Not at all infrequently, when a passenger train has just started from a way station it is necessary to stop it again and let some person off who had been overlooked by the conductor and is probably not acquainted with the place, and it is usually a matter for comment that it takes so long to get the train haltedfrequently the passenger after alighting in a rough place, has a long walk to the station and has to cross a couple of cattleguards on the way.

If you were over on the engine at such times you would note a similar procedure in every such case; just as the engineer is closing the air-sander valve or is about to jerk up the reverse lever out of the corner notch, there are two distinct blasts of the air whistle; he pauses irresolute, eases off the throttle just a trifle and gives tongue-"Why in Sam Hill can't that crew do their station work before they leave it?" He eases the throttle off a little further, sticks his head out of the window and glares back, and about then he gets another "stop at once" air signal-or else the emergency brake is jammed on by the conductor's valve back in the train. If it is the air whistle again, he closes the throttle clear off now and makes about a six-pound service reduction, and the train stops with great deliberation. It may be a tame affair-just an old lady, probably, a stranger to those parts, overlooked by the train crew and who is disposed of without casualty-maybe.

But what, according to the Book of Rules, does two blasts of the air-signal whistle while running mean? It says"Stop at once." And how often is this signal literally obeyed? How does the engineman know what is going on back there? He isn't presumed to know. He should know, however, that the trainman wants him to stop at once.

A number of years ago when I was firing an engine on a heavy, through passenger train, we stopped at Rosedale

Junction only on account of the crossing, which was not then interlocked as it is now, and any passengers to get on or off were hustled as quickly as possible. One day John Vane, an old farmer well known to all of us, put his daughter on our train, and as he was seeing her off on a long visit, and to assist with her hand baggage, the old man accompanied her into the coach and the train started (the conductor not knowing but what John was going along). The old gentleman walked through to the rear of the coach and got off on the side opposite the station-where his horse and buggy were standing. Just like a nonrailroad man, he didn't release his handhold before his feet struck the ballast and consequently he was pulled off the ground, and while holding desperately on was being dragged with constantly increasing speed. This was an open platform coach, and it just happened that, the brakeman on the front platform crossed over and glanced back for "bums" who might be taking passage; he saw the old man dragging, and as the conductor's valve was not corded throughout the car, he pulled the airsignal cord and gave two distinct blasts of the air whistle-as I can testify. Well, the station was on the engineer's side, and in this case he acted in about the way I described as usual in such circumstances, grumblingly and very deliberate didn't shut off until the air went on with a smash. Old John had held on after the brakeman had pulled the air signal until his feet caught in the bars of an old-fashioned cattleguard, which tore his hold loose and threw him under the wheels; at the same instant the brakeman had reached and opened the conductor's valve, and the train didn't run much more than a coach length further. It was absolutely plain that if the engineer had stopped at once when he received the proper signal to do so, the life of this kindly old gentleman would have been saved.

What right have you got to disregard, or to place your own interpretation, differing from that in the Book of Rules, upon any signal given you? If I were an engineer today, there is one time when I would respond to two blasts of the air signal by emergency application, until I should be called down for it by an official of proper authority-if I ever were and that is when this signal should be received just as I was pulling away from a station.

I want to refer again to a matter previously touched upon in these articles, the subject of service braking on passenger trains using the "high-speed brake”that is, with 110 pounds brake-pipe pressure. Carrying this pressure, correct braking is done in precisely the same manner as it always was, no matter whether the cars have the "PC," the "LN," or the old standard "PM" brake equipment-the only exception being that with either of the two first mentioned equipments on all cars in the train, graduated-release service stops may be made if that function is in operative order.

When the high-speed brake was first put into service on our road a circular of instructions as to its operation was issued to engineers, in which they were advised partly as follows: "Carry 110 pounds of brake-pipe pressure. Try and make all service applications by never drawing off more than 20 pounds total for any single application (as the braking power resulting from a 20-pound reduction in the high-speed brake equals the maximum power obtainable from the old 70-pound brake), and within this limit you will get approximately the same results from graduated applications, pound for pound, as before. Consider a total reduction of 25 pounds as the permissible limit for any single application, it to be resorted to only when the train speed is high and the stopping distance short, as this amount of reduction will start the pressure-reducing valves on the brake cylinders blowing; beyond this point any further reduction will fail to provide any increase in braking power, and will not only be a waste of brakepipe air, but will also cause the reducing valves to blow off the reserve supply of auxiliary-reservoir pressure a reserve of braking power which represents one of the two mainly desirable features of the high-speed brake." This is excellent advice, and needs no interpretation here,

as it is easily comprehended by any engi

neer.

Some engineers are under the impression that with the high-speed brake, at emergency applications only can there be obtained a higher brake-cylinder pressure than was obtainable in the use of the old 70-pound brake; as a fact, with the highspeed brake full service application will give and retain in the brake cylinder whatever pressure the high-speed reducing valve is adjusted at, up to 85 pounds; but as these reducing valves are set at 60 pounds, this is the maximum servicebraking pressure obtainable in the brake cylinder, while 50 pounds is approximately the highest cylinder pressure that can be secured with the older type of brake at service application—or in the larger diameter brake cylinders, at emergency applications as well. So it is possible to get 10 pounds more brake-cylinder pressure (an increase of 20 per cent.) at service applications with the high-speed brake than is possible with the old brake; and with the "110-pound brake" this difference in possible braking power is represented by the difference between a 20pound and a 25-pound brake-pipe reduction.

While riding on a passenger train and you are sitting by an open window directly above the high-speed reducing valve, if you hear the reducing valve "popping" regularly, down toward the finish of the stop and at no other time, the engineer is a poor sort of air-brake man; but if the popping of the reducing valve occurs during the beginning of the stopping application only, and while the speed is high-this engineer is probably an air-brake "artist."

Here's a bit of knowledge which, if applied, can help an engineer in making short distance, high-powered stops without much danger of wheel skidding; if you can get the faces of the brake shoes excessively hot with a high pressure against the rapidly revolving wheels at the beginning of the stop, you can safely leave the full power applied clear to the finish-if it might be desirable to do soand no wheels will "pick up." Whether you can get them hot enough or not depends upon the wheel speed and shoe pressure right at the start. With the "LN" passenger-car brake equipment, carrying 110 pounds brake-pipe pressure, an emergency application gives about 105 pounds brake-cylinder pressure; the safety valve is cut out from the brake

cylinder at this time, and the full emergency braking power is retained right down to the finish of the stop-think of that! And the wheels don't skid at any time, either, providing the application is made while the train speed is comparatively high. The chief reason is that the faces of the brake shoes get so hot before the speed is greatly reduced that the contact surface of the iron becomes softened, the frictional resistance is thereby lessened, and continuously lessened as the friction is maintained, with an effect somewhat the same as to cutting down the abnormal braking force as is obtained from the use of the highspeed reducing valve.

No matter whether he makes a one-, two or three-application stop, the engineer who makes his first reductions light and finishes the stop by "throwing it all on her," is the fellow that knocks the passengers around, and is discredited with bringing his train in too regularly with slid-flat wheels.

I want to tell you how two passenger engineers handled two similar situations entirely different. Our Panama Limited trains Nos. 19 and 20, run through to the South over a connecting road, and one day we will have a train of our own cars and the next day a train belonging to the connecting line. The other road has not applied high-speed reducing valves to many of their cars yet, so when we handle their trains we carry only 70 pounds brake-pipe pressure. No. 20 came into Smithville one night with the foreign train, brakes working all rightso far and changed engines. Engineer Smith (only that isn't his name) took the train north from here with engine 113; this engine has the plain automatic brake; five cars of the train had the "PM" or

common quick-action brake equipment, and the sixth (rear) car, a heavy sleeper, had been recently equipped with the new "PC" brake. At the Smithville union station the brakes applied and released in good order on test, and in getting out of the city several slow-downs were made, after which the brakes were prompt in releasing. About six miles out Smith felt a brake dragging. An engineer used to these regular trains can tell when he has a stuck brake when he hits certain grades; but Smith kept plugging along till the conductor gave him the air signal to stop. Well, he stopped, released the air, and the trainmen then found the brakes all

on.

off and nothing apparently wrong with the train. The conductor had signalled to stop because he claimed the brake on the rear sleeper was dragging-and the brake shoes were smoking hot. However, everything was all right now, so they pulled out, and about the time they had struck their regular gait the brake on that rear car again commenced to creep On our road one long blast of the air whistle means "wheels are skidding" or "brake is stuck," and now the flagman on the rear car gave this signal before the engineer felt the pull of the brake. But the brake-pipe gauge showed about 70 pounds, and as the engineer believed he had been instructed against moving the automatic brake-valve handle to release position after the train line is fully charged, he was undecided what to do; so he kept moving along until the trainmen again stopped him by signalafter which he again released the brakes easily, rear sleeper and all.

This time there was argument. The engineer wanted the brake cut out on the rear sleeper, but the conductor objected. "The air-brake instructor told me," he declared, "that if the brake on any car can be normally released, no defect that might exist in the brake equipment of that car can cause that brake to reset itself; on the other hand, that any brake

defective or otherwise-once normally released, can be reapplied only by a reduction of brake-pipe pressure. Now you have released this brake, and it's up to you to maintain your air pressure and keep the brake released. High ball! All aboard!"

So they made another start, and with same results as before. Then, the conductor realizing that he could expect no preventive measures from the engineer against the trouble, and that further delay on this account would not be excused, cut out the brake on the sleeper in question; he cut out the result but not the cause.

That night a freight train, Extra South 990, went to Oak Hill for No. 20, but they had some trouble in getting up the long grade that reaches to the siding entrance, and as soon as the switch was opened the head brakeman hiked out to flag No. 20. South from the siding entrance it is straight track for about 2,500 feet to a curve through a deep cut, that is, a train from the south first comes in sight of the north entrance switch at about 2,500 feet distance. Before the

freight train got in the clear they were on No. 20's time, and when engine 113's headlight appeared the car next to the caboose was just going in over the frog. Engineer Smith saw the flagman's red light, the headlight and the caboose markers at the same instant,. and at the next instant he had shut off and thrown the brake-valve handle to the emergency position and opened his sand valve; but his train went past the north end of the siding too fast for either of the enginemen to risk getting off. The freight train had so narrowly got in the clear that the marker on the near side of the caboose was knocked off. And No. 20 ran more than 1,000 feet past the north switch before it stopped.

It shouldn't be necessary to go any further than the above to point the moral; but there is another chapter. Another engine brought this passenger train south on the return trip, and engine 113 brought back another train. The "PC" brake on the sleeper was cut in and tested at Columbia, found O. K. in every respect, and was operated without further trouble behind the other engines. And for a couple of trips the brakes seemed to operate all right on the other trains attached to engine 113.

But when that particular train, including the sleeper with the "PC" brake, came up again from the far south, again engine 113 was attached at Smithville; but this time engineer Brown (and that isn't his name, either) was in charge. As before, the brakes of the entire train applied and released in perfect manner at test and during the several slowdowns in getting out through the city. The air pressures were up to "70 and 90" when Brown glanced at the gauge as he passed Gravel Pit; the main line is straight track along there, and this engineer seemed to devote much of his attention to the air gauge. It is pretty hard to get the exact indication on most gauges on passenger engines while running at a good rate of speed, as the gauge hands usually vibrate, and often in an arc as wide as from 5 to 7 pounds; so it was on this gauge, but it seemed to him that the pressure indication of the black hand was averaging considerably below 70 pounds, and pretty soon he was satisfied that the pressure was losing; he picked up a wrench lying handy, struck the feed valve a few sharp knocks and this was followed by the gauge-hand vi

brations appearing to gradually rise to a centering on 70 pounds.

But he couldn't watch the gauge all the time; his attention was otherwise diverted, and shortly after he had "notched her" on the cemetery grade six miles out, he felt an unusual pull from the train. Glancing quickly at the air gauge he saw that the black hand was trembling about equally in each direction from the 65-pound mark, and at that instant there was one long blast of the air whistle. Did Brown hold communion with his soul as to the proper thing to do? No. Brown does his thinking about these things between trips. He pushed the automatic brake-valve handle to release position and left it there, and gave two answering blasts with his steam whistle. And the engine seemed to pick up the train and scoot away with increased power. No further brake sticking occurred.

"What's all the whistling mean, Sam?" the fireman inquired; "and why have you left your brake valve in release position?"

"Swapped," Brown replied, taking a fresh chew; "swapped off a ornery old feed valve for a good pump-governor, and at the same time I enlarged the volume of brake-pipe air by the volume of the main reservoir."

The coincidence that puts the snap of interest in this yarn is in the fact that on this night, again, another freight train-the second section of No. 79, away late-was struggling up that grade to make Oak Hill for No. 20, and with the air dragging on them (due to an irregularly working feed valve on their engine), and they succeeded in getting to the switch just as No. 20 was due. The flagman was out and hiking down the track to beat the band when engine 113's headlight flashed out of the cut, but a flag would be of no protection against a passenger train at this point unless the flagman could get around the curve to the south in sight of the straight track beyond. Engineer Brown sighted the same situation and from the same point of view as had Engineer Smith a few nights before, except that in the present case the main track was blocked-the engine of the freight train just heading in at the entrance switch. There was the same engine and the same cars on No. 20, and the speed was the same or better, for no engineer on this pike can get more

out of an engine than Brown can on the Panama Limited.

Brown shut off and gave her the emergency on sand; and here's where the difference comes in-his train stopped, with the pilot beam of his engine about ten feet short of striking the middle of the freight engine's tender; the freight engineer had set his air and jumped and taken to the bush.

In Engineer Smith's case the brakes were working on only five of the six cars in his train; and as the sleeper with cutout brake was much the heaviest car with the most powerful brake, no doubt only about 80 per cent. of the normal braking power of the train was being operated; and it was only the power obtained from 70 pounds brake-pipe pressure. On the other hand, the brakes on all six of the cars in Engineer Brown's train were cut in and working-including the highpowered "PC" brake on the rear sleeper; and in addition, his brake pipe and auxiliary reservoirs were charged to 90 pounds pressure-the source of braking power thus being over 28 per cent. higher on Brown's fully braked train than on Smith's partly braked train.

Luck, or the divine providence which is sometimes thought to watch over drunken men and fools, may have determined that the opposing train should squeeze in the clear on the night of Smith's "incident." But while Brown no doubt would appreciate lucky intervention against dangers that can not be foreseen, he is wise enough not to tempt Providence; so he made himself thorough in the knowledge of his profession, and he depends upon himself.

There was nothing at all the matter with the brake equipment on the sleeper in question. In fact, it had the most sensitively working air-brake mechanism of any car in the train; a control valve which would start its brake applying

from a brake-pipe reduction that would not close the exhaust ports of the triple valves on the other cars. The feed valve on engine 113 had the common trouble (caused from neglect in cleaning) after closing at the maximum pressure, of not opening the feed again until the brakepipe pressure had fallen four or five pounds. Triple valves in ordinary condition require from five to seven pounds reduction before they will respond sufficiently to get the brake pistons beyond the leakage grooves in the brake cylinders. So, with the other trains hauled by engine 113, as well as five of the cars in this passenger train particularly referred to, the brakes were not undesirably affected by the drop back of brakepipe pressure permitted by the disordered feed valve; but the reduction was sufficient to apply the brake on the sleeper having the "PC" equipment-the best conditioned and most powerful brake in the train. The evidence that appears in such cases is commonly made use of by uninformed trainmen and enginemen to place the blame for "stuck" brakes in the wrong place; the best brakes are cut out, thus weakening the braking power of the train, and in the end delaying the proper correction of the trouble.

We are not excusing freight trains for getting on a passenger train's time without proper and full-distance protection. But such things happen, and all of the modern improvements in the air-brake equipment of passenger trains were brought out in view of just such things happening-for mere station stopping the air brake was perfect years ago. don't cripple your air brake unnecessarily; never cut out a brake unless the source of trouble is on that car; and keep your feed valve in correct and sensitively working condition-do the inspection and cleaning of this valve yourself, for it is worth the trouble.

So