fireman must keep before his mind's eye and not forget, is to keep the flues regularly sanded, especially so if he has to allow his engine to smoke in order to get steam. There is a greasy accumulation of soot which gets inside of the flues and cuts off the heat, and the indicator on the gauge will soon drop the wrong way. The fireman puts a few quarts of sand in a funnel (made for that purpose), inserts it through a hole in the door, the engineer drops the lever a few notches, opens the throttle wider and pulls the sand through the flues, which cleans them out, with the immediate effect of increased pres: "OIL BURNER."

sure.

Galveston, Texas.

Shall the Engineer and Fireman be Held Equally Responsible? After reading the article under the above heading in the January, 1902, issue of the MAGAZINE, I felt as though I would like to present a fireman's view of the matter.

When you go before your several officials and ask for a slight increase in your wages for an immense increase in your labor, owing to the larger engines and the more stringent rules of economy which in a greater or less degree call for more application to your already arduous duties, you are informed that "in case you men are tired of your positions, we have lots of men who will only be too glad to do your work for less money."

Do you think it hardly fair for us to accept any increased responsibility, without first granting us an increased remuneration to which we are justly entitled? I suppose that some people upon reading this article will likely remark: "There is a hot head." And to such people I would like to say, for to very few of any other class need this be addressed: Just try taking your fireman a little closer to you, and see if your help won't help him to help you.

I, myself, have the good fortune to be with an engineer who does not fail to remember that the fireman stands on an equal level with himself, so far as business rules permit, and his advice is generally for the good of the man who is employed under him. This engineer has always made it a practice to have the fireman read the orders to him and, in case there happens to be any little explanation of the order which would be for the benefit of the fireman, he does not stick his head out of the window, or give

a grunt, as is sometimes the case. Is not this a good plan? That I believe is the proper way to equalize the responsibility.

Should the engineers and firemen be held equally responsible and equally capable, according to rule, in the eyes of the management on many of our great systems, and should circumstances arise which would place them in urgent need of men, they would simply have twice the number of capable men to draw from that they have today.

Should the matter of equal responsibility come to pass, and with it a proportionate increase in remuneration, the probability is there would not be so many men resign at the end of one to two years' service, and it would help to keep hundreds of this class employed who are searching the country over in quest of a better situation, and who pose as experienced men. Of this class there seems to be a never ending supply, as is witnessed when advertisements are inserted in the leading daily papers of the larger cities for men to send away to some railroad center, where they are made welcome, housed and fed at the expense of the company. Such has been the case when some strike was in progress.

Until the matter of equal responsibility, and with it a proportionate increase in remuneration comes to pass, we have more now than we can bear-so, please leave us alone.

"BATTLE-SHIP FIREMAN."

Chicago, Ill.

Life of a Fireman.

Usually he first starts as a wiper on some railroad, eventually getting an engine to fire, for which he receives a little more money. He has, however, a great deal more to put up with than when he was a wiper, for then he knew when his day's work was done, but now-it is never done. When he gets in he must clean up the engine, get all the supplies that are needed on her and look her over. When he is out on the road (and he happens to be with a man who forgets that he ever fired an engine), it is, "Johnnie, are you busy?" Of course, he says no. Then "hand me this" or "hand me that," "come down here and bring your shaker bar; get me the monkey-wrench and a piece of waste." The fireman complies with these requests, after which he starts to do a little work for himself, when next he hears: "Hey! Johnnie! are you

deaf?-give her a little steam-work the lever back and forth-not so fast; can't you give her just a little-bit-of-steam? There, that'll do; now wait till I get on

the other side and

give it to her again." It is all right to help the man on the right hand side, but a fireman these days on one of the big engines has all he can well do to fire the engine and attend to his other duties, without having, every time he is on a side track and another

train is met, to carry an arm load of tools around rebuilding her and looking for 'pounds.' There ought to be a shutting off place.

Before you get half done, the engineer will say: "Well, them fellows are coming; that's all we can do here; we'll let her go at that, and the next time we go in on a siding we'll try it again." Well, he gets some more of it, and when they get in, the engineer goes home, but the fireman stays and cleans up the engine, draws supplies, etc., after which he slowly drags himself home or to his boarding house.

I hope that the firemen who read this will, when they are promoted to the position of engineer, remember that they were once firemen themselves, and that firemen are human. "TALLOW POT."

Oil Burner Firemen.

Happy New Year! I know you will enjoy feasting your eye on a scribble from anything with Texas oil-flavored atmosphere attached to it.

Say! You ought to see the difference between the expressions on the faces of oil burner tallow pots and those on coal burners-they are something like this:

(This is

the oil burner fireman)

(This is

the coal burner fireman)

Oh how I wish I was an artist, but some day I may call at Peoria and tell you all about it.

I see you told about cleaning the scale and mud out of the old 65's belly and saving two tons of coal a trip. People didn't used to think it made any difference whether a boiler was full of scale or not between Taylor and San "Tone, as it's down hill both ways, especially from the top of Davenport hill.

"OLD TIMER."

Students as Firemen,

I would like to say a few words in answer to "Tallow Pot" of No. 156, who had an article in the November issue of the MAGAZINE on above subject. If I understand him rightly he believes that when the company hire new firemen the boys should "fail" to show him how to handle the scoop, and make life so unpleasant for him that he would soon become discouraged and step down and out, and in this way make it next to an impossibility for the company to get any students broken in, and be in less haste to fire a tried and true fireman. In this way we would have fewer brothers walking around out of employment. In his estimation this is O. K.

But the correspondent should remember that he was once a student himself. Now suppose the boys had said when he went on: "He is a student; turn him down; we do not want any more new firemen; we have brothers enough now out of employment." Where would he have been? Simply out of it, just as he now advocates. What would he have thought of this kind of action?

Stop for just a moment and meditate. Was not every fireman on the pike a "student" once? Did we not all have to learn? Wasn't there firemen then as well as now out of employment, and as good firemen as ever handled a scoop? Did we not take their places, according to this way of thinking? Own up now, did you not? I am under the impression that you, as well as many others, unfortunately fail to see where the true trouble lies, and I will now endeavor to illustrate in a very few words where it is.

It is right in the Brotherhood men and no one else. Students will come on, and we want them, to a certain extent, and should welcome them with true brotherly love and take great pains in making them only the best of firemen, and by our little acts of kindness let them see that we are one. The Brotherhood men should "unite," work as one man, let the troubles of their brother be his, stand up for him at all times just as you would if it was yourself, and gently but firmly oppose the officials if they attempted any coercion or discrimination. Show the company you respect them at all times and expect to be shown respect in return.

When all the Brotherhood men can see and will see the trouble in its true light, and unite as one man, as all true

and faithful brothers should, then, and only then, will the trouble be overcome, and we will fail to see our brother firemen out of their positions and the roads flooded with "students." We cannot blame the students for seeking employment nor the company for employing them, for if the Brotherhood men will not stand up for themselves, who will? We must unite more closely, stand up for our Brotherhood to the letter, practice a little more kindness, show a little more of brotherly love, and the new men will not come on any faster than they are needed to fill up the gaps in our ranks. Am I not right?

Just follow this simple little rule and our troubles will cease, and we can have a little paradise all of our own here on earth among the B. of L. F. Remember the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would that they should do unto you." "TRUE BLUE."

Experiences of "Klondike Bill." Railroad men, as a rule, are given to spinning yarns, some more so than others. While every railroad in the Union has its captain story teller, and every division its lieutenant, "Klondike Bill," a Lake Shore yardmaster at West Seneca, N. Y., has outgeneraled them all. He has them beat, hands down. He has traveled far and near, has worked on every railroad on this continent, either in the capacity of brakeman, switchman, fireman or yardmaster. As a story teller he is immensely practical. The faculty he has of relating his experience in an interesting manner is a wonder indeed, an extraordinary gift, with which but few of us are blessed.

The walls of the switch shanty, where the boys loaf during supper hour and leisure moments, echo and re-echo with the laughter of those who listen to his tales and anecdotes. One of the latest and most interesting of these series of stories is his adventure with a drove of razor-back hogs, which he encountered while braking on the Wabash, between Butler and Detroit. Bill swears that these swine were as big as a Lake Shore "battle ship," that their bristles were the size of a coupling pin, that they had tusks like a piston, and a nose as long as a side rod.

While this may not interest the readers of the MAGAZINE in general, I merely mentioned it to show the force of his description of his experiences and to pave

the way to relate one of his stories, which will no doubt interest all railroad men, especially engineers and conductors.

Bill states that while he was braking on the Boston and Maine, an engineer who came to this country from Germany, some years before, and had got into engine service, secured a position on the B. & M. After riding over the division in company with another engineer for a few trips to learn the road, he was assigned to an engine, got it out of the house and went down into the yard. Bill, being the head brakeman, coupled the engine onto the train. The conductor came up with the orders and, upon discovering that the engineer was a new man, gave him all the instructions and information he possibly could. The Dutchman was highly elated over the manner in which the conductor treated him.

After they had started on their journey, he said to Bill and the fireman : "Dot condooctor vas a fine man-he vas a king!" When they rounded the first curve on the fireman's side, the Dutchman said to Bill: "Look back und see if dot palace vas cooming mit de king in it."

When the first stop was made for water, the Dutchman, not being accustomed to using air brakes, rather jarred things on the rear end. Over went the stove, and the lamp chimneys and dishes

were broken. The conductor came over to the engine post haste and gave the Dutchman his calls in a tone that wasn't very gentle, and in language that wasn't very polite. The poor innocent Dutenman took his medicine. In other wordshe grinned and bore it.

When they were once more under way,

and as they approached the next curve

on the fireman's side, the Dutchman turned to Bill and said: "Look back und see if dot cage vas cooming mit de bull dog in it."

The Dutchman's sudden change of opinion regarding the conductor not alone illustrates railroad life, but public life as well. Oftentime men are held in great esteem by the public when, by some act or word, they are dropped out of sight. G. T. Fox.

Shall the Engineer and Fireman Be Held Equally Responsible? I see in the January number of the MAGAZINE under the head of "Shall the Engineer and Fireman be Held Equally Responsible?" "Mack" says, "Never be

fore, in so short a time, has there been SO many disastrous wrecks, caused through misreading of train orders, lapse of memory, and errors of judgment as in the past few weeks," etc.

Now, has there ever been a time when freight engines have been so completely loaded down as at the present time? The result is, that freight trains are from twelve to fourteen hours getting over divisions which they ought to make in half that time. I also note that in some instances the companies have, from time to time lengthened out the schedules to reduce the overtime, which cannot help but bring dissatisfaction to the trainmen and cause them to become careless, and after a man has been twelve or fourteen hours on the road with a heavy freight train, both mind and body are worn out, and he finds himself discouraged and dissatisfied.

The dispatcher can hardly make a meeting point without delaying someone, for some train is always falling down on account of tonnage being too heavy, which makes life a burden to the dispatcher as well as to the trainmen, and I claim that the school boy tonnage is responsible for the condition that now exists on most of the roads. I admit that it figures out nicely on paper but let's go out on the road with say 1,100 tons; you are twelve or fourteen hours getting over the division. Keep the engines going for thirty days; then reduce the tonnage to say 900 tons; you will get over the division in six or seven hours. Keep the engines going for thirty days, and you will find that you have more than doubled the tonnage in the same lapse of time, the crews are getting more rest, the dispatcher can make meeting points, and everyone is profited; danger of wrecks is decreased, the M. M. can keep the power in better condition, the company is by far the gainer if time is worth anything-and I consider time to be valuable and I think this course, if practiced, would greatly reduce the liability of wrecks and increase the divi

dends of the stockholders.

Ogden, Utah.

"OLD TIMER."

Helping the Fireman.

Here on the cut-off of the A., T. & S.F. Ry. we get along very nicely considering the number of men we have here. We have twenty-five pool crews, several passenger and regular freight crews, besides

that many switch crews. We have very little fussing. If one man does not like another, they change around.

Now, I want to tell you how I do, and, if I do say so, it seems to be a good way. I get to the engine, fill the lubricator, oil cans, light the lamps (if at night), try the injectors, look to see if all the supplies are on the engine, fill the rod cups and examine the engine all around. All the fireboy does, if it is hot weather, is to get ice ready. I don't make a practice of firing, because trains are thick here, but I always try to be pleasant, show him my orders, and tell him when I have to "hurry her." When we get to a place where we take coal and water, he goes and eats while I take the coal and water. I always let him run the injector, and if the engine does not do as well as she ought to for a while, I don't get nervous and say things to him. I find it pays well to treat a fireman right. I like to have a Brotherhood man with me-not that I like all of them-because I don't.

I have been a member of the B. of L. F. nearly fourteen years, and a member of the Engineers for some time. We have long runs here, heavy trains, fast time and big engines, and I do think if ever there was a man or set of men who should be well treated it is the firemen.

Argentine, Kan.

"MEMBER."

Shall the Engineer and Fireman be Held Equally Responsible? In the January number of the MAGAZINE, I read with interest the article by Mr. J. J. Fleming, reproduced from the Railroad Gazette, together with the pertinent comments by "Mack" on the subject: "Shall the Engineer and Fireman be Held Equally Responsible?"

Often in my experience as a fireman I have discussed this subject with individuals, and now since it has arisen to its present dignity-that of being "aired" through the medium of the MAGAZINE— I am prompted to add my views for the perusal of those who may become interested.

In the matter of necessity of a fireman reading train orders, in one particular especially, I concur in the views expressed by Mr. Fleming's commentator, i. e., that a fireman's remuneration should be increased in proportion to the degree of responsibility placed upon him. It is my conviction that a fireman's pay is relatively too small. His duties are

numerous, and it is not denied that they are arduous; that flaming furnace on which he is expending his physical energies is not only feeding upon the elements provided by nature, but it is consuming slowly and surely the fresh pure oxygen of youth, while the recoil from the emergency of a single hour may displace another stone in the foundation of the tottering walls of life. Taking into account his collective duties and responsibilities, I am forced to the conclusion that he cannot with justice be burdened with additional cares, unless they be accompanied by that much needed increase in salary.

As for myself, I am seldom too busy to read train orders; if for no other reason, I do it for the ever existing motive of self preservation. If from some cause I fail to read an order, especially on a dark stormy night, I feel some degree of uneasiness until from the lapse of routine occurrences, such as meeting all scheduled trains, the safe passage of track and bridges previously known to be unsafe, etc., I am satisfied the order has

been fulfilled. Like "Mack," I have been with engineers who disdained to show me an order; as a rule these same men, on most occasions, treat their firemen with contempt, probably because they are fire

men.

I believe that nearly all firemen with any degree of experience to speak of, recognize the importance of knowing the contents of train orders. I have conversed with a great many firemen and nearly all so far have expressed themselves as desirous of acquainting themselves with all orders governing trains in which they are concerned, and I believe whether or not a fireman is paid for the responsibility, he should not miss an opportunity of acquiring that information which may assist the engineer in guarding against the destruction of human life. How often we read of wrecks of every description, when the ascribed cause is: "Engineer overlooked his orders." The firemen may at times, with an intelligent knowledge of all orders and rules governing them, avert calamitous wrecks, ofttimes accompanied by an appalling loss of life.

Even though an engineer disregard us and "stuff his orders in his pockets," with their contents sealed in his brain, that is no proof to me that his memory is infallible, or that he is incapable of error in judgment. In most cases if we are very desirous, we may secure an oppor

tunity of reading orders. I do not recall a single instance in which an engineer refused such a request; though he may think it impertinent, I do not deem it so, and I shall continue to avail myself of every opportunity of reading orders received by such men, as I do not feel as safe in trusting them as I would the more liberal spirited type.

I think this subject is of vital importance and should be discussed without restraint, with a view of eliminating constantly recurring dangers together with a training for future duties.

A Question on “Air.”

I would like to have the following quesMAGAZINE: If you have 30 cars in your tion answered through the columns of the train, and when you go to charge the

auxiliaries you find that the exhaust port of the triple valve on the head car leaks

badly. You try to cut it out but find You don't put in a blind gasket, nor take that the cut-out cock leaks just as badly.

the car behind in the train, but take it through to destination. How would you do it?

I have an answer, but would like to hear from some of the other brothers on the subject.

"READER."

Locomotive Firing-Theory vs.

Practice.

I have been reading most anything and everything pertaining to locomotive firing, hoping thereby to make of myself a competent and skilled fireman. Before I go any further it might be well for me to say that we, the "tallow pots" of today, are not making a willful waste of coal just to satisfy our small desire for the seat box for a very small space of time, between fires, but-whenever we canquite a number of us fire with two or three shovels of coal at a time, without smoke and without any waste of fuel whatever, so far as we are concerned.

From what I have read on the subject, I quote the following:

"They (the firemen) will fire according to theory until the steam has gone back, and then they will get her hot again."

But how? Oh! just by loading 'er and putting it where she wants it.

I will give you some of my experiences in locomotive firing, thus providing ample proof of what I write. The June, 1901,