Bluebolt:
I would have also thought the same, but Dad sent below info, along with an interesting story at the end.
Mike
The long handled shovel is the fireman shovel. The short handled one is the section man shovel.
The biggest reason for the long handled shovel being the Fireman's is, when steam engines were used, Fireman had to shovel coal from the coal tender to the fire pit, to create steam. In later years, when steam engines were equipped with stokers, Fireman still had to shovel some coal and throw it further up in fire pit. There were two types of stokers, one was a barrel stoker and the other was a standard screw stoker. Both of these stokers did not throw the coal very far forward in fire pit, so Fireman had to make sure the fire was hot the entire length of the fire pit. Therefore, a long handled shovel was needed, and also the fire was very hot, and Fireman had to stay away from the fire. In the tender, the coal was controlled by slides, under the coal, that could be removed, as coal was being used. The coal could drop down into the screw affair and transported to the fire pit. The double sliding door, to the fire pit, was operated by steam and a foot pedal. The Fireman had to maintain approx. 200 lbs of steam for the Engineer to operate the engine. Fireman was responsible for heat and the proper amount of water to create steam. The head brakeman had a seat behind the Fireman seat, with a window, so he could also look ahead for obstructions.
The section men were responsible for maintaining a level track. This means they had to use a track jack to raise the rails and shovel in ballast to raise the track. This is why the handle on the section shovel was short.
I remember one time when we were returning from Benwood, WV, and nearing Newark, that the section men must not have had info saying we were coming. They had the track jacked up, and when we rounded the curve, they saw us, and quickly knocked the jacks off the rails, but the rails were still not level, and when we went pass them, it was like a car going over the top of a hill. With a bit of luck, we did stay on the rail, and no accident happened. As a rule, section foreman got a lineup when first going to work, and they did not raise the track until all was clear.
Don P.
Whenever I see hog rings now, I run. Much respect for Nine and the patience / skill it takes to do that.
The lever vise was all the $$ at 140. The drill bits were a good deal though.
