As the model engineer must first have served as fireman, let us say a word on that score.
Before a fireman can serve on a passenger train, he should have served awhile as freight brakeman, or in the yard shifting cars. Before going on an express train, he must have run on slow trains as fireman. All this is necessary that he may acquire a knowledge of the petty details of his work.
A superintendent who puts a green hand at firing certainly exhibits a great want of good judgment, to say the least, and just this has often been the cause of serious accidents and loss of life.
Here are a few things that a man must know before he can become an engineer:
1. How to make up a proper fire in a locomotive fire-box.
2. How to handle the shovel when the engine is running.
4. How to calculate the effect of the weather on the rails.
5. How to manage an engine and train on varying grades.
6. How to have full control of an engine and train at full speed.
7. How to work the steam expansively and yet keep time.
9. How to read the gauges at a glance and understand just what they mean.
Now all these things have got to be learned while a fireman, for unless you know them you can never become an engineer.
Some engineers will give no instructions. They demand certain results, and if the fireman don't do just what they expect because he does not understand what is wanted, they call him a fool, snatch the shovel out of his hand and do the work themselves.
It is the engineer who is the fool in this case, and doubly so if he loses his temper and swears.
Certainly it is very hard for a sensitive young man to learn of such a master, but after all it is good discipline.
Never mind if you are sworn at and dubbed an idiot. No matter if you do choke a few fires and stop a few trains. Persevere! Keep your temper, watch how the engineer does it and try to do the same yourself next time. Show him that you are not the idiot he has called you, prove that you are no fool by your patience and perseverance--qualities, like enough, which he himself does not possess.
A first class engineer, however, will show a new fireman just what he wants done and how to do it.
Here are a few lines from an excellent manual on engineering, describing the conduct of a good engineer to his fireman. Read them with care: