N&W and VGN in 1909

[NW Mailing List]

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
March 2, 1909

COMFORTS PROVIDED FOR RAILWAY MEN
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Old time Engineer Declares There Is No Longer Any Excuse for Indulgence in Liquor

    "There used to be pretty strong excuse for tired out engineers, firemen and trainmen on our steam railroads taking a drop too much of liquor at times," said Mr. H. B. Miller, who commenced life as a railroad employe and is now a well known commercial man of Cincinnati.
    "I ran an engine myself in my young days and know just how broken up physically a man felt after reaching the end of his division, at the conclusion of a hard run, maybe, on some bitter cold night, when it was a constant fight with the elements to get his train over steep mountain grades.  Now, then, in the old times, of which I speak, there was no provision for the comfort of the men at the end of their route.  They had to walk probably a dozen blocks to reach some cheap and poorly furnished lodgings, where they tumbled into rickety and not over clean beds.  Knowing the want of comfort at his boarding place it is no wonder that the railroader would stop at a saloon enroute and brace his fatigued body with a drink of whiskey.  This would not only mean the loss of money, but of time that should have been spent in refreshing sleep.
    "Thank goodness, this old order has been done away with to a great extent in many of our big systems.  On the Baltimore and Ohio they have established what are styled 'rest houses' and they amply deserve the same.  These houses are usually right at the station and they are equipped with a special view to sanitation and comfort.  A grimy engineer can have his hot bath in ten minutes after he leaves his machine, and then tumble into a neat, excellent bed in a room as good as most hotels boast.  Under such conditions he doesn't have the craving for liquor, but is content to get rid of dirt and take his natural rest  For this benefaction he pays the purely nominal sum of ten cents and he goes on his way rejoicing with a clean and invigorated body and cheerful disposition."
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[I'm glad to know that railroad men gave up liquor in 1909--long before Prohibition.]

Gordon Hamilton
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