The Typical Railroad Man--On the Road and at Home--Raising the Moral Standard--Characteristics of the Freight Brakeman--His Wit the Result of Meditation--How Slang is Originated--Agreeable Features of his Life in Fine Weather--Hardships in Winter--The Perils of Hand-brakes--Broken Trains--Going back to Flag--Coupling Accidents--At the Spring--Advantages of a Passenger Brakeman--Trials of the Freight Conductor--The Investigation of Accidents--Irregular Hours of Work--The Locomotive Engineer the Hero of the Rail--His Rare Qualities--The Value of Quick Judgment--Calm Fidelity a Necessary Trait--Saving Fuel on a Freight Engine--Making Time on a Passenger Engine--Remarkable Runs--The Spirit of Fraternity among Engineers--Difficult Duties of a Passenger-train Conductor--Tact in Dealing with Many People--Questions to be Answered--How Rough Characters are Dealt with--Heavy Responsibilities--The Work of a Station Agent--Flirtation by Telegraph--The Baggage-master's Hard Task--Eternal Vigilance Necessary in a Switch-tender--Section-men, Train Despatchers, Firemen, and Clerks--Efforts to Make the Railroad Man's Life Easier. The typical railroad man "runs on the road;" he is not the one whose urbane presence adorns the much-heralded offices of the railroad companies on Broadway, where the gold letters on the front window are each considerably larger than the elbow-room allowed the clerks inside; nor, indeed, is he, generally speaking, the one with whom the public or the public's drayman comes in contact when visiting a large city station to ship or receive freight. These and others, whose part in the complex machinery of transportation is in a degree auxiliary, are indeed largely imbued with the _esprit de corps_ which originates in the main body of workers; but their duties are such that their interest is not especially lively. Even the men employed at stations in villages and large towns acquire a share of their railroad spirit at second hand, as life on a train is necessary to get the experience which embodies the true fascination which so charms Young America. The railroad man's home-life is not specially different from other people's. There have been Chesterfields among conductors, and mechanical geniuses have grown up among the locomotive engineers, but these were products of an era now past. Station-men are a part of the communities where their duties place them. Trainmen and their families occupy a modest though highly respectable place in the society they live in. Trainmen who live in a city generally receive the same pay that is given to their brothers, doing the same work, whose homes are in the country. The families of the latter therefore enjoy purer air, lessened expenses, and other advantages which are denied the former.