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Show I j GROOMING A RAILROAD FLYER jj I 'I BY JAMES B. MILLET. I H (Copyright, by P. E. EastmenL) I '! srMjHENthe baby is warned and I f& scrubbed and dressed and I 11 KTmrt t0 2 to cnurcn for tne I , , nrst time for his christening, no ! greater painB aro taken over him than , are taken every day to make tho modern , J luxurious railroad "nycr" look oplck and l span, Grooming: an' express train Is a moot Al difficult and cxpenslvo business. While I jj" the most extravagant of up-to-date I dandies would not dream of having . ; more than three or four valets at most, " the express will have anywhere from a 1 j hundred to a hundred and fifty, each J : doing his own special part of the work. ' The ministrations of this army of ser-I; ser-I; vanta arc paid every day, at the end of hi. ; a trip, which Is often not more than a $ day's run. When tho engine and Its ;' jf 1 train- of cars have done their work they i J are promptly rubbed down and attended v. to, Just Hko a boxer after he has llnlshed his bout, or an athlete after a foot- u 1 t race, The crew of men who work aboard the flyer havo nothing to do with looking 1 ; , after it at the end of the run. Special , staffs of men are keut at tho round- jj hous; and car eheds for that purpose. , ' In number they equal two companies J of soldiers, and they are as well drilled : J as any military force. Each man has his j; own particular work to do, and. knows , J exactly how to do It. Very few orders, , need to be given, but when one Is neces- ' ; .; sary It Is obeyed "on tho jump." t . ' When the locomotive enters the round- 1 1 house a company of these civilian aol- ? itj dlcrs immediately swarm all over her, ' 'J! cleaning and pollehlng her until she j : looks? as smart as a new pin. Even the i 1 1 wheels aro rubbed over with oil until 2 i they take on a beautiful lustre. Oil Is J uleo used to rub down the outside of the ! ears. Water Is no longer used nowadays, J for it cracks' the paint, while oil im-! im-! proves It and gives- It a beautiful color. S Some of the men who swarm aboard ! the locomotive "knock her fire," others ' ! , clean all the Hues and dampers, the flre- pan and the machinery and take aboard rra! nnrl water for thr- nr-st rlnv'n run: fl r . yet others carefully test the air brakes, .11 ejector pump and other parts of the ma- , S i chlnery, examine the wheels, wipe down i ' everything below the runnlngboard with jm ol), fill up the oil cups on the drivers, I ' and generally put the locomotive in Ti , flrst-claro shape for the next run. jj - It must not be supposed that ihis Is ji ; the work merely of laborers. Several i i, j thoroughly trained experts, each with T j his special branch of knowledge, go 'jj . most carefully over all the essential . ; parts of the engine after each run, ex- w ! amlnlng And testing them. It Is not a jjj ! perfunctory examination, altiough It Is 'i H a daily one; for the men know that If i there Is any mishap on the run which :f can be traced back to their negligence i ' , thoy will be "flred" to a dead certainty. V . Wlien tho passenger lakes a railway ' Journey, therefore, cspeclnlly If he rides ! (' behind a good modern flyer, he may feel 1 ( sure that everything which skill and forethought can do to make the trip a afe one has been done. His comfort Is attended to equally as Hj j j well as his safety. Sometimes the pa- r trons of a palace car, If they are habit- - j 1 ual travelers, make a "kick" because - I something or other Is not just as they LsH J would have it; but habitual travelers Hdi 1 ran always be safely relied on to "kick." Hh J-I j whatever accommodations they may WAWAH ItT-3 Bct a eveto, they cannot fairly Hjt ' 1 complain that the cars arc not clean, H! i unless It be toward .the end of a day's i Journey, when they nave been begrimed : 1 5 by the dust of the track and the smoke BV ij of the engine. i After the car has been taken down to ! ; 9 the yards by a switch engine, it is RV j pounced upon by a small army of men, - ft who give It a sort of preliminary rub- , 1 down, and afterwards a most thorough i j j grooming before it is taken back to the ;? j station for the next run. '1 The carpets arc all taken out of the ; I u car nnd blo-n by compressed air, a 4 fl thorough way of cleaning them which Io i not adopted even In the most expensive hotels once a week, let alone once a ;r ! day. The mattresses, cushions, pillows ' S and peats arc also taken out and blown ' : by compressed air, The woodwork, glass ''ci antl braoa work all over the car are jh 1 cleaned and polished by dozens of men, L jB and the exterior woodwork la rubbed down with oil. S j All the running gear of the car is most a carefully overhauled. Steamfltters, elec- H s triclans, engineers and other experts ex- p I amine In their special departments, and (S the lights and air brakes are rigidly t; J tested. The cups on the Journals are f filled with oil, every part of the wheels1 Vt Ssamlned, and In short, just as thorough H' ' ;2 a test made of running gear as in the ' case of the locomotive Itself. H there Is a case of sickness during a j' run tho conductor must locate 1U It is H, , h hlB duty to report, on arriving at the ' f yard, exactly tho seat In which the stick Kl. x person A t?paco In the car is closed '1 around thlaeat. and Is most carefully a fumigated and disinfected, no matter fl , what tho nature of the slcknesn may ( ' havo been. Whether it was Infectious II or not. the railroad ofllclalp take no I ! chances with the health and lives of j i i their passengers. This regulation applies Hi I 1 1 generally to all railroad cars, not mcre- H j jj ly to the palace cars. j t Another large staff attends to the pro- 1 J. ! vlflonlng nnd equipping of the car from j I the tommlssarlat deartment which Is attached to the station yard. A special forco Is even told off to take I charge of the supply of clean bod llnon, , ? towels and other articles to the sleeping cars. It goes without saying that these . are renewed every day. Even, if there Hi 1 aro a lot of unused ones aboard, they H j ; are taken off the car nnd replaced. No linen makes two conpocutlvo journeys. H - Neither docs n cake of soap or a halr- Ht. : brush or a comb. The porter la given- a H box before each run, filled with soap, l ' ij bruuhes, combs and other toilet articles. Ht j yr The brushes nnd combs which havo Hr (i 3j been used once are thoroughly cleansed Hl J nnd sterilized before being pent out l 1 U again. fi ' equipment of the dining car Is. of V i course, a great business. A small army Hh of caterers, cooks, wine stewards and Htn j waiters see to it; and woo betide anyone Hrj ! I f them if the man in charge of the car Ht'H ; finds anything missing after the train ' started on its run: ' w It ho discover? so much as a spoon or '. 1 a salt cellar out of place, there Is going f: 1 to be trouble when he returns. He Is an j autocrat of the deepest dye. Even the skipper of an ocean liner is far lees des- potlc, far less prone to find fault. Even H i lll engineer who runs the locomotive Hl ; 5 does not cast a more critical eye over ; the work that has been doiic for him ' than does the autocrat of the dining ; j Passengers aro i-oinetimes inclined to J denounce the meals they get on the pal. nee car. Of course, they are not as good as the tlnest productions of the kitchens of the big hotels, but when the circumstances circum-stances under which thoy are cooked are taken Into account, It must honestly be admitted that they aro marvels. Sympathy Is often bestowed on the cook of an ocean liner, but his task Is a. simple sim-ple one compared to that of tile culinary genius of the palace car. To begin with.itho sea cook has plenty of room, while the other-man- has barely space in which to stand up straight and rftretch himself, much less to cook In. Then, too, it murt be remembered that the sea cook's efforts are always sure to be appreciated. During the Inst h . the voyage the pnep-' -to eat anything, and during the second part they are so hungi ....n. ... air that they enjoy anything served up -to them. The cook of the dining car has no such i easy constituency to please. He has to . feed people who are going from a good -hotel In one city to a good hotel In an- other, and under the circumstances of " his work he Is fortunate If they leave tho car without desiring to boll him In . one of his own stew pots. When the cars are ready for the run they are taken by a switch engine down to the station to be coupled to the loco- . mptlve. The locomotive which makes the run -never, under any circumstances, hauls " the cars to their yards, or does any me- '. nlal work about the statlpn. It would be . an unspeakable degradation. My Lord -Flyer must have a switch engine to re- -lleve him of his load immediately he " comes Into the station, just as the engl- neer has a man to take his place when -ho roaches the roundhouse. Before the cars are coupled to tho en- glne. the air brakes are once again test- " ed, prior to the run, by meami of steam I pipes placed In the station platforms for -the purpose. If the' are fountl to be -all right, the cars aro coupled up and " the run begins on schedule time, with " locomotive and coaches all beautifully -groomed. But If anything Is found to be wrong -with the, running gear of one of the cars, or If Its numerous valets have not been '. able to get It spick and span In time, to -the perfect satisfaction of the superln- -tendent of the yard, it Is s?nt back, and " another car Is put In Its place. I |