Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 January 1916 — EARN RAILROAD “IRON CROSS” [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

EARN RAILROAD “IRON CROSS”

HONOR FOR ENGINEERS X ' - • ■ •- RAILROAD AWARDS RED SPOTS FOR EXTREME EFFICIENCY. Eastern Line Has Peculiar Method of Keying Employees Up to Pitch of Perfection —Many Have Been Long in Service. The other day there was celebrated the eightieth anniversary of the breaking of ground for a railroad at Deposit, N. Y. The peculiar part of the whole business is that it was due in great part to a woman’s whim. Eighty-four years ago a girl of Ramapo, N. Y., married a man from the same town named Henry L. Pierson. The two went to South Carolina on their honeymoon. When the bride got to South Carolina she heard that a steam engine was to make its first trip (of six miles) from Charleston-la Hamburg.

Never having seen an engine, and not being content to leave the state until she had seen everything in it, she insisted on taking the trip with the engine. She did, and although the ride was neither as pleasant as it might be, nor yet so smooth, she became so enthusiastic about it that when she returned to Ramapo she talked of nothing else. Her brother-in-law, Eleazar Lord, and her father-in-law, Jeremiah Pierson, listened to her arguments in favor of a local railroad, and four years later ground was broken at Deposit for what eventually proved to be the Erie railroad. Jeremiah Pierson became its first president. But this story isn't about that. It’s about red spot engines, which attracted a lot of attention at the celebration. When a young fellow living along the right of way of the railroad begins to see red spots dancing eternally before his eyes, it is not at all symptomatic that he has a bad stomach or poor circulation; it is prophetic, rather, that he Is due some day to be an engineer.

Of all the railroads in the country this is the only one that awards red spots to its engineers. That is, if they keep their engines abnormally clean, economize on coal and water, and yet keep to their running schedule, they are allowed to have the humeral plate on the front of the smoke box of their engines painted red, with the numerals in silver. If their excellence jn these respects is something to marvel at, in addition to the fed spot they are allowed to have their name painted in gold letters on the engine cab. And when, at the end of his run, such an engineer finishes his scouring andmolishing above the running board and then turns his engine over to the wipers, these gentlemen go at that engine as though they intended to clean it off the track altogether. And when the engine is put in the house the inspectors go over her with microscopes, and then go over her again. When the hostler takes her out again for her run and turns her over to her engineer he wipes the steps where his feet have stepped, lest they leave a sooty imprint— And of all these men (there are four with their names on their engines running into Jersey City) Harvey Springstead is the topnotcher, You can see yourself perfectly in the headlight of his engine; your figure will become comically convex and broad in the crossover pipe. There are about forty-six men belonging to the Order of the Red Spot who run into Jersey City, but, as has been said, only four with their names on their engine cabs. And a peculiar thing about this class of engine drivers is that none of them seems to show the strain of continual engine driving. All their faces are good nattired and rubicund, and the eyes of all are bright and keen. It was a surprise to hear that Barney Walsh, who drives No. 556, and looks about fortyfive, had been working for the railroad for just that number of years. His explanation of his looks is very simple.

«•. “An engineer,” says he, “never breaks down gradually; he goes to pieces all of a suddent.” And here he lQOked tL verx_shrfewdJy at his questioner. He gets,” he continued, “what Is called locomotive ataxia!”—New York, World.

This Is the Top-Notch Engineer of Them All.