Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 3, Issue 5 (September 1, 1928)

Superstitions of Railwaymen

Previous Section | Table of Contents | Up | Next Section

Superstitions of Railwaymen.

The refusal of an engine driver to take out of one of the Home railway sheds a new locomotive bearing the number “13” serves to remind us of the hold that superstition has on many railway
Lille Marshalling Yard. This huge depot is one of a number of modern gravitational yards constructed by the French Northern Railway as part of its post-war restoration plan.

Lille Marshalling Yard.
This huge depot is one of a number of modern gravitational yards constructed by the French Northern Railway as part of its post-war restoration plan.

workers. We can all appreciate the dislike of the average engine driver at taking out a locomotive which on its previous run has been concerned in a serious mishap. Much more difficult is it to understand why engines whose numbers contain the figure “9” should be shunned like the plague by many intelligent drivers. Another inexplicable superstition of the Home locomotive man is that which concerns the turning of the engine on the turn-table. Some men insist upon turning the table to the right. Others are equally insistent upon turning their locomotive to the left. By both, any deviation from their accustomed practice is regarded with superstitious dread.

Then there is the quaint belief that never, if you wish to avoid mishap, should you step on to the engine with the right foot first; nor, what is even more disastrous, climb out of the cab on the right-hand side. Most singular of all is the horror which arises in the mind of many engine-drivers at the sight of a hare crossing the metals in front of the locomotive when he is setting out on a long journey. Such an occurrence the superstitious engine-driver at Home regards with the gravest apprehension. New Zealand locomotive men have their own pet superstitions, but it is doubtful whether any railwaymen the world over approach in this respect the other-wise hard-headed footplate staffs of Doncaster, Crewe, Swindon and other Homeland engine centres.

Previous Section | Table of Contents | Up | Next Section