Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 143, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 June 1911 — HONOR TO OLD ENGINEMEN [ARTICLE]

HONOR TO OLD ENGINEMEN

One Company Names Its Locomotives After Men of Long and Faithful ; A . Service. The Erie Railroad company, in pursuance of its decision to honor enginemen of long service with the company by naming locomotives after them, has thus far favored two Western New York employes in this way. The first engineman for whom a locomotive was named is William R. Benedict of Buffalo. The second man was Thomas C. Clark of Hornell, Who draws a train on the Allegheny division and has worked for the company for 47 yJhrs. It Is customary on some railroads for enginemen to use the same locomotives regularly, while on other lines the locomotives are used Indiscriminately; on some lines, when a run is made one day by one man and the next day by another, alternating regularly, the locomotive makes both runs and is used by only these two men. Enginemen generally prefer to. have the same locomotive every time, as they thus become familiar with its peculiarities and are able to. get the best work from it The assertion is made by enginemen that locomotives used indiscriminately receive harsher treatment than a machine used by one or two men regularly. But It is not so much in the interests of .economical treatment of locomotives that the Erie la naming some of them for employes, but rather, It is understood, as a tribute to the faithfulness of the men thus honored.