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Show The Utah & Northern - Train-Men and Trains, &c., &c. <br><br> Having occasion, recently, to take a long ride on an evening freight train on the U.&N., and finding it very monotonous riding in the caboose without company, we took occasion to engage in chat one of the train men from whom we proposed to glean some information about railroad life on this road. "What is your run?" we asked. "From Logan to Blackfoot," he replied. "Is it an easy one?" "No, it's rather hard. We're on the train about 12 hours a day, besides our side work of switching, making out reports, and so forth. We sometimes put in 15 hours a day." "The boys made the superintendent some nice presents on Christmas. They seem to like him pretty well," we observed. "Yes sir, all the train men like him first-rate - splendidly. He uses the boys well, and they like him. He gets lots of work out of them, too, but if a man will do his duty, he'll never hear from the superintendent. If he don't tend to business, though, he's pretty likely to." <br><br> "How long have you been on the road?" we asked. "O, two or three years. I'm an old railroader though. I used to run on the C.P. and other roads. I've been railroading seven or eight years." <br><br> "How do you like the rules and arrangements on this road?" <br><br> "Best of any I ever run on. Our rules are good. No ‘wild cat' orders. Our orders are plain and simple. There is less danger of accidents on this road than any other I ever run on. I feel as safe on the train as I do in my own house. We don't have many accidents on this road." <br><br> "You sometimes run over stock, don't you?" <br><br> "Well, yes; but we can't help that; there is no way to help it, except to fence the road in. In the winter time, stock will stay on the track; there's less snow there, and when they see the engine coming, they run straight ahead, because they don't like to plunge into the deep snow off the grade, and sometimes the engine strikes them in spite of all we can do. Sometimes the train men have to get off and drive the animals off the grade with clubs. The cold makes them kind o' stupid, and they won't get out of the way unless we club them off the track." <br><br> "Isn't there danger of ditching an engine or a train by running over an animal?" <br><br> "That depends on the speed of the engine when the animal is struck. If we are going fast there is no danger, for the concussion knocks the animal clean off the track, but if we are going slow, we may first break a leg or something, and get the beast down, and if the beef gets under the ???? or tracks?, its apt to do damage, and maybe ditch something." <br><br> Our chat continued for sometime longer, during which our experienced friend gave it as his opinion that the U.&N. is a very well governed, well conducted road, that the precautions against accidents are better than on the C.P., and that the rules for governing the running of trains were simpler and better than on any road he had ever run on. His regard for his superintendent was quite enthusiastic, and, in his opinion, there were some "mighty smart men" connected with the local management of the U.&.N. <br><br> Many of these railroad boys are a wholy souled, jovial set of fellows, brave, generous, accommodating and sociable. Their life, particularly in winter, is not an enviable one, but they don't appear to mind its hardships very much, and there seems to be a certain fascination about it that keeps them to it. |