12 //.% niul Thru Handling 



' .uul control. By constant observation, 

 thought, ami experiment, it is made more simple 

 and more easily controlled in its movements until 

 it loses every superfluous part and every unneces- 

 sary motion. Take a look at the little old engine 

 which stands on the mezzanine floor of the Grand 

 Central Station in New York City that ancient 

 locomotive ami the three funny little stagecoach 

 cars behind it. Then look at the engines and the 

 I of today. They have been improved continu- 

 ously. Yet, they are more simple, more thor- 

 oughly useful, and more valuable in their capacity 

 to do a great deal of work with a minimum of 

 effort and attention. They are more beautiful 

 than the first engine and coaches, I think, and 

 their beauty arises from their more perfect adap- 

 tation to their own service. 



In the century since that seemingly toy locomo- 

 tive and its little train of cars ran from Albany to 

 Schenectady, thousands of men have been study- 

 ing the railroad, its equipment, and its necessities. 

 They have seen a defect here and there and they 

 have set their imaginations to work until they 

 have conquered these difficulties. First one defect 

 and then another has been seen and improved. 

 Probably the engineers who built the first loco- 

 motive did not see any defects in it. They could 

 not see them until they themselves had learned 

 more by studying the thing at work and then by 

 going back to their books and finding out how to 

 apply this knowledge in improvements. 



