The flagman swings his lamp, or his flag or hand, in a vertical circle at half-arm's length across the track. The engineer blows three short blasts, his indication that he has understood the signal to back.* Then he throws the locomotive into reverse. If he has a power reverse gear he just turns a little wheel, steam doing the rest. If he has a hand reverse gear he has to push hard and knows that the antic steam may kick the lever and break his arm.
Last week the I. C. C., after weighing the...
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