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Show ipl What Shall I Btg LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEER? It is a trade that almost deserves de-serves to be called a profession, and to the boy of ability for the work it has many openings. How a boy who is twenty-one and in good physical condition may start along this line of work. The various steps he takes up to passenger engineman and thereafter into positions paying their thousands a year. Examinations Ex-aminations that have to be passed and technical knowledge that has to be acquired If your boys hopes to succeed big In this field. By C. W. JENNINGS. F all vocations ordinarily A'fVra lookec uPon 33 trades, the f tvl'f l one tbat Pr0DalIy comes MNii nearest to deserving the dignity of being called a profession Is that of locomotive loco-motive engineer. Formerly this was. like carpentry and mechanics and other manual occupations, little more than a trade; but the complexities and Importance of railroad transportation have become so great as gradually to have elaborated the training of the engineman until they are considered competent to run a train only after years of hard work and scientific study. So, when your boy manifests symp toms of wishing to be a locomotive engineer, en-gineer, It may not be wise to dissuade him on the ground that he would be learning a trade. He is sure to look admiringly and longingly at the man beside the throttle; almost every imaginative im-aginative youngster does. If this attraction at-traction is more than fleeting, then probably he is aspiring to an honorable honor-able occupation which may give him opportunity to reach the highest places in the great business of railroading. The logical place for your son to make his beginning is as fireman, where he is to serve his three years' apprenticeship. The preliminary requirements re-quirements are an ordinary common school education, good physical condition, condi-tion, especially in eyesight and hearing, hear-ing, and, of course, good habits. "Having "Hav-ing these qualifications," to quote from a railroad bulletin, "advancement will come to those who are conscientious consci-entious in the discharge of their duties du-ties and who devote some of their leisure hours to study." As soon as your boy is employed as fireman lie is on the same technical basis as the oldest and most experienced experi-enced fireman on the system; for the pay is the same, $2.75 for every hundred hun-dred miles traveled, reckoning a hundred hun-dred miles as a day's work. This does not mean that he will be assigned to fast express or even any passenger trains. Newcomers are put on the extra list, which means that they will be employed only half time or less, according to traffic demands and the supply of firemen. Trainmen are promoted and considered strictly on a seniority basis, with, of course, regard for efficiency, the oldest men in the service, if competent, being given the choicest and most remunerative remunera-tive runs. When your boy is employer first as fireman, he will be given a list of questions on which he will be ex- amined at the end of the first year. This is a rigid custom on a famous eastern railroad and is generally followed fol-lowed by railroads throughout the country: Explain the principle of the steam gauge. What Is the source of power In a steam locomotive? About what quantity of water should be evaporated evapora-ted in a locomotive boiler to a pound of coal? What is steam and how is It generated? What Is combustion? What Is the composition of bituminous bitumin-ous coal? In what condition should the fire be In order that the best results re-sults may be obtained from the combustion com-bustion of the coal? How should the fire and water be managed in starting from the station? What is the purpose pur-pose of a safety valve? When and why should you wet the coal in the tender? And many other questions covering a wide range of knowledge of the fuel used In locomotives and the care of the engine itself. Also he must explain what should be done in a wide range of emergencies and accidents. acci-dents. By the end of the first year, If your boy has done his best to acquire knowledge, he should be working pretty regularly on freight engines and earning probably as much as $50 or $00 a month, and, If he passed his examination, he will be doing fairly well from then on, by the end of the second year increasing his monthly earnings to $75 or so which will probably prob-ably grow to $90 or $100 soon afterward. after-ward. At the end of the third year he has completed his course, and after passing a particularly rigid examination examina-tion Is given a certificate of engineering. engineer-ing. This other examination Is along the line of the first, except that It is more advanced and carried out in greater detail. It also includes comprehensive com-prehensive knowledge of the air brake. Your boy's first engine will probably be on a work train or at switching, at a regular pay of $2.25 a day of ten hours; but, if seniority permits, he will soon find himself on a regular freight run, at pay of $3.85 to $4.50 for every hundred miles' run, according to the size of the locomotive. Freight engineers on steady work earn something some-thing like $125 a month, and are in direct line for promotion to passenger passen-ger runs. The regular pay on the latter lat-ter is $3.S5 for every hundred miles, which gives engineers from $150 to $200 a month, some, on choice routes exceeding even this. Promotion from the choicest passenger passen-ger cab is to road foreman of engines, who is a sort of assistant to the master mas-ter mechanic and is paid a salary of about $150 a month. His duties are generally to supervise the engineers of a division, settling their troubles and seeing that locomotives are kept in proper order. Besides, he is a member mem-ber of the board that examines firemen fire-men and engineers. Next he becomes master mechanic at $200 to $250 a month. The latter Is the direct master mas-ter of engines and engineers, being at the head of the roundhouse, repair shops, etc., and assigning the men to their duties. Following this position conies that of division superintendent of motive power, who has charge of the main shops and is superior to four or five master mechanics, at $3,000 to $4,000 a year; then comes assistant general superintendent of motive power, at around $5,0i'0 salary; then, full general superintendent, at $7,000 to $10,000 annually. Once In this position, your boy should now be competent to get into the highest positions po-sitions in railroading. In the ordinary course of progress he should reach a choice passenger run by the time ha is thirty-five or so, the foremanship within five years later, and be eligible for the general superintendency by the time he is about fifty. This line of work, from fireman up through the engineman's cab is a little lit-tle different from ordinary occupations. occupa-tions. In that a boy generally has to be twenty-one before he can be a fireman; fire-man; but many, to avoid the waiting, start In earlier than that as workmen on the ash pits, which is little more than ordinary manual labor, at 15 or 16 cents an hour, or as wipers In the roundhouse at 18 cents. Then, as soon as they are of age, they make their formal start as firemen. Railroads demand the highest possible pos-sible proficiency in their employes, and, as already Indicated, in the case of firemen, this includes an Intimate knowledge of the economy of fuel. This Is one of the most important questions In railroading, and the fireman fire-man that gets over a given run In schedule time with less consumption of coal than other firemen use is considered con-sidered to possess exceptional qualifications qualifi-cations and will be given every possible pos-sible opportunity to advance. Thus, he Is constantly spurred to Increase his scientific and practical knowledge of his work, which may ultimately lead him to a specialty in this particular particu-lar phase of the business. If a fireman expects to get on he must also possess to a large degree nerve and judgment; for both are taxed every time he makes a passenger passen-ger run. In observing the hundreds of electrical signals that line the congested con-gested tracks, in avoiding accidents, in taking responsibility for departure from rules which may be required by some emergency of the moment, and in always realizing that the lives ol the hundreds of passengers in the train are dependent upon him and still he must keep up the speed schedule. (Copyright, 1910, by the Associated Literary Lit-erary Press.) |