Well listers, I guess I've had all the fun I'm allowed to have with this
thing. A couple of folks have got it.
With hand fired steam locomotives there would come a time, as the coal supply
in the tender got low, that the fireman could no longer reach the pile...It
was the regular practice for the head brakeman to get down in the tender and
"shovel down coal" for the fireman so that he could reach the pile without
having to walk back in the tender. The brakeman's contract didn't provide
for this work as part of their "job description" and some of them wouldn't do
it...although, from what I hear, most would, just to maintain cordial
relations with the engine crew.
In the days when there were a large numbers of hobos riding the trains, it
was common practice for the bo to pay for his "transportation" by assisting
the fireman by shoveling or raking coal down and forward so that said fireman
could reach the coal pile without having to walk back into the tender....
At some point in time...I have no idea when....someone came up with the idea
of the "coal pusher"...I don't know whether they all worked alike or not, but
at least the Ryan and Johnson models actually tilted the coal bin portion of
the tender forward and the coal would run or slide to the front, thus doing
what the hobo or head brakeman had previously done by hand...Hence the term Au
tomatic Hobo".
I confess that I had never heard the term Automatic Hobo until just a few
days ago i was reading a Boomer Jones story in an old RAILROAD
MAGAZINE...(October 39)
The BJ series was written by a Rock Island conductor, Jim Earp. Earp was a
conductor on the Missouri Kansas Division. If you read his tales you can
identify most of the towns between Armourdale and Herington. ie Latopa,
Marland, you Rock Islanders can get these.
Here's a tidbit from CONTRACT BRAKEMAN, RAILROAD October 39. "The automatic
hobo is an extension of the coal tank operated by steam pressure. It will
raise up and dump the two tons of coal it holds, filling up the front of the
coal tank. If one does work, it's more by accident than design. In case of
failure the head brakeman usually takes the automatic hobo's place and does
the work rather than delay the train and work an extra hardship on the
fireboy."
Well that's it until I find some other time wasting activity to harass the
troops with.
Pete
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