The Young Train Dispatcher

, and he made his way toward it over the tangle of tracks and switches, where the freight-trains were being “made up” to be sent east or west. After some inquiry, he found the freight agent

y car which entered or left the yards—the road it belonged to, its number, whence it came, whither it went, by what train, at what hour. This dingy little building was one link in that great ch

its own system, but this is impossible. A car of sugar, for instance, sent from New York to Denver, must pass over at least two different lines. It can go from New York to Chicago over the New York Central, and from Chicago to Denver over the Santa Fé. Now, if

balanced,—when there is more freight, that is, being sent one way than another,—the “empties” must be hauled back, and as “empties” produce no revenue, this is a dead expense which cuts deeply into the ? 14 ? earnings. The roads which use a car must pay the road which owns it a fee of fifty cents for every day they keep it in their poss

number of every car in his train, its contents, destination, and the hour of its departure from one terminal and arrival at another. These reports, as they come in from day to day, are

movement of cars, which shall be up-to-date and instantly available. Every train which enters ? 15 ? the yards is met by a yard-clerk, book in hand, who makes a note of the number and name of every car as it passes him. The men who do this gain an amazing facility, and as the cars rush past, jot down numbers a

man with bronzed face and beard tinged with gray, who knew the yards and the intricacies of “making up” better than most people know the alphabet. Allan knew him well, for many an evening had he spent in the little

ter greeted him, as he opened th

ail-carrier,” and he

16

never was over-liberal. You’re b

I’ve got to learn the ropes

” said Marney, his eyes twinkling. “You’ll soon be

uperintendent some day,

a minute. Yes—an’ I’ll live t’ see it! I’ll be right here where

laughing. “I’ll always speak to

tep on a track without lookin’ both ways t’ see if anything’s comin; an’ if anything is comin’ an’ you’re at all doubtful of bein’ able t’ git acrost ahead of it at an ordinary walk, don’t try. Give it th’ right o’ way. I’ve been workin’ in these yards goin’ on forty year, an’ I’ve managed t’ kape all my arms ? 17 ? an’ legs w

aster had not overstated them, though the crushing and maiming and killing which went on there were due in no small degree to the carelessness and foolhardiness

. He knew the shops thoroughly, for he had been through them more than once under Jack Welsh’s guidance, and had spent many of his spare moments there, for there was a trem

eadquarters of Section Twenty-One, and receptacle for hand-car and tools,—the hand-car which he had pumped along the track so many times, the tools with which his hands had grown familiar. The door of the “long-shop” lay just beyond, and he entered

r more serious injuries the engines must be taken to the experts in the long shop, and placed on one of the operating-tables there, and taken apart and put together and made fit for service again. When the injuries are too severe—when, in other words, it would cost more to rebuild the engine than

them has a special gang of men attached to it, under a foreman whose sole business it

er of sparks incessantly, under the guidance of its presiding genius, a little, gray-haired man, whose duty it was to sharpen all the tools brought to him. There was a constant stream of men to and from the grindstone, which, in consequence, was a sort of centre for all the gossip of the shops. Once the grindstone had burst, and had carried

20

ate idea of that merciless and never-ceasing din. Chains clanked, drills squeaked, but over and above it all was the banging and hammering of the riveters, and, as a sort of undertone, the clangour from the boiler-

engines, anxious not to miss him. At last, near the farthest engine, he thought that he perceived him, and drew near. As he did so, he saw that an important operation was going forward. A boiler was being lowered to its place on

ible in the din. “Easy!” and the boiler was lowered

SEIZING HIM BY THE ARM, DRA

21

ick intaking of breath,

vement the young fellow threw over the lever a

d stood erect, hands on hips, straighten

andled the great weight, responsive to the pressure of a finger, and Allan ran his

or. He sprang forward toward the young fe

seizing him by the arm, dr

of the shop like a cannon-shot above the rattle of musketry, and a great b