Nostalgia & History > I thought he was changing a light bulb.

Picture 1 is from the Denver Public Library website,

http://digital.denverlibrary.org

Picture 1, “Call Number: OP-697. Title: AT&SF locomotive, engine number 2916, engine type 4-8-4. Title-Alternative: Other title: Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe locomotive, engine number 2916, engine type 4-8-4. Creator(s): Perry, Otto, 1894-1970. Summary: Three-quarter view of right side of engine, from front end; obstructions. Photographed: Clovis, N.M., June 16, 1950. Physical Description: 1 photonegative; 9 x 14 cm; 1 photo print: silver gelatin, b&w; 9 x 14 cm.
Is Part Of Otto C. Perry memorial collection of railroad photographs.”

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Picture 2, picture 1 enlarged.

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Nope. He's getting ready to oil the class lights.

-E.O.

Actually he seems to be oiling the sleeve bearings for the bell. They are manually lubricated. There are 2 small openings in the yoke that allow oil to be applied to the shaft of the bell support bracket which turns in the yoke. I also like that big 6 chime step top LM 540 whistle beside him.

MP4093 Wrote:
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> Actually he seems to be oiling the sleeve bearings
> for the bell. They are manually lubricated. There
> are 2 small openings in the yoke that allow oil to
> be applied to the shaft of the bell support
> bracket which turns in the yoke. I also like that
> big 6 chime step top LM 540 whistle beside him.

Oh.

-E.O.

Thanks MP4093 for the mention of the six chime whistle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casey_Jones

“Jones was also famous for his peculiar skill with the train whistle. His whistle was made of six thin tubes bound together, the shortest being half the length of the longest. Its unique sound involved a long-drawn-out note that began softly, rose and then died away to a whisper, a sound that became his trademark. The sound of it was variously described as ‘a sort of whippoorwill call,’ or ‘like the war cry of a Viking.’ People living along the Illinois Central right-of-way between Jackson, Tennessee, and Water Valley, Mississippi, would turn over in their beds late at night upon hearing it and say ‘There goes Casey Jones’ as he roared by.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Train_whistle

“North American steam locomotive whistles have different sounds from one another. They come in many forms, from tiny little single-note shriekers (called ‘banshees’ on the Pennsylvania Railroad) to larger plain whistles with deeper tones (a deep, plain train whistle is the ‘hooter’ of the Norfolk & Western, used on their A- and Y-class Mallet locomotives). Even more well known were the multi-chime train whistles. Nathan of New York copied and improved Casey Jones's boiler-tube chime whistle by casting the six chambers into a single bell, with open ‘steps’ on top to save on casting. This whistle is still considered the ‘king of train whistles.’ It is the most copied train whistle in the United States, and many railroads' shops cast their own version of it.”

Although it was long before OSHA, I think its predecessors were working at this time. Notice how they've got this mans legs anchored to the light post so he won't fall from this precarious position.