ed trouble and mishap. A crane driver employed at the Midland
Railway Extension at St. Pancras, came to work one winter's morning and
the steam being already up, turned it on to warm the steam chest and
cylinder, preparatory to commencing work for the day, forgetting that it
had been freezing hard all night, and split the steam chest to pieces.
His plea of defence was that steam had remained in the chest and
condensed, and become ice, then expanding, burst the steam chest; this
plea served all right, but the following summer he was less successful.
He came to me during the dinner hour and said, "Jack, I can't get any
water into my boiler, will you come over and look at her?" I did go
over, and on looking at the water gauge saw it was empty, opened the
cocks, but dry steam came forth, opened the fire door and found a bright
fire of coke; while the engine was pegging away to get water into the
boiler. I said, "Bill, stop your engine and draw your fire at once, and
my name's Walker." I went back quicker than I came; and an hour later
he came over to me looking very down, and said, "Jack, I've done it." I
knew what he meant and went over with him to look at the boiler. It was
as complete wreck, and I told him to fly off and get any money that was
owing him before he got locked up; he did go, and I never saw him since.
This man was an engine fitter before he took to engine driving--poor
fellow, I was very sorry for him. Another instance. A stoker had to fill
a boiler and get up steam in her one Sunday morning, there was a big
tank over the stoke-hold from which water was taken to fill cold
boilers, a two-inch pipe with stop-cock led to the top of each boiler
from the bottom of the tank. But the tank was empty on this occasion; a
donkey pump close by was used to keep the tank filled, but this boiler
was the one from which the donkey took her steam, and was now empty, but
the stoker solved the puzzle: a boiler with steam was in use about fifty
yards away, and having a steam-pipe connection to the empty one he
opened the cock and commenced letting the steam into her, but it was
condensing as fast as it went in; and being one of the extra clever
ones, he lighted a fire in the grate so as to stop the condensing, and
did stop it, and let in sufficient steam to work the donkey-pump and
partly filled the tank, and was proceeding to open the two-inch cold
water pipe when one of the workmen passing by saw some cotton waste
smoking stron