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GROWING IMPORTANCE OF ENGINEERS’ DUTIES.
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The safe and punctual operation of our railroads has always depended to a great extent upon the discriminating care of the engineer. The present tendency of railroad operating is to increase his responsibility. Every advance in brake improvement increases the duties of the enginemen, and upon them will soon devolve the entire management and control of trains while in motion.
INDIVIDUALITY OF AMERICAN ENGINEERS.
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Writing on the fitness of various railroad employés for their duties, that eminent authority, Ex-Railroad-Commissioner Charles F. Adams, jun., says, “In discussing and comparing the appliances used in the practical operating of railroads in different countries, there is one element, however, which can never be left out of the account. The intelligence, quickness of perception, and capacity for taking care of themselves,—that combination of qualities, which, taken together, constitute individuality, and adaptability to circumstances,—vary greatly among the railroad employés of different countries. The American locomotive engineer, as he is called, is especially gifted in this way. He can be relied on to take care of himself and his train under circumstances which in other countries would be thought to insure disaster.”