Part 15

PRESIDENT | +------------------------+--------------------------+ | | | _Secretary and Treasurer_ _General Manager_ _General_ | _Counsel_ ------------------------------------+---------------------------------- | +----------------------------------+ | | {Auditor of Receipts | {Auditor of Disbursements +-Comptroller--------{Travelling Auditor | {Local Treasurers | {Local Paymasters | {Clerk of Statistics | +-Purchasing Agent--+-Local Storekeepers | | | | {Receiving Clerks and Laborers | | {Loading Clerks and Laborers | | {Billing Clerks | ...+-Station Agents--{Discharging Clerks and Laborers | : | {Delivery Clerks | : | {Collectors {Yard Engines | : | {Yard Master----{Switchmen | : | {Brakemen | : | | : | +-Superintendent of | {Train Despatchers | Transportation-+-Train Master----{Operators | | {Conductors | | {Trainmen | | +-Division | {Engine Runners | Superintendents---+ +-Foreman {Firemen | | | Machine Shop--{Hostelers and | | | { Cleaners +-Superintendent of | | {Mechanics | Machinery-+-Master Mechanic-+ {Laborers | | | | | | {Car Inspectors | | +-Foreman {Greasers | | Car Shop----{Mechanics | | {Laborers | | | | | | {Bridge Foremen | | +-Supervisors {Watchmen | | | of Bridges---{Carpenter Gangs +-Superintendent of | | {Mason Gangs | Roadway-+-Road Master-----+ | | {Section Foremen | +-Supervisors {Gangs and Track | of Road---{ Walkers | {Wood and Water | { Tenders | {Floating Gangs | {Construction | { Trains +Car Accountant-------Lost Car Agents | | +-General {Travelling Agents | | Passenger Agent---{Local Agents | | {Rate and Division Clerks +Traffic Manager----+-Claim Agent | +-General {Travelling Agents Freight Agent-----{Local Agents {Rate and Division Clerks

Diagram showing the Skeleton of a Railroad Organization, and Lines of Responsibility.

In Europe, where the pooling system practically prevails, the service is much more stable than in the United States, and in many instances there are pensions and insurances and disability funds, and regular rules for promotion and retirement, and provision for the children of employees being brought into service in preference to outsiders. Such relations between a company and its employees as must result from arrangements of this character are surely of great benefit to both. They are the natural outgrowth of _stability of business_. Their most advanced form is found in France, where each road is practically protected from dangerous competition by means of a division of territory. In the United States we are still in the midst of a fierce competition for territory and business, and, as pooling is forbidden, the railroad companies will be in unstable equilibrium until consolidation takes place. As that goes on, and large and rich corporations are formed, with prospects of stability in management and in business, we may hope to see similar relations established between our companies and their employees. Already there is a beginning upon some of the largest roads, such as the Baltimore & Ohio and the Pennsylvania Central. But the ground still needs preparation also on the employees' side, for our American spirit is aggressive and is sometimes rather disposed to resent, as interfering with its independence, any paternal relations with a corporation. And as we have before found railroad management in intimate contact with every problem of finance and commerce, it is here confronted with the social and industrial questions involved in labor unions and problems of co-operation. As to the results, we can only say that, as war is destructive, no state of warfare, even between capital and labor, can be permanent. Peaceful solutions must prevail in the end, and progress toward stability, peace, and prosperity in railroad operation and ownership will be progress toward the happy solution of many vexed social questions.

FOOTNOTES:

[14] See "How to Feed a Railway," page 302.

[15] See "The Freight-car Service," page 275.

[16] Of course, this "stringing" of an extra train is not always done in actual operation. Practice and experience will give as wonderful expertness to a train-despatcher in handling trains "in his head" as to a mathematician in solving problems, and often all trains on a road will be handled entirely "by order," or as extras. But the example given illustrates the principle upon which expert practice is based.

[17] See "Safety in Railroad Travel," page 204.

[18] See "The Freight-car Service," page 288.

[19] An idea may be gained of the extent and minuteness of the classification, and of the constant changes and adjustments, both of rates and classifications, perpetually going on from the following partial list of subjects submitted to a recent meeting of the Rate Committee of the Southern Railway and Steamship Association.

RATES.--Watermelon rates; canned goods, Richmond to Atlanta; rates on cement from Eastern cities to Association territory; rates on sulphuric acid from Atlanta; rates from Atlanta, etc., to California and Transcontinental terminals; special iron rates from Cincinnati, etc., to Carolina points; rates on earthenware, East Liverpool to S. E. territory; rates on cotton bags to Memphis from Atlanta; rates on fertilizers to Mobile, Ala.; beer rates; rates on special iron articles from Chattanooga; rates from the West to Camden, S. C.; rates from Evansville and Cairo, on business from points between Cairo, Evansville, and Chicago.

CLASSIFICATION.--Classification of paper twine; beer packages, empty returned; old machinery returned for repairs; steel car springs; cotton softener; iron safes or vaults weighing over 12,000 lbs.; toys, etc.; portable powder magazines; coffee extract; empty lard tierces returned; bolts and nuts in barrels; box and barrel material; glass oil bottles in tin jackets; cast-iron radiators; malleable iron castings; dried beef; sausage; straw paper; burlaps; tobacco stems; hinges; straw braids; lawn hose reels; excelsior; car-load rates.

SUBJECTS NOT ON THE REGULAR LIST.--Demurrage rules; adjustment of rates as per instructions from the Executive Board; rates from Cincinnati to Columbus, Eufaula, Opelika, etc.; classification of iron tanks; classification of whiting; rates to Eufaula, Ala., from East; rates to Milledgeville, Ga.; classification of cast-iron cane mills; classification of locomotives and tenders.

SAFETY IN RAILROAD TRAVEL

BY H. G. PROUT.

The Possibilities of Destruction in the Great Speed of a Locomotive--The Energy of Four Hundred Tons Moving at Seventy-five Miles an Hour--A Look ahead from a Locomotive at Night--Passengers Killed and Injured in One Year--Good Discipline the Great Source of Safety--The Part Played by Mechanical Appliances--Hand-brakes on Old Cars--How the Air brake Works--The Electric Brake--Improvements yet to be Made--Engine Driver Brakes--Two Classes of Signals: those which Protect Points of Danger, and those which Keep an Interval between Trains on the Same Track--The Semaphore--Interlocking Signals and Switches--Electric Annunciators to Indicate the Movements--The Block Signal System--Protection for Crossings--Gates and Gongs--How Derailment is Guarded Against--Safety Bolts--Automatic Couplers--The Vestibule as a Safety Appliance--Car Heating and Lighting.

In 1829, when Ericsson's little locomotive "Novelty," weighing two and a half tons, ran a short distance at the rate of thirty miles an hour, a writer of the time said that "it was the most wonderful exhibition of human daring and human skill that the world had ever seen." To-day trains weighing four hundred tons thunder by at seventy-five miles an hour, and we hardly note their passage. We take their safety as a matter of course, and seldom think of the tremendous possibilities of destruction stored up in them. But seventy-five miles an hour is one hundred and ten feet a second, and the energy of four hundred tons moving at that rate is nearly twice as great as that of a 2,000-pound shot fired from a 100-ton Armstrong gun. This is the extreme of weight and speed now reached in passenger service, and, indeed, is very rarely attained, and then but for short distances; but sixty miles is a common speed, and a rate of forty or fifty miles is attained daily on almost every railroad in the country. We cannot tell from the time-tables how fast we travel. The schedule times do not indicate the delays that must be made up by spurts between stations. The traveller who is curious to know just how fast he is going, and likes the stimulus of thinking that he is in a little danger, may find amusement in taking the time between mile-posts; and when these are not to be seen, he can often get the speed very accurately by counting the rails passed in a given time. This may be done by listening attentively at an open window or door. The regular clicks of the wheels over the rail-joints can usually soon be singled out from the other noises, and counted. The number of rail-lengths passed in twenty seconds is almost exactly the number of miles run in an hour.

But if one wants to get a lively sense of what it means to rush through space at fifty or sixty miles an hour, he must get on a locomotive. Then only does he begin to realize what trifles stand between him and destruction. A few months ago a lady sat an hour in the cab of a locomotive hauling a fast express train over a mountain road. She saw the narrow bright line of the rails and the slender points of the switches. She heard the thunder of the bridges, and saw the track shut in by rocky bluffs, and new perils suddenly revealed as the engine swept around sharp curves. The experience was to her magnificent, but the sense of danger was almost appalling. To have made her experience complete, she should have taken one engine ride in a dark and rainy night. In a daylight ride on a locomotive, we come to realize how slender is the rail and how fragile its fastenings, compared with the ponderous machine which they carry. We see what a trifling movement of a switch makes the difference between life and death. We learn how short the look ahead must often be, and how close danger sits on either hand. But it is only in a night ride that we learn how dependent the engineer must be, after all, upon the faithful vigilance of others. We lean out of the cab and strain our eyes in vain to see ahead. The head-light reveals a few yards of glistening rail, and the ghostly telegraph poles and switch targets. Were a switch open, a rail taken up, or a pile of ties on the track, we could not possibly see the danger in time to stop. The friendly twinkle of a signal lamp, shining faintly, red or white, tells the engineer that the way is blocked or is clear, and he can only rush along trusting that no one of a dozen men on whom his life depends has made a mistake.

When one reflects upon the destructive energy which is contained in a swiftly moving train, and sees its effects in a wreck; when he understands how many minute mechanical details, and how many minds and hands must work together in harmony to insure its safe arrival at its destination, he must marvel at the safety of railroad travel. In the year 1887, the passengers killed in train accidents in the United States were 207; those injured were 916. The employees killed were 406, and injured 890.[20] These were in train accidents only, it must be remembered, and do not include persons killed at crossings, or while trespassing on the track, or employees killed and injured making up trains. As will be seen later, the casualties in these two classes are much greater than those from train accidents. The total passenger movement in 1887 was equal to one passenger travelling 10,570,306,710 miles. That is to say, a passenger might have travelled 51,000,000 miles before being killed, or 12,000,000 miles before being injured. Or he might travel day and night steadily at the rate of 30 miles an hour for 194 years before being killed. Mark Twain would doubtless conclude from this that travelling by rail is much the safest profession that a man could adopt. It is unquestionably true that it is safer than travelling by coach or on horseback, and probably it is safer than any other method of getting over the earth's surface that man has yet contrived, unless it may be by ocean steamer. If one wants anything safer he must walk.

* * * * *

In considering the means that have been adopted to make railroad travel safe, it must be remembered that there are very few devices in use that are purely safety appliances. Nearly everything used on a railroad has an economic or mechanical value, and if it promotes safety that is but part of its duty. The great source of safety in railroad working is good discipline. Of all the train accidents which have happened in the United States in the last sixteen years, nearly ten per cent. were due to negligence in operation, and seventeen per cent. were unexplained. Of these no doubt many were due to negligence, and many that were attributed to defects of track and equipment would have been prevented, had men done their duty. The value of mechanical appliances for safety is perhaps as often overrated as underrated. Undoubtedly the best, and in the long run the cheapest, practice will be that which combines in the highest degree both elements--disciplined intelligence and perfection of mechanical details.

First in importance among the mechanisms which demand attention here is the brake. From the beginning of railroads the necessity for brakes was apparent, and in 1833 Robert Stephenson patented a steam driver-brake (the brake on the driving-wheels). This was but four years after the Rainhill trials, which settled the question of the use of locomotives on the Liverpool & Manchester Railroad. This early brake contained the principle of the driver-brake, operated by steam or air, which has in late years come into wide use. The apparatus is so simple that the cut representing it hardly needs explanation. Admission of steam into the cylinder raised the piston, which through a lever and rod raised the toggle-joint between the brake-blocks and forced them against the treads of the wheels. Essentially the same method of applying the retarding force can now be seen on most passenger engines, and often, but not so commonly, on engines for freight service. For various reasons Stephenson's driver-brake did not come into use.

Innumerable devices for car-brakes have been invented, but they divide themselves into two groups: those in which the retarding force is applied to the circumference of the wheel, and those in which it is applied to the rail. The class of brakes in which the retarding force is applied to the rail has been little used, although various contrivances have been devised to transfer a portion of the weight of the car from the wheels to runners sliding on the rails. There are many objections to the principle, and it will probably never again be seriously considered by railroad men. The apparatus is necessarily heavy, the power required to apply it is great, and its action is slow. When brought into action it is not as efficient as the brake applied to the tread of the wheels, and the transfer of the load increases the chance of derailment.

Many different devices have been used to apply the brake-shoes to the wheels, and various sources of power. Hand-power brakes have been used, worked by levers, or by screws, or by winding a chain on a staff; or, in still other forms, springs wound up by hand are released and apply the brakes by their pressure. The momentum of the train has been employed to wind up chains by the rotation of the axles. This is the principle of the chain-brake, very much used in England. This same source of power has been utilized by causing the drawheads, when thrust in as the cars run together, to wind up the brake-chains. Hydraulic pressure has been used in cylinders under the cars; and finally air, either under pressure or acting against a vacuum, has been found to be the most useful of all means of operating train-brakes. Early forms of hand-brakes are seen in the illustrations of some old English cars. The coach shows a hand-brake operated by a screw and system of levers. By turning a crank the guard puts in operation the system of levers which apply the brake with great force; but the operation is slow. The common hand-brake of the United States is too well known to need illustration. With this brake a chain is wound around the foot of a staff, and the pull of this chain is transmitted by a rod to the brake-levers. This apparatus is simple, and when a train is manned by a sufficient number of smart brakemen it is capable of doing good service. This simple form of hand-brake will probably be used in freight-car service until it is replaced by air-brakes, and the various forms of chain and momentum brakes do not appear likely to be much more used in the future than they have been in the past. Therefore, no further space will be given to them.

The expression, electric brake, is now often heard, and requires a word of explanation. There are various forms of so-called electric brakes which are practicable, and even efficient, working devices. In none of them, however, does electricity furnish the power by which the brakes are applied; it merely puts in operation some other power. In one type of electric brake the active braking force is taken from an axle of each car. A small friction-drum is made fast to the axle. Another friction-drum hung from the body of the car swings near the axle. If, when the car is in motion, these drums are brought in contact, that one which hangs from the car takes motion from the other, and may be made to wind a chain on its shaft. Winding in this chain pulls on the brake-levers precisely as if it had been wound on the shaft of the hand-brake. The sole function of electricity in this form of brake is to bring the friction-drums together. In a French brake which has been used experimentally for some years with much success, an electric current, controlled by the engine-driver, energizes an electro-magnet which forms part of the swinging-frame in which the loose friction-pulley is carried. This electro-magnet being vitalized, is attracted toward the axle, thus bringing the friction-drums in contact. In an American brake lately exhibited on a long freight train, a smaller electro-magnet is used, but the same end is accomplished by multiplying the power by the intervention of a lever and wheel. The other type of so-called electric brake is that in which the motive power is compressed air, and the function of the electric device is simply to manipulate the valves under each car, by which the air is let into the brake-cylinder or allowed to escape, thus putting on or releasing the brakes. All of these devices have this advantage, that, whatever the length of the train, the application of the brakes is simultaneous on all the wheels, and stops can be made from high speed with little shock. Up to two years ago it seemed as if this advantage might be a controlling one, and compel the introduction of electric brakes for freight service. Since then the new "quick-acting" form of the air-brake has been developed, by which the brakes are applied on the rear of a fifty-car train in two seconds, and there is no longer any necessity to turn to other devices. It is doubtful, therefore, if the additional complication of electricity is widely introduced into brake mechanism for many years, if ever.

It is now universally held that the brake, both for freight and for passenger service, must be continuous; that is, it must be applied to every wheel of every car of the train from some one point, and ordinarily that point must be the engineer's cab. With the valve of an efficient continuous brake constantly under his left hand, the engine-driver can play with the heaviest and fastest train. Without that instrument his work is far more anxious, and much less certain.

The continuous brake which to-day prevails all over the world, is the automatic air-brake. In the United States much the largest part of the rolling stock used in passenger service is equipped with the Westinghouse automatic brake. A few roads peculiarly situated use the Eames vacuum-brake. That brake is used on the elevated roads of New York, and on the Brooklyn bridge roads. The Westinghouse brake is also largely used in England, on the Continent of Europe, in India, Australia, and South America. In the United States it is being rapidly applied to freight cars also. This brake, therefore, being the highest development of the automatic air-brake, and the one most widely used, will be briefly described, as best representing the most approved type of the most important of all safety appliances.