made, that the master mechanics could 
 undertake nothing at their conventions which 
 
PREMIUMS TO ENGINEMEN. 107 
 
 would be more useful, than to devise a system of 
 accounts by which the performances of locomo- 
 tives, upon their several railroads, could be really 
 compared. 
 
 It has resulted satisfactorily upon the roads 
 where the experiment has been tried, to pay 
 premiums to the engineers and firemen for the 
 savings which they effect when compared with 
 others, or with a standard of performance which 
 is fixed as a reasonable one by the officers of the 
 road. The cost of fuel for engines is from 5 to 
 6 per cent, of the total of the earnings, or from 9 
 to 10 per cent, of the total of expenses, upon the 
 average of the railroads ; and it is of very great 
 importance, therefore, to secure economy in its 
 consumption by all the means which are possible. 
 It is not difficult to put into effect a method by 
 which it may be certainly determined whether one 
 man is burning more than another or more than 
 the average ; and if a premium is paid for unusual 
 economy, the greater number of the men will 
 strive to earn it, and those who succeed will fairly 
 deserve to receive it ; perhaps the spirit of emula- 
 tion which is excited, and which makes honorable 
 mention more precious than money, may have 
 even more effect than the hope to gain a pecuniary 
 reward. 
 
 The combustion of coal in the furnaces of 
 locomotives has been the subject of very elaborate 
 investigations and experiments, and is probably 
 
Io8 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 fairly well understood as to its theory ; to secure 
 the best results in practice has puzzled the best 
 wits in the engineering profession ; nevertheless, 
 it is the custom to send as firemen upon the 
 locomotives the least informed class of men, who 
 have had no opportunities to learn any thing of 
 their business, and who get only the very slightest 
 hints from the engine-driver, who is presumed to 
 know, and to instruct his fireman how to fire. 
 The art of stoking, as it is called in England, has 
 there been carried to such a refinement that the 
 most expert stokers, who are employed to fire the 
 agricultural engines during the trials, get very 
 high wages, as the foremost jockeys do ; a fact 
 which is cited here to indicate of how great value, 
 in firing, a knowledge of the art may be. A plain, 
 brief manual upon this art, which would enlighten 
 the enginemen and firemen as to what is going on 
 in the fire-box, and how to insure the best results, 
 would be of inestimable value to the railroads of 
 this country ; while this need remains unsupplied, 
 there should be instruction of the men practically 
 by the most expert firemen upon the road, or who 
 can be found anywhere, who generally know more 
 about it than the average engineman, and who 
 should be detailed to ride a few trips with every 
 new man, and during their spare intervals with the 
 older men, to teach them all they can as to saving 
 fuel. The nuisance of smoke, upon roads which 
 burn soft coal, maybe mitigated by judicious firing. 
 
LOCOMOTIVE TRIMMING. 109 
 
 The best color for locomotives and tenders is 
 black ; when the paint is defaced it is most easily 
 matched, it is more enduring than any other and 
 can be mixed and applied with the least demand 
 for skilled labor ; to the accustomed eye, it looks 
 the best of any. The less polished work of brass 
 or of iron upon the engines, the less rubbing and 
 care will be required to keep them bright. There 
 has been a great reduction effected in the labor of 
 firemen and wipers already, by painting many 
 parts which were formerly kept bright, yet there 
 is room to carry the reform still further. 
 
 Not much valuable advice can be given as to 
 the best model or pattern of engine to be built or 
 purchased without a knowledge of the conditions 
 to be fulfilled, which depend upon the character- 
 istics of the road, the kind of service for which the 
 engine is wanted, and the amount of traffic to be 
 provided for. It may be safely affirmed, that for 
 any service it is better to have engines of more 
 than necessary power, rather than those which are 
 too feeble, or only just of sufficient power ; for there 
 will be occasions, as in snow storms, when it will 
 require the utmost efforts of the locomotive to 
 pull such a train as it is accustomed to haul with 
 ease. It would not be wise, however, to provide 
 a large surplus of power in a locomotive which 
 will have only a certain determined work to per- 
 form, simply to meet occasional exigencies; yet 
 as a general rule, trains upon any road increase in 
 
110 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 weight, in speed, and in number. A large boiler 
 produces steam more cheaply than a small one, 
 which is also favorable to the choice of a heavier 
 rather than a lighter engine. 
 
 It was once supposed that locomotives for very 
 fast express trains must be limited to one pair of 
 drivers ; the improvements in mechanical work 
 have made it possible to run the fastest trains in 
 the world with two pairs of drivers coupled ; and 
 some of the fastest trains in this country are now 
 run with Mogul engines, which have three pairs 
 of drivers coupled. The power of a locomotive is 
 limited by the amount of adhesion to the track 
 which is obtainable through its drivers, and because 
 that adhesion is due to the weight borne by them, 
 which in its turn is governed by the consideration 
 of what can safely be borne at one point by the 
 rail or wheel, it is apparent that the maximum 
 weight of an express train has been increased 
 about three-fold by this advance in mechanical 
 construction. 
 
 It should be always remembered that the cost 
 of running a very heavy train is but little more, 
 comparatively, upon the same road, than the cost 
 of hauling one which is much lighter, and the cost 
 per ton per mile is rapidly reduced by an increase 
 in the capacity of the locomotive. This has led 
 to a very great addition to the weight and power 
 of engines lately built for roads of large traffic, 
 especially when such roads have also heavy grades 
 
HE A V Y LOCOMO TIVES. 1 1 1 
 
 which must be surmounted. There is no longer 
 any mechanical objection to an increase in the 
 number of coupled drivers sufficient to carry the 
 entire weight of the engine upon them, so as to 
 avail of it all for adhesion to the track. 
 
 The weight of the engines which may be em- 
 ployed upon any road is or should be limited by 
 the load which the bridges and other structures 
 will carry, without improper strain a limitation 
 which has not received always the consideration 
 which it merits. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 CARS. 
 
 QUALITY OF AXLES WHEEL TREADS ROUND WHEELS 
 TRUCKS AND SAFETY ATTACHMENTS INTERCHANGE- 
 ABILITY OF PARTS INTERCHANGE OF CARS LUBRICATION 
 LIMIT OF LOADS. 
 
 It would require several chapters, or perhaps a 
 whole book, to treat adequately of the various 
 kinds of cars and of the uses for which they are 
 intended ; it is chiefly upon those features which 
 are common to all varieties that it is intended to 
 comment here. 
 
 The Master Car-Builders' Association has 
 adopted and printed drawings of a considerable 
 number of standard parts, to which the railroads 
 which form portions of through lines are expected 
 to conform the cars which run off their own 
 roads in exchange for the cars of other roads 
 forming the line. The axle to be used as a stand- 
 ard is carefully defined in all its dimensions, but as 
 
QUALITY OF AXLES. 113 
 
 yet nothing has been ruled by the Association as 
 to the quality of the metal of which it shall be made. 
 In this respect axles differ as much as bad differs 
 from best ; and only the best have any claim to be 
 used upon a railroad. As a general rule, an axle 
 made from scrap will not endure, before breaking, 
 one-half the number of blows, each being suffi- 
 cient to bend the axle, that one of the same size 
 made from rolled bars will stand ; and these 
 superior axles will be more likely to carry safely 
 the increased loads lately imposed upon cars than 
 those which are less tough ; but, unfortunately, 
 the better ones cost the more. A railroad 
 manager who is buying new cars experi- 
 ences a great tempteition to use the poorer 
 axles, when he finds that the difference in 
 cost, upon the number of axles required, would 
 pay for several additional cars ; but if he will re- 
 flect that the average life of a good axle, as de- 
 termined, by past experience, is about fifteen 
 years under freight cars, and consider the number 
 of torsions and shocks to which an axle must be 
 subjected, in that period, and the chances which 
 he takes with an inferior axle that it will break 
 under some of these strains and wreck a car, per- 
 haps a train, perhaps a life, it surely " must give 
 him pause." 
 
 The wrecks of freight trains, caused by bad 
 axles under the cars of a certain freight line, cost 
 not less than $20,000 to one company in the line, 
 
114 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 in one winter; it happened, too, that they were 
 the only axles broken upon the road during that 
 winter; the class of axles which had been broken 
 was hastily replaced under all the cars, and the 
 accidents ceased. 
 
 It has been found convenient and satisfactory 
 to use the same standard of size for axles under 
 passenger coaches and tenders of engines as under 
 the freight cars ; the strains to which they are ex- 
 posed in the fast trains makes it advisable to 
 change them frequently, which can be done with- 
 out loss when the different classes of equipment 
 use the same ; the axles may be used for about a 
 year, or run, say 50,000 miles in the faster service, 
 then be replaced by others and allowed to finish 
 their term under freight cars. All axles and 
 wheels should be dated and numbered, which, 
 with the date when they are put under a car and 
 the number of the car and when shifted to another 
 car, should be all recorded in a book kept for that 
 purpose. It is very much to be desired that the 
 mileage of each individual car should be correctly 
 known ; but, as that can not be under the present 
 general system of reporting mileage upon foreign 
 roads, only an approximation can be arrived at, 
 perhaps near enough to determine the life of axles, 
 if the kind of service in which the car has been 
 engaged is taken into account ; for cars in some 
 kinds of traffic run four or five times as many 
 miles in a given period as others in another sort of 
 
AXLES AND WHEELS. 1 15 
 
 traffic, upon the same road. Experience has 
 made it quite certain that proper care in the pur- 
 chase, testing and rejection of axles, will almost 
 eliminate from the list of accidents such as are due 
 to the breaking of them in service. The homo- 
 geneousness of steel and its superior strength 
 would give it decided claims to preference over 
 iron as a material for axles, were it not for faults 
 probably due to improper manipulation in manu- 
 facture ; up to this date there is not the same cer- 
 tainty that every axle in a lot will be as tough as 
 the one taken at hazard for proving, if the lot is of 
 steel, as if it is a lot of rolled iron axles. Break- 
 ages occur, which show that some of the lot are 
 brittle, while others may be extremely tough. 
 The journals of iron axles are very apt to be 
 seamed with minute flaws, due to the imperfect 
 union of the pieces of which they are made ; 
 which flaws, although so small as to be almost 
 microscopic, do nevertheless act as a sensible 
 roughness unfavorably upon the brass bearing ; 
 the journals of steel axles, on the contrary, are 
 crystalline and without a flaw. It is just to state 
 that some great American roads prefer the steel 
 axles, finding them, on the whole, more satisfac- 
 tory than iron ones ; and that in England and in 
 Europe they are regarded with much favor. 
 
 Until within a few years the only car wheels 
 used in this country were made of cast iron ; 
 there are a few of other varieties used now upon 
 
Il6 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 passenger cars and locomotives, where the greatest 
 safety is wished for, yet the immense majority of 
 wheels is of cast iron. A recent report by Mr. 
 M. N. Forney to the Master Car-Builders' Asso- 
 ciation has shown that there is a very great 
 diversity, in important particulars, among wheels 
 which have been supposed to be substantially 
 uniform ; that none of them are adapted to the 
 rails upon which they run, and that as to the 
 form of rails and wheels there ought to be a 
 definite agreement among engineers, car-builders 
 and wheel-makers, to secure better results ; which 
 can be readily had for both rails and wheels by 
 slight changes in the forms of the surfaces of 
 both. Now that the cars from each road run over 
 so many other roads, in through lines or with 
 through freight, the reform becomes important to 
 every road, and it can afford to adopt a compro- 
 mise not quite satisfactory, rather than to suffer 
 from the evils which Mr. Forney has so ably 
 pointed out. How much damage may result, 
 from a want of correspondence between the rails 
 and the wheels, was conclusively shown by a 
 costly experiment inflicted some years ago upon a 
 railroad by its engineer, who, perhaps rightly, 
 conceived that a rail with a much broader head 
 than the one in use would be very desirable, and 
 he laid down in one season a great many miles of 
 such a rail. Probably, if he could have run only 
 new wheels over, his new track it would have 
 
WHEELS. 117 
 
 worn to his satisfaction ; but as the wheels were 
 in fact nearly all worn to a groove more or less 
 deep, corresponding with the narrower heads of 
 the older rails, they bore upon the new rails at the 
 edges of these grooves only, and soon broke down 
 the heads of the rails to a rough conformity with 
 the prevailing width. Any sudden and wide 
 departure from common forms, in either rails or 
 wheels, would prove costly, as this one did, but a 
 judicious modification would result in general 
 benefit. 
 
 The durability of wheels has been vastly 
 increased, perhaps doubled on the average during 
 the past ten or twelve years, chiefly by reason of 
 exact records of their performances, which were 
 kept by a few roads ; owing to the defective 
 method of reporting mileage before alluded to, 
 this exact record could only extend to locomo- 
 tives and passenger cars, and to the few freight 
 cars which did not run off their own road. 
 Doubtless the effect of complete accounting 
 would have been even more favorable to the rail- 
 ways. Manufacturers are now ready to guarantee 
 an average wear of 60,000 miles. The manufac- 
 ture by several large roads of a part of their own 
 wheels, for comparison with those purchased and 
 for experiment, also contributed toward the fa- 
 vorable results which have been attained. The 
 chilled cast-iron wheels are rarely exactly round ; 
 when bored for the axle, they are centered in a 
 
1 1 8 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 chuck which divides the eccentricity as much as 
 possible ; yet it is very desirable, with the enor- 
 mous loads now thrown upon them, that they 
 shall be perfectly round. The manufacturers of 
 machines for grinding chilled wheels affirm that 
 the wear of them is increased by grinding, because 
 they are thereby made very smooth and round ; 
 others believe that the removal of the outside of 
 the chill for this purpose is a loss ; it does not 
 admit of doubt that the 'damage to rails arid the 
 strain upon the axles must be very much reduced 
 by making them round before they are put into 
 use. If the specifications upon which wheels 
 are bought were to be more exacting as to round- 
 ness, it is possible that an improvement would be 
 accomplished. It is one great recommendation 
 of all varieties of steel-tired wheels that they are, 
 or may be, and should be, round. 
 
 There is nothing which so nearly approaches a 
 " fortuitous concourse of atoms" as an ordinary 
 freight car truck. How it holds together, how it 
 does duty so long, are questions which every 
 mechanic must reflect upon with amazement. It 
 is not strange that every terminal and division 
 yard is full of cripples, and that every truck in 
 every car, except those fresh from the shop, is 
 lacking something. Every master car-builder 
 could improve it, if he were to try ; and would 
 improve it, if not held back by a consideration of 
 first cost ; a careful accounting would certainly 
 
CAR TRUCKS 119 
 
 prove that it is better to pay more in first cost 
 than to pay so much for constantly repeated 
 small repairs, as is now necessary. 
 
 The two great inherent dangers to freight 
 trains, after that of breaking apart from defective 
 couplings, have been from broken axles and from 
 falling brakes ; either of which accidents was for- 
 merly sure to wreck all of the train in the rear of 
 the first unfortunate car. The axles now gener- 
 ally pass through loops upon the trucks, 6 which 
 hold up the ends of a broken axle and steer it 
 along the track, possibly until the trainmen dis- 
 cover something to be wrong; the brake-beams 
 are also surrounded by loops, or arranged to be 
 caught in some manner, if the main attachment 
 breaks. These are judicious, efficient, and not 
 costly devices, which should be used by all roads, 
 but are not. 
 
 There was once good reason for the attachment 
 of safety chains to the corners of all trucks, to 
 keep them from slewing round and running a 
 derailed car away, at right angles with the track ; 
 whereas, if held by chains, the derailed cars would 
 follow along parallel with and near the track. 
 But derailments were more frequent then and the 
 cars were fewer than they are now. The chances 
 then were that any car would suffer many 
 derailments during its" life: the chances now are 
 very good that any car may escape the experience. 
 It is more economical now to provide for keeping 
 
1 2 o ELEMENTS OF RA ILROA DING. 
 
 on the track than to fit all the cars for running 
 off ; but passenger cars should have safety chains 
 attached to the trucks, because the risk to human 
 life, in case of a run-off, would be by them much 
 diminished. 
 
 Uniformity in dimensions of parts and their 
 interchangeability have been before referred to 
 and recommended. They can not be too strongly 
 insisted upon in respect of cars, and in no other 
 mechanical department is it easier to secure this 
 uniformity even to the timbers of the various 
 classes, if attention is given to the matter in 
 designing the equipment. It will require study 
 and fertility in the designer ; but such a result has 
 been attained. This uniformity, when once ar- 
 rived at, will admit of almost any repairs of a car 
 being cheaply made at any place where it may 
 stand long enough, for the parts can be prepared, 
 completely ready for use, at the shops of the rail- 
 way, and forwarded to where the car is, without 
 any necessity for measuring or fitting. There are 
 roads upon which one may notice different forms 
 of brake shoes on the passenger cars, freight cars 
 and engines, even though the wheels are of the 
 same dimensions ; and, following through the de- 
 tails of the equipment, it will be found that there 
 are hundreds of patterns in use where a score 
 would suffice, and consequently an immense quan- 
 tity of castings and other materials must be kept 
 on hand, in order to be ready for making repairs. 
 
INTERCHANGE OF CARS. 121 
 
 There is no economical reform more important 
 than to reduce this diversity to the lowest term 
 consistent with the use of the rolling-stock. Much 
 of this variety may be due to the equipment hav- 
 ing been bought of several makers, each of whom 
 has used his own patterns ; it would have been 
 perfectly feasible for the company to have re- 
 quired all cars to conform in all particulars to a 
 sample car, built at its own shop or at one of the 
 manufactories. 
 
 It will be best to keep an inspector at the 
 manufactory which is building cars for a railway 
 company ; for it will be more satisfactory to all 
 concerned to have improper materials rejected at 
 the shop ; and they can be discovered or tested 
 more readily before they have been built into a 
 car than afterward. 
 
 The interchange of through cars is frequently 
 interfered with by the captiousness of the inspect- 
 ors of the exchanging companies, each trying to 
 be smarter than the other ; and they will some- 
 times create serious delays of freight, in spite of 
 the liberal provisions for the interchange which 
 have been made by the master car-builders. It 
 has been found very satisfactory to make the in- 
 spector at such a point, with a sufficient number 
 of his men, the joint employes of the two or 
 more companies interested ; for then he can not 
 differ with anyone as to the responsibility for any 
 car, and the business proceeds without delay. 
 
122 ELEMENTS OF RA ILROA DING. 
 
 At one place oLinterchange,where express f reignt 
 was delayed by the inspectors requiring many cars 
 to be transferred, it was arranged that the inspect- 
 ors' men must make the transfer of the freight ; the 
 result was, as may be supposed, a large reduction in 
 the number of cars transferred. Of course, it was 
 feared that some neglect might follow the change, 
 which imposed an unpleasant duty upon the in- 
 spectors, and precautions against it were taken, 
 but they proved unnecessary. 
 
 Great sums have been spent for lubricating oils, 
 upon the supposition that some mysterious com- 
 position was known to the manufacturers, which 
 would make overloaded journals or defective 
 brasses run cool. It has been proven by innu- 
 merable experiments that if the journals are 
 smooth, not overloaded and not twisted by the 
 truck, they will run cool if thoroughly wet with 
 water, or with the poorest oil ; but they must be 
 kept wet they must not run dry. 
 
 The passenger trains of a certain road were 
 run for a long time with paraffine oil as the only 
 lubricant. Of course it is admitted that sperm 
 and castor oils will carry a heavier burden upon a 
 journal, without heating, than other oils ; but it is 
 confidently asserted that with the loads that are 
 safe in railroad practice, a cheap lubricant is as 
 good as a costly one ; the attention should be 
 fixed upon the best means of insuring that the 
 ournal is well covered with it. As the boxes are 
 
CAR LOADING. 123 
 
 made, the oil is below the journal, and requires to 
 be lifted up to it, which is generally effected by 
 a packing of cotton waste ; this often settles away 
 from the journal, under the constant jarring of the 
 truck. It is therefore prudent to require it to be 
 hooked up against the journal at each inspecting 
 station, and if a little fresh oil is poured on top 
 of the packing at the same time, it will add to the 
 certainty that the journal will be thoroughly lu- 
 bricated. This treatment will reduce J:he number 
 of hot journals wherever they are now trouble- 
 some. 
 
 A very great increase in the loads carried by 
 cars of all kinds has taken place during the last 
 ten years, or since the great improvement in tracks 
 which followed the introduction of steel rails and 
 stiff joints. It is not determined yet what maybe 
 the limit of safety. It is in favor of extreme loads 
 that the number of parts is the same in a car 
 which carries only ten tons as in one which carries 
 thirty tons. Some of the parts require to be 
 stronger in the heavier loaded car than in the 
 lighter, but others, as for instance the roof, the 
 brakes, the doors, do not. Indeed, some roads 
 have not increased the weight of the wheels, 
 although probably it would be advisable to do so. 
 It is also in favor of the heavy loads that they do 
 not greatly affect the draught of a train upon light 
 grades: an engine will haul about as many heavily 
 loaded cars as it will of lighter ones, upon a level ; 
 
124 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 the axle friction is not measurably increased, 
 while the other greater resistances remain the 
 same, or nearly so. The trusses, the trucks, the 
 springs and the djaught irons need to be strength- 
 ened, of course ; but they increase in strength 
 more rapidly than in weight, so that the weight of 
 a car to carry 10 tons has been increased by only 
 about one-fifth of the additional load, in order to 
 make it fit to carry 30 tons. This better ratio of 
 dead load to paying load makes it possible, as it 
 has long been desirable, for the railroad companies 
 to spend more upon couplings and brakes than 
 they have done, and improvement in these parts 
 upon freight trains is what now seems most 
 needed. 
 
 The advantages of a continuous train brake 
 would be so numerous, as almost to demand a 
 separate chapter; among the most important of 
 these would be the removal of the brakemen from 
 their unsafe position on top of the freight trains; 
 rendering it feasible to reduce the height of over- 
 head crossings of railroads by more than six feet, 
 and the cost of such crossings by one half. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE MOVEMENT OF FREIGHT. 
 
 To MAKE ALL CARS AVAILABLE PROMPT LOADING AND UN- 
 LOADING REPORTING FOREIGN CAR MILEAGE SCALES 
 AND CRANES CHARGING SEPARATE ITEMS AVOID SWITCH- 
 ING LONG TRAINS FREIGHT BLOCKADES. 
 
 The first requisite is a supply of cars, which is 
 now often seriously interfered with by the very 
 arrangements which the great lines have made to 
 insure a supply of them ; that is, by the assign- 
 ment to each of several fast freight lines of a cer- 
 tain portion of their equipment, which can not be 
 diverted to any other service than that of the line. 
 It not unfrequently happens that the market fora 
 certain grain, for instance, is suddenly better at 
 one port than at the others, and orders for ship- 
 ments to that port come to all stations upon the 
 road, at the same moment ; there are as many cars, 
 probably, upon the road, as would be required to 
 move the whole quantity as fast as it could be 
 loaded ; but only a very small part of them are at 
 
1 2 6 ELEMENTS OF RA ILROA DING. 
 
 liberty to be sent to the port in question ; the 
 freight must be delayed until cars of the proper 
 " line " can be brought up empty to receive 
 the freight ; meanwhile the other cars stand 
 still, waiting for orders. It is well enough 
 to advertise a fast freight line by painting 
 its name on the side of the car, and to 
 use it for the freight of that line when it has 
 business for the car; but a railway should retain 
 the right to use any car which it owns, in any 
 direction which its circumstances may require. 
 This was not so important when the first freight 
 lines were established as it has since become ; but 
 any other mode of using cars is now the occa- 
 sion for an excessive movement of empty cars 
 from place to place, in order to find appropriate 
 loads. 
 
 When cars are in great demand upon a large 
 system of roads, they can only be judiciously dis- 
 tributed by one person, who commands a complete 
 view of the equipment available at all parts of the 
 system, and the wants of all. Such a view may 
 be had by properly arranged telegraphic reports 
 from each station to its division headquarters, and 
 from all the divisions in a condensed form, to the 
 central office. By the use of blanks in which 
 every kind of a car in each line is designated by a 
 different letter of the alphabet, the numbers of all 
 kinds at each station, and the number required to 
 be loaded at each, may be indicated by a few 
 
DELAY OF CARS. I2f 
 
 symbols ; and the report may be ready at an early 
 hour, to permit the distribution to be made, by 
 orders from the central office to division head- 
 quarters, and from them to stations. 
 
 An examination of the reports of the great rail- 
 ways will show results something like this: num- 
 ber of tons moved per car in a year, from 500 to 
 600, or about i^ tons per day; or say 10 days 
 for each car-load of 1 5 tons ; yet, as the average 
 car-load has probably not reached that weight on 
 any road, the journeys are somewhat more fre- 
 quent than this would indicate. The average 
 movement per car per day is found to be, upon 
 active roads, for the year about 36 miles, varying 
 with the several classes of cars from 12 miles to 
 80 ; the most rapid movement taking place in 
 stock cars ; next in line cars, and after that in local 
 cars, which do not leave the road. The delays to 
 local cars, especially to those which handle coarse 
 materials, as lime, coal and lumber, are notorious 
 and shameful ; they result in great loss of traffic 
 to the roads, because the equipment is not gen- 
 erally sufficient for the demand, and in injury to 
 shippers and consignees, who are not, in conse- 
 quence, promptly served ; evidently the remedy is 
 not in providing more cars, but in compelling 
 them to be promptly loaded and unloaded. So 
 far the supposed necessities of competition have 
 prevented any general adoption of a charge for the 
 delay of cars by failure of consignees to unload ; 
 
128 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 or when such a charge has been adopted, it has 
 not been forced long enough to have any perma- 
 nent effect ; but it has been frequently proved 
 that a moderate charge, say 50 cents a day for all 
 delays over 24 hours, sufficed to insure quick un- 
 loading, when it has been strictly enforced ; for 
 business men are not indifferent to their interests, 
 and will, exert themselves to avoid any unneces- 
 sary tax. Experience has demonstrated, however, 
 that as the freight departments of most railways 
 are organized, as if for the sole purpose of obtain- 
 ing traffic without regard to revenue, it will not be 
 possible to collect this tax through the ordinary 
 agencies. The superintendent's department will 
 be the most likely to see it laid on without fear or 
 favor, for it is that one which finds itself imposed 
 upon by the delays of shippers and consignees. 
 It ought not to need much argument to convince 
 all departments, that it would be better to lose the 
 traffic by which the cars are delayed, if thereby 
 the cars can make more frequent trips with other 
 traffic, which is awaiting means of transport. 
 
 The delay of cars when on foreign roads has 
 been one of the sorest grievances of which the rail- 
 ways have had to complain to each other, for 
 which no adequate remedy has been found. It 
 has been ably treated of in papers by Mr. W. 
 P. Shinn, before the American Society of Civil 
 Engineers, and discussed by persons of experience ; 
 those who wish to study the subject in detail are 
 
WEIGHING LOADED CARS. 129 
 
 referred to this discussion. Probably there is no 
 better remedy, in the present condition of roads 
 and of traffic, than would be afforded by the sim- 
 ple expedient of reporting the mileage and actual 
 position of each car upon every road to its 
 owners. This would often enable the owners to 
 provide loads homeward, instead of having the car 
 wait idly for a load to turn up, or for the conven- 
 ience of the other roads to return it empty. 
 Nothing seems more reasonable than^that a road 
 should demand such information -as to the where- 
 abouts of its cars; the experiment of making such 
 reports has been tried and found to be easy, val- 
 uable, and not too costly. 
 
 Akin to the loss from the delays of cars is that 
 unknown but immense deficiency in revenue from 
 not weighing the loads which they carry a loss 
 which is not felt, because it is not known until 
 weighing is resorted to, but which may as reason- 
 ably be neglected in the transactions between a 
 grocer and his customers as between a railway and 
 shippers. The cost of track-scales has often been 
 pleaded in extenuation of a neglect to provide 
 them ; but where the traffic amounts to ten cars 
 per day, experience shows that the gain to revenue 
 may be reckoned upon to repay the cost of scales 
 in a year. It is not necessary to have track-scales 
 at all stations, because cars may be weighed at 
 junctions and termini ; it is insisted that the 
 weight carried should always be accurately known 
 
130 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 and charged for. The only party who suffers by 
 a car-load rate is the railway company. 
 
 There are few stations in the older parts of 
 the country at which the business would not be 
 increased by the erection of a good crane or der- 
 rick, for many shipments which are almost impossi- 
 ble, or are undertaken with great hesitation where 
 there is none, would be rendered easy if such a 
 convenience were at hand ; the saving of delays 
 in loading and unloading from its use would also 
 be considerable ; the neglect to provide cranes at 
 the larger stations is not excusable from tjie fact 
 that it has not become customary, for there are al- 
 ways masses of stone, iron and machinery await- 
 ing shipment or unloading at such places, which 
 can not be handled economically without the aid 
 of a hoisting machine. If thought best, no doubt 
 a slight charge would be cheerfully borne by 
 patrons for the use of it, yet the benefits to be de- 
 rived by the company from its employment would 
 be a sufficient return upon its cost. 
 
 It is to be regretted that charges upon freights 
 are not divided, so as to snow how much is for 
 transportation, how much for handling, and what 
 part is for the use of the stations or terminals. It 
 can scarcely be doubted that such a division 
 would be of advantage to the railway company, 
 for the justice of the aggregate of small charges 
 would be more readily appreciated than is a gross 
 sum per hundred, or even than a rate per ton per 
 
FREIGHT CHARGES. 131 
 
 % 
 
 mile. These last methods of calculating rates 
 must be very deceptive even to experienced trans- 
 portation men, because they must be applied for 
 various distances, to different articles destined to 
 points at which facilities'and expenses vary widely. 
 At any station, it is probable that the cost of 
 handling one class of freight will be per ton five 
 times as great as that of another class ; and that 
 there will be other classes of which the terminal 
 cost will lie all the way between these extremes. 
 
 Although these differences are* not shown in 
 the tariffs nor explained to shippers, it is very 
 important that they shall be accurately known to 
 those who make the rates, and duly considered by 
 them. Among the few terminal charges which 
 are now collected as separate items, the most 
 important are those for switching: that is, for 
 placing cars to be loaded or unloaded on private 
 sidings, or on the sidings of other lines; at great 
 stations this is a source of large revenue, if prop- 
 erly attended to. It is often, in our railway prac- 
 tice, left to the option of the agent at the station 
 whether to make the charge or not ; and some- 
 times there is no check upon his collections, and 
 he reports to the treasurer such a sum as he pleases 
 on account of switching. Such methods need 
 reformation. 
 
 On long roads, the frequent breaking up of 
 trains at the division termini and reasserting of 
 the cars is a source of great expense, to reduce 
 
132 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 which it is worth while to expend much labor and 
 to endure some delay, especially to freights which 
 are not of a perishable character. Each time that 
 a car is shunted it runs some risk of injury, 
 especially to its draught irons and brakes ; perhaps 
 one-third or one-quarter of the repairs of freight 
 cars is due to damage in shunting. The mileage 
 of switching engines is not known ; it is usually 
 estimated at six miles per hour, at which rate the 
 aggregate is about half as much as the whole 
 mileage of engines upon freight trains. The 
 amount of violent exercise to which the cars are 
 subject, in consequence of this, can only be real- 
 ized by those who are familiar with the operations 
 of a terminal yard upon a dark and stormy night. 
 Of course, if this switching is avoided, not only 
 the damage to cars is less, but the number of 
 engines and of yardmen may be correspondingly 
 reduced. A great deal may be done to lessen the 
 breaking up of trains, by making up solid trains 
 for through and division points at termini and 
 important junctions, and by starting trains out 
 with the cars in the order in which they are to be 
 left, if any are to be dropped on the way. It will 
 require systematic effort, patierfce and the co-oper- 
 ation of many persons to accomplish great results 
 in this, but success in it will benefit the railway 
 company correspondingly. 
 
 The cost of hauling a train through a division 
 is made up of items which do not vary with the 
 
LONG FREIGHT TRAINS. 133 
 
 number of cars taken or the tons hauled, to an 
 appreciable extent ; only the quantity of fuel and 
 water consumed by the engine are affected enough, 
 by any difference in the load, to make that differ- 
 ence perceptible. It is, therefore, a ready means 
 of reducing the cost of transportation to increase 
 the loads taken by the engines, if they can be 
 increased, as on many roads they can. The num- 
 ber of cars may often be augmented upon the 
 whole length of a division, except at some limit- 
 ing grade, at which it will be advisa&le to station 
 a helping engine, if the traffic is sufficient to jus- 
 tify it, which may be easily determined by a cal- 
 culation ; or a part of the train may be left upon 
 a siding at the foot of the grade, to be returned 
 for by the engine when the other part of the train 
 has been taken to the summit. Such additions to 
 the work done will be resisted by the employes 
 concerned, and even by officers, because of the 
 trouble involved ; the employes frequently object 
 because the number of trips required and there- 
 fore the number of men employed are thereby 
 reduced ; yet, as these objections are not well 
 founded, they always yield to a persistent deter- 
 mination. Where the nature of the country and 
 the volume of traffic will admit of it, the best 
 mode of overcoming the limiting grade is by a 
 reconstruction of the line, reducing the grade. 
 This has been done very profitably upon many of 
 the older railways. 
 
134 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 When the movement of freight is obstructed 
 upon a great road, in consequence of some great 
 storm or disaster, the accumulation of cars, if the 
 traffic is at its height, may become almost appal- 
 ling to those who are charged with the duty of 
 forwarding them to destination. The blockade 
 is sometimes rendered much worse than it need 
 be by injudicious efforts to " rush things." 
 
 The amount of traffic which can be passed 
 through a division yard in a given time is often the 
 limiting consideration ; and, generally, such yards 
 will admit of useful work by only a certain num- 
 ber of switching engines. It will therefore be 
 impossible to take care of more than a determined 
 number of trains at once ; to allow more than that 
 number to enter the yard would result in hinder- 
 ing the operations of the yard-men and cause 
 delay instead of hastening the movement. The 
 chief duty of a superintendent, then, will be to 
 keep all trains under control, so as to prevent a 
 blockade at any point. The zeal of yard-men and 
 of train dispatchers, at the termini, is apt to be 
 quite sufficient to hasten the departure of trains 
 in as rapid succession as the power at command 
 will admit of. When the trains have reached the 
 next division yard, their responsibility for them 
 is ended. There must be some one in control of 
 the whole movement, who will arrest it from 
 either direction when it is too rapid. The worst 
 blockades have resulted from overcrowding, in 
 
FREIGHT BLOCKADES. 135 
 
 consequence of a want of coolness or of firmness 
 on the part of the superintendent or manager, who 
 will be beset at such times not only by the 
 troubles incident to the movement of trains, but 
 by the clamors of the shippers and consignees, 
 aided probably by the officers and employes of 
 other departments. If he loses his head, or yields 
 a hair beyond his deliberate judgment, he 
 may be lost ; he must keep cool and trust to the 
 successful unraveling of the snarl to be his vindi- 
 cation. The attempt to move too "much traffic 
 in a given time is likely to involve also destruc- 
 tion of engines and cars ; the employes, being 
 hurried and overworked, use less than common 
 prudence, when the circumstances really demand 
 more than usual caution to avoid collisions. 
 
 The small obstacles to the prompt movement 
 of freight are too many to be recited, and they 
 will differ upon every line and at every point upon 
 it. They can only be discovered by the patient 
 investigation of every complaint, and they can 
 generally be removed when their cause is under- 
 stood. Instead of regarding complaints as an 
 annoyance, the judicious manager will look upon 
 them as a help to improve his administration. 
 He may be quite certain that they are not nearly 
 so numerous as would be for his advantage for 
 there are only a few persons who are active- 
 minded enough to write down their griefs ; a very 
 large majority only curse the road or its manage- 
 
136 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 ment for what they presume to be shameful indif- 
 ference. It will be found that agents, who have 
 been carefully instructed by circular, have not 
 read the circular; that they lost their copy, or if 
 they read it, they put a construction upon it 
 which no other person, certainly not the author of 
 it, could have entertained. Misunderstandings of 
 this kind, wholly inconceivable until traced out, 
 will account for a very large proportion of the 
 miscarriages of freight. The " capacity of the 
 human mind to resist information " is in nothing 
 more thoroughly demonstrated than in this mat- 
 ter of forwarding freight. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 THE MOVEMENT OF PASSENGERS. 
 
 TREATMENT OF PASSENGERS DISCIPLINE OF TRAINMEN IN. 
 SPECTION OF COACHES UNIFORMS REFRESHMENTS LOCAL 
 TRAINS PORTERS BAGGAGE. 
 
 The passenger is a patron ; he ought to be 
 treated in such a manner that his patronage will 
 be continued ; it is for the interest of the railway 
 company that he shall be courted, surrounded 
 with conveniences and placated by attentions. 
 The passenger department appreciates this, and in 
 glowing terms, as well as in glowing colors, holds 
 out all sorts of generous inducements to the pub- 
 lic to patronize the only line which has the comfort 
 of the passenger at heart. Unfortunately, the 
 employes of the transportation department, upon 
 whom is devolved the care of the traveler after 
 the passenger department has sold him a ticket, 
 are not so much impressed with their obligations 
 toward this patron as they ought to be ; it is their 
 principal concern to " put him through," without 
 
138 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 much regard to whether he shall return by this 
 favorite route or not. To their eyes he is not a 
 patron, but a parcel ; if delivered at destination 
 in an undamaged condition, the contract of the 
 forwarder will be fulfilled. 
 
 This is the most natural attitude of the mind 
 for men who have been reared as the conductors 
 of our passenger trains have usually been. In a 
 great majority of instances the conductor begins 
 his railroad life as a brakeman ; he enters the serv- 
 ice as a rough, intrepid, sanguine fellow, who 
 has conceived the idea that he would like to rail- 
 road it for a while. Upon a freight train he 
 learns plenty of railroading, but his energies are 
 absorbed in quite other duties than an exchange 
 of civilities with travelers. By constant and 
 manly devotion to these, during years of hard- 
 ship, involving great dangers to life and limb, he 
 experiences the training of an athlete, not of a 
 courtier, while he learns to run trains safely ac- 
 cording to the rules ; and he is at length pro. 
 moted to be a freight conductor. Some more years 
 of hard life in this capacity finally secure for him 
 the great reward of merit, and he becomes a pas- 
 senger conductor. 
 
 Energy, promptness, vigilance and obedience to 
 orders are the characteristics by which he has 
 earned his promotion, and are those which w r ill 
 continue to influence his conduct ; they are the 
 most valuable qualifications which -he can possess, 
 
TRAINING TRAINMEN. 139 
 
 both for the advantage of the railway company 
 and for the safety of the traveler ; and until he 
 has been for a long time in this new service, he 
 will not appreciate fully the importance of minor 
 things, unless he is endowed with uncommon 
 quickness of apprehension. 
 
 The other trainmen have commonly had less 
 opportunity than the conductor for instruction in 
 the smaller, but important, details of caring for 
 the passenger train and its occupants. 
 
 Now it is clearly not from ill-tyill, but from a 
 want of training, that their deficiencies arise ; the 
 appropriate remedy for which is to supply the 
 necessary education in the shortest and readiest 
 way. It would be very well to organize a school 
 of the trainman, as in the army they have the 
 ''school of the soldier;" failing this, the most 
 evident substitute for it will be provided by send- 
 ing competent inspectors constantly over the road 
 upon the passenger trains, to instruct all the em- 
 ployes in the minutiae of their business. 
 
 The foregoing remarks are intended, of course, 
 as generalities ; there are most gentlemanly and 
 affable conductors, as well as admirable trainmen; 
 the object of this disquisition is to suggest how 
 others may be formed after their model. 
 
 The more accomplished conductors upon any 
 road would be likely to be the most efficient and 
 most acceptable inspectors who could be selected 
 they should have no authority except to teach; 
 
140 ElEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 but should report incorrigibles to the superintend- 
 ent for " promotion to the freight." They will 
 find that the men neglect many things for which 
 plain rules are printed in the regulations ; possibly 
 the men have not read them, or have not remem- 
 bered them. Among the things which they first 
 need to teach, is attention to the temperature and 
 ventilation of the coaches ; the trainmen are 
 passing continually into the fresh air and are 
 naturally somewhat indifferent to the state of the 
 air inside ; but the comfort of the passenger de- 
 pends as much upon this as upon any other one 
 circumstance connected with a railroad excursion. 
 Other needed lessons will be, not to pass through 
 the coaches oftener than is necessary ; to go 
 through them quietly ; not to slam the doors, nor 
 allow others to slam them ; not to bawl the names 
 of stations while the doors are open, but to an- 
 nounce them in a clear, moderate tone, with the 
 doors closed. Let the trainmen be instructed to 
 assist ladies and infirm persons on and off the 
 train, and to provide all passengers immediately 
 with seats, not compelling them to make room for 
 themselves. They should also be taught considera- 
 tion for the poorer classes of voyagers, who need 
 it more than the richer ones ; especially for the 
 foreigners, who do not understand our customs, and, 
 often, not our language ; even mercenary con- 
 siderations should prompt this, for " bread cast 
 upon the waters will return after many days." 
 
TREA TMENT OF PA SSENGERS. 141 
 
 The American traveler is distinguished by an 
 inquiring mind, and, as if to furnish a complete 
 antithesis, the least communicative of all creatures, 
 it is said, is the American railroad man. This 
 difference has been compromised, at a few great 
 termini, by the establishment at each of a " bureau 
 of information," an institution which can not be 
 too highly recommended for imitation ; but on the 
 road it is very desirable that the trainmen, when 
 asked for it, shall give the wayfarer such informa- 
 tion as they can. It could usually do no harm to 
 tell him the cause of a detention from which he is 
 suffering. It would often do some good to im- 
 part particulars about an obscure junction at 
 which the stranger must debark in the darkness. 
 The French instruction books contain a rule which 
 we can profitably copy, although we can not ex- 
 actly translate it. It reads : "The employes must 
 conduct themselves toward travelers as if they 
 were eager (empresse) to oblige them." 
 
 The condition of coaches at starting, and of 
 waiting rooms, also demands the inspector's atten- 
 tion ; for the chilling dampness of soaked wooden 
 floors, in the station and in the coach, is apt to 
 curdle the blood of the passenger who takes an 
 early train from a terminal station. Floors ought 
 never to be soaked ; they will be cleaner, more 
 comfortable and more durable if washed with only 
 a moderate quantity of water ; and they can then 
 be dry when required for use. On some roads the 
 
142 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 distinction between the several classes of coaches 
 is but little observed, because there are not enough 
 of the inferior classes, so that the most expensively 
 furnished coaches are frequently used for second 
 class and for smokers, sometimes even for emigrants. 
 Aside from the enormous wastefulness of provid- 
 ing plush-covered seats for such uses, it should be 
 remembered that they do not part with the 
 fragrance which has been so imparted to them ; 
 and the passenger who has paid for a first-class 
 ticket will think, if he does not complain, that he 
 has not been furnished with first-class accommoda- 
 tions if placed in a coach which has been so used, 
 even if it is a new one. It would be better to 
 provide a surplus of cars for the inferior classes, 
 rather than of the superior kinds, for passengers 
 will prefer to ride, upon a pinch, in those with 
 hard seats to being placed in finer ones which have 
 been befouled. 
 
 Upon every road which has tried putting its men 
 into uniforms, the effect has been found to be ex- 
 tremely good ; it leads at once to decorous be- 
 havior, and it is certainly very desirable that 
 passengers shall be able to distinguish at once all 
 the persons in the employ of the company from 
 whom they are likely to require a service. Upon 
 the larger roads all the employes should be uni- 
 formed or distinguished by some noticeable badge, 
 in order that they may be recognized by officials. 
 In times of trouble this is of great importance, for 
 
PASSENGER A CCOMMODA TlONS. 143 
 
 in the throng which huddles about on such occa- 
 sions, it is impossible, unless they are so indicated, 
 to select men who should obey orders from those 
 who are not subject to them, -y- 
 
 It contributes much toward making passengers 
 contented to afford them, at frequent intervals, 
 the opportunity of getting something really good 
 to eat and drink. The hunger and thirst of the 
 richer class are reasonably well taken care of by 
 the dining cars and buffets ; but the greater num- 
 ber do not patronize these luxurious institutions, 
 and the passengers at a station waiting for a be- 
 lated train are not ministered unto by them. 
 Railways generally establish a few main refresh- 
 ment rooms, at which trains stop for passengers 
 to eat a hasty lunch, but do not encourage the 
 sale of refreshments at other stations ; yet the 
 comfort of many would be promoted by neat 
 lunch counters at all considerable stations ; they 
 would also serve to maintain a competition in the 
 quality of the food, which might improve the pres- 
 ent standard. 
 
 The number of passengers carried will be in- 
 creased by more frequent trains ; whether the 
 additional number will be sufficient to justify the 
 expense of running them or not will depend upon 
 the population to be accommodated, but the fact 
 of an increase proves that more passengers will 
 travel if the hours of the trains are convenient for 
 them than if they are not. It is, therefore, a 
 
t44 ELEMENTS OP RAILROADING. 
 
 matter for careful study how best to adapt a few 
 local trains to the wants of the community ; it 
 will generally be found that those way trains which 
 run nearest the middle of the day carry the most 
 passengers. The apparent reason for this is, that 
 people living at a distance from the line of 
 the road have time to reach the station with- 
 out rising at inconveniently early hours, and 
 that they aggregate more than those who live in 
 the villages upon the immediate borders of the 
 railway, who take the earlier trains. The local 
 accommodation trains and commuters' trains must 
 be run very exactly on time, in order to give 
 satisfaction or to do justice to the commuters ; 
 their business appointments will be arranged to 
 suit the time of the trains, and even a slight de- 
 lay may cause them a loss. There is often a 
 temptation to managers to carry excursions or 
 extra car-loads of people on these trains, causing 
 them to be retarded, when it would be just and 
 judicious to run a special train for the extra cars. 
 When once the best time for a local or for a com- 
 muters' train has been arrived at and properly 
 adjusted, the schedule should be maintained as 
 nearly as possible without variation, because the 
 household and business habits of the country 
 which it serves become adapted to it, and a varia- 
 tion, however slight, causes a vexatious change in 
 the arrangements of a great number of people. 
 The only change which is ever tolerable is to 
 
TIME. TABLES FOR TERS. 1 45 
 
 quicken the time of the train, leaving the country 
 terminus later in the morning, but arriving at the 
 city as before. The occasional through passenger 
 can bear a change of schedule better than the 
 daily patron ; yet the old established through 
 trains, which have been continued -for years in 
 succession, always carry more passengers than the 
 faster expresses upon recent schedules, until these 
 have been running for a long time ; for tributary 
 railroads with their connections, and all the stage 
 lines from neighboring districts will have become 
 gradually fitted to the old schedules, and it re- 
 quires a long period of time to enable them 
 generally to conform to a new one. 
 
 At many, indeed at most, stations, even the 
 largest, there is a lamentable want of porters to 
 assist in the conveyance of hand baggage from the 
 train to the carriages, and from the carriage or 
 waiting room to the train, so that the most deli- 
 cate persons are compelled to grapple with their 
 hand-bags and wraps and to struggle along as best 
 they can. The self-dependent, healthy American 
 citizen, and his wife and daughters, are accustomed 
 to do this from early childhood, and do not mind 
 it much until they have been abroad ; after they 
 have been so carefully attended as they are in the 
 western countries of Europe, where the passenger 
 business receives more consideration than it does 
 with us, they miss the ready help which meets 
 them there at the door of the railway coach. 
 
146 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 Probably the railways which first imitate the 
 foreign roads in providing these porters, and in 
 insuring cheap means of conveyance, by cabs and 
 railroad omnibuses, to and from the depots, will 
 secure the larger share of the patronage of that 
 now somewhat numerous class who have made a 
 foreign tour. Wheeled chairs and stretchers for 
 the helpless are needed at large stations, but are 
 not always provided. 
 
 There is no present hope of reform in our bag- 
 gage arrangements, probably; the system of 
 carrying baggage free up to a certain excessive 
 weight has prevailed so long that the more just 
 plan of charging for all baggage would be revo- 
 lutionary. A reform might be inaugurated, by a 
 slight reduction in fares to persons without bag- 
 gage, which would possibly reduce the heavy 
 loads now carried. The change would be much 
 more important for the railways than at first sight 
 appears, because the competition between passen- 
 ger agents leads to the carriage of immense 
 quantities of sample trunks free, in order to secure 
 the sale of tickets. A limitation should be placed 
 upon the size and weight of trunks, by agreement 
 of the passenger agents, for they are already so 
 heavy that the force at small stations is not suffi- 
 cient to put them aboard the passing trains. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 EMPLOYES. 
 
 PROMOTIONS TREATMENT OF DERELICTS SELECTION OF EM- 
 PLOYESREWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS PROVISIONS FOR 
 COMFORT ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 Good men, who have become acquainted with 
 their duties and who perform them with faithful- 
 ness, are the most important of all the appoint- 
 ments of a railroad. It is a long process to edu- 
 cate a fresh man to a new place or to a new busi- 
 ness; all the experience which the old hand has 
 acquired is of value to his employer, so long as he 
 continues to do well or to intend to do well ; 
 although too long continuance in one round of 
 duties is apt to make a good man dull, and it is 
 therefore advisable to make some change occasion- 
 ally for all employe's, promoting them if an oppor- 
 tunity presents, which will encourage not only 
 them, but their associates, who then see that 
 patient merit attains reward, even though slowly. 
 Frequently, with a little trouble, a vacancy may 
 
1 40 ELEMEN 7 'S OF RA ILROA DING. 
 
 be availed of to move several persons up one 
 round of the ladder each, and conscientious man- 
 agers find much pleasure in the larger number 
 who can thus be made happy, at the same time 
 that the service is benefited and strengthened. It 
 is easier for indifferent managers to fill a place 
 with the fewest number of changes. 
 
 The great advantage to the company of experi- 
 enced men makes it a difficult matter, sometimes, 
 to decide upon the most judicious course, when a 
 disaster caused by the neglect or oversight of an 
 employe calls for a judgment upon him. The 
 disciplinarian would dismiss him from principle, 
 believing that he had thereby taught a lesson to 
 the remainder of the force; but it is doubtful 
 whether the fear of dismissal has any effect upon 
 the larger number of employes. Let the manager 
 consider how it is with himself or with the other 
 officers of the road ; do they perform their duties 
 because of fear, or because they have undertaken 
 them and feel a manly pride in seeing them well 
 done ? There are sneaks, of course, among rail- 
 road employes as among officers, yet they are 
 rare ; the great majority are meaning to do their 
 duty as they understand it. 
 
 The case of an erring employe should be tried 
 upon its merits, with regard to the previous record 
 of the employe, considered with reference to the 
 interests of the company, and generally without 
 regard to the other employes. Has this always 
 
DISMISSALS. 149 
 
 been a careful, dutiful man ? Did his fault arise 
 from ignorance, forgetfulness, indifference or 
 laziness ? If from ignorance or misjudgment, did 
 he use the best wits he had and do as well as he 
 knew how ? If so, he does not deserve great con- 
 demnation, even though he may have caused great 
 damage. If from forgetfulness, not habitual, but 
 instantaneous, as has often happened to switch- 
 men and conductors, dismissal is no remedy ; the 
 remedy has been applied by the accident ; he will 
 be a safer man ever after. If the fault was from 
 indifference or laziness, it is sure proof of a worth- 
 less character that is, worthless for railroad pur- 
 poses. Good conductors and excellent enginemen 
 have forgotten for a dangerous interval their tele- 
 graph orders, and caused disasters ; when pardoned 
 because of their long and perfect records, they 
 proved safe men and the most devoted servants 
 of the company for years after. It was not found 
 that this leniency had a bad effect upon disci- 
 pline as related to the other employes ; on the con- 
 trary, these perceived the value which a good 
 record might have for a man who fell into trouble. 
 All men must have some education in railroad 
 operations before they will become experts, and 
 in acquiring this they will make some mistakes 
 likely to cause accidents and trouble ; it would be 
 a grave error on the part of the manager to dis- 
 charge men who have had this education at his ex- 
 pense, to take on fresh men to be educated in the 
 
150 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 same way. We can imagine something of the 
 state of a road upon which all the men should be 
 new to railroad business, or, even if experienced 
 men, new to the road. By the frequent discharge 
 of employes, for trivial mistakes, some roads 
 maintain a permanent approximation to this con- 
 dition : their accidents are not thereby diminished 
 in number. 
 
 The standard of character among employes may 
 always be raised by slow degrees, but surely, if 
 proper care is exercised in the hiring of new men ; 
 generally something can be learned about the 
 character of every applicant ; a wandering man 
 without a certificate from his last place is not a 
 desirable acquisition ; and even a certificate re- 
 quires to be scanned closely. If a man is em- 
 ployed upon a certificate from another road, it is 
 a safe precaution to write to the officers of that 
 road for private assurances ; for, in the first place, 
 many officers give unwarranted certificates, which 
 they will not support in private correspondence ; 
 in the second place, there are men who make a 
 business of furnishing certificates of character and 
 recommendations for passes to any one who will 
 pay for them, frequently stealing the genuine 
 letter-heads and forging the office dating-stamp. 
 The sons of industrious farmers in the vicinity 
 of the road are usually glad to get employment, 
 and are a healthy stock to recruit from, if judi- 
 ciously selected. 
 
FILLING VACANCIES. 151 
 
 Brakemen and firemen are two classes of men 
 who require to be chosen with peculiar care, as it 
 is from them that the conductors and enginemen 
 are to be developed ; and since they are really ap- 
 prentices, with the largest pay that any appren- 
 tices receive in any trade, it is not worth while to 
 throw away the valuable instruction they are to 
 receive upon inferior characters. Upon brake- 
 men a great responsibility is necessarily placed, 
 from the first. A reliance upon them for faithful 
 performance of their duties without good evidence 
 of their responsibility would invite disaster. Fire- 
 men should be of a mechanical turn of mind, and 
 ambitious to become enginemen ; there are plenty 
 of young men with these qualifications, and it is a 
 waste to employ any others ; they make the bet- 
 ter firemen, of course, from their hope of advance- 
 ment. 
 
 In filling vacancies, the best general policy is to 
 promote deserving employes whenever there are 
 such who are competent for the positions, and to 
 fill up the ranks of apprentices in shops, stations 
 and offices, as well as other minor appointments, 
 from the families of old employes, so far as pos- 
 sible. The children of employes are in a sort of 
 apprenticeship from their birth ; they have op- 
 portunities for learning many details which others 
 can only acquire after a considerable period of 
 service ; they are already attached to the road and 
 its managers, if the management has been just; 
 
152 ELEMEN TS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 and this attachment may be of great value to the 
 company; it is an inducement to continuous and 
 faithful service, if the employes understand that 
 these chances for a start in life are reserved for 
 their children. 
 
 It does not admit of doubt that good service 
 may be more promoted by rewards than by pun- 
 ishments ; yet fines imposed for carelessness are a 
 legitimate and effectual penalty, if due care is taken 
 not to impose them unjustly, and the men will 
 recognize the fairness of paying them, if within 
 their means, when by carelessness they have caused 
 damage. Rewards, however, are more stimulat- 
 ing ; premiums for savings on engines, for supe- 
 riority in maintenance of track, and promotions of 
 the most deserving, without favoritism, encourage 
 a generous strife for excellence. Heroic actions, 
 or one of uncommon merit, should be acknowl- 
 edged by a letter to the deserving employe", and 
 it is all the better if accompanied by a small 
 present in money. Such tokens of approval have 
 been dear to men always ; the railroad employe 
 likes to show them, as a soldier does his medals. 
 
 Discipline is only maintained by careful atten- 
 tion to small details. The experience of armies 
 shows that men do not fail in the important 
 things until they have become negligent as to the 
 less considerable. A superintendent, supervisor 
 or foreman must therefore be continually looking 
 for the small defects if he hopes to avoid the 
 
THE TREATMENT OF MEN. 153 
 
 larger; nothing which is not exactly right should 
 oass without remark; nor, if not immediately cor- 
 rected, without a louder remark. It is probably 
 not necessary to say that if the superior officer 
 keeps his temper, under whatever provocation, 
 his determination to require perfect obedience will 
 be more manifest and more felt than if he falls into 
 a passion ; at the same time he will be more com- 
 fortable himself. 
 
 The condition of enginemen and firemen, of 
 conductors and brakemen, is apt to be forlorn 
 when they are away from home ; some provision 
 should be made for them to sleep and eat in com- 
 fort ; and a sitting-room where they can pass the 
 dreary hours of waiting, amused with games or 
 the newspaper, is necessary, if it is not preferred 
 that they shall haunt the taverns. These ar- 
 rangements can be made self-supporting, but the 
 company must t^ke the initiative and furnish a 
 suitable building which may be let to a landlord 
 who will keep it upon terms dictated by the com- 
 pany, if that is thought best. 
 
 Employes' associations for any purposes, as for 
 club-rooms, hospitals, insurance, lack the most 
 important condition of success, which is a promise 
 of permanence. Any employe or a considerable 
 number of them, may leave the road at any time, 
 and the society may fail suddenly from want of 
 support, or the employe may cease to benefit by 
 his contribution because of his own removal ; it is, 
 
154 ELEMENTS OF RAILROADING. 
 
 therefore, important that the railroad company 
 should be a subscriber to, or guarantor of, such 
 associations as it would wish to encourage. So far 
 as experience goes, it appears that the men are 
 less interested in libraries and reading-rooms than 
 in reasonable bodily comfort while living, and in 
 benefits to their families in case of death or injury j 
 a judicious manager can secure the hearty co-oper- 
 ation of the employe's in any well-conceived un_ 
 dertaking which has these ends in view. 
 
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