Here I illustrate some interesting details about railway operations from
the 1903 version of the Railway Act, passed during the reign of Edward VII.
Having to deal with an entire cross-section of society in their stations and on their passenger trains, the railways were granted the right to create and enforce company regulations governing the behaviour of the general public under the Railway Act. I grew up reading the stern warnings posted on railway property by authority of this legislation.
As a kid, it seemed to me that a copy of the Railway Act would yield a lot of interesting detail about railway operations ... beyond the boring posterized prohibition of public expectoration. When I finally purchased an old copy of the Act, I confirmed my suspicion about the operational details within it. Here is what is to be found on Page 74.
By 1900, the railways in North America had been forced to focus on safety. Overturning stoves in wooden passenger equipment, link and pin coupling systems, and the use of only mechanical hand brakes to stop trains had taken their toll, scandalizing the public and finally causing governments to act to protect human life.
On the topic of 'packing', I suspect that filling up these spaces would protect the safety of employees and the general public by preventing feet and hooves from becoming caught in switches and at public crossings.
Around this time, most road transportation in the city and in the countryside was powered by horses. Otherwise, many people were simply walking across public railway crossings on their way to work, school or church. With most people not being aware of the danger of these particular traps and the difficulty of extracting one's foot in a hurry, there were probably some pretty tragic outcomes. (To be historically cautious ... it is possible that this part of the legislation only applies to railway 'crossings' i.e. 'diamonds'. I don't know.)
On the employee side ... trainmen were walking around, and climbing aboard, and dropping off, rolling stock in all kinds of weather and at night - when a kerosene or oil lantern could not light up the whole scene. You can imagine it would be easy to wedge a boot under the rail at a switch when rain and grease had lubricated both the footwear and the rails. It would be less easy to quickly extract one's foot as equipment approached the switch.
I am only speculating on the reason for these three paragraphs. However, when one considers the thousands of gaps 'of less than four inches' existing in the trackwork across Canada, and the daily hazard these foot traps presented to employees and the public, it seems likely this was the reason.
 |
| from: Baltimore & Ohio Railroad; Roadway and Track Standards; circa 1950; reprint. |
The diagrams above and below show the general application of this idea on a US railroad.
The public crossing section below does a nice job of showing the gap which is filled.
 | |
|
Oil Cups
 |
| from: The Iron Horse; Henry B Comstock; 1992; Greenberg Publishing Co. |
The view of a 4-4-0 (circa 1860) above shows the oil cups installed on top of the steam chests and the pistons below.
Early lubricator systems are described below.
 |
| from: Locomotive Engine Running; Angus Sinclair; 1899; John Wiley & Sons. |
These undated snapshots I purchased (above and below) show 4-4-0 engines which were retrofitted with lubricator lines to the steam chests. The Railway Act paragraph prohibiting employees from refilling steam chest oil cups while the locomotive is in motion is consistent with previous changes to train braking practices which once required brakemen to travel from car roof to car roof to apply hand brakes to stop a train, that is, ... It is really unsafe to be working on the outside of a moving train.
To illustrate the 'old way' with the CPR 100 above, you can imagine a fireman coming out of that open front cab door, climbing over the air pump, then making his way along the running board and using an oil can to refill the oil cup while holding on to the railing with the other hand.
* * *
Again, here is more text from Page 74 the Railway Act of 1903 ...
 |
| from: The Train Doesn't Stop Here Any More; Ron Brown; 1991; Broadview Press. |
Above, at Biscotasing, Ontario (undated photo) the train has just departed after depositing freight on the station platform. To the right of the open office door, you can see a Dominion Express sign and an oil platform lamp with its shiny reflector. To the left of the door, you can see the simple train order signal and the overdue train blackboard. This early view of the station is interesting because telegraph lines generally entered at the rear of a station building.
 |
| from: Canada, A History in Photographs; Hall & Dodds; 1981; Hurtig. |
The unidentified Quebec Central station in the undated view above shows a spoof of local transportation methods when the area is flooded. Unfortunately, the blackboard is not legible in this image.
In the last years of CNR and CPR passenger service, an eternally optimistic 'ON TIME' was often stencilled with white paint onto the appropriate location on the blackboards. After this 'schedule update' by Maintenance of Way, or Buildings and Bridges ... the office probably never had to requisition chalk again!
At our local Kingston station in the early 1980s, there was a telephone line through which the local station personnel could contact the CNR Belleville dispatcher for train delay and arrival track information. One day, a passenger asked if his train was on time. A conscientious local employee seemed almost startled by the question and a flurry of activity ensued behind the counter. The passenger quipped to me: 'You ask a simple question and it sends the whole system into chaos.'