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In the steam engine, it was the duty of the fireman to keep a bright and even fire roaring, and to ensure that the water level in the boiler was at the exact level needed to maintain speed across different types of terrain, such as flat beds, hills, and curves. A bad fire could result in either low water or low steam levels, and eventually, ended in unscheduled stops and slow running times. Learning how to properly 'fire' a steam engine was a real art. It was hard enough even standing on the sliding cab of the train; maintaining an even fire and taking accurate readings of the water glass under these conditions took an immense amount of skill. Also, a fireman would have to travel a stretch of track until he knew its ups and downs, levels and curves, like the back of his hand. Looking out the left side of the train, he would develop a set of landmarks that told him his exact location and allowed him to adjust steam pressure accordingly.
The unique characteristics of the P.E.I.
Railway added substantially to the challenge of operating
a steam engine. The Island railway boasts some of the
most crooked
road beds in the world, with up to a
third of its total line comprised of curves. Although
this long and winding track eliminated the problem of
getting up hills, the constant bends created a different
set of difficulties, as engineers Much of the lore surrounding the Island
railway has to do with the legendary slowness of its
steam engines. Between the serpentine twists of its
railbeds, and the heaves and dips that developed every
spring thaw, the train would sometimes rattle along at
speeds averaging no more than 13 miles per hour. One
popular railway yarn relates the story of an Island
conductor who received complaints from farmers along his
route. The people passing by on the trains, it seems,
were leaning out the windows and milking the cows. In
truth, there were many unpredictable occurrences which
could slow a train down-- from livestock on the track to
engine failure-- and the schedule often became more of a
formality than anything else. There is another story told
about two seventy-year-old Island men who met for the
first time, and the one happened to ask the other where
he had spent his life. "I spent my first twenty
years in |