Order no. 3245

In pursuance of the powers conferred upon it by the Railway Act, sections 30 and 269, and of all other powers possessed by the Board in that behalf, the Board orders as follows:

Every railway company subject to the legislative authority of the Parliament of Canada operating any railway by steam power shall cause every locomotive used on the railway, or portion of railway operated by it, to be fitted and kept fitted with netting mesh as hereinafter mentioned, viz., on every engine equipped with an extension smokebox, the mesh to be not larger than 2 1/2×2 1/2 per inch of no. 10 Birmingham wire gauge, and to be placed in the smoke-box so as to extend completely over the aperture through which the smoke ascends—the openings of the mesh not to exceed 1/4 in. and 1/64 in. to the sq. in. On every engine equipped with a diamond stack the mesh to be not more than 3×3 per inch of no. 10 Birmingham wire gauge, and to be placed across the top of the stack so as completely to cover the same, the openings of the said mesh not to exceed 3/16 in., and 1/64 in. to the sq. in.

Every such company operating any railway by steam power shall cause the openings at the back of the ashpans on every locomotive used on the railway, or portion of railway operated by it, to be covered, when practicable, with heavy sheet iron dampers, or if not practicable, with screen netting dampers 2 1/2×2 1/2 per in. of no. 10 Birmingham wire gauge—such dampers to be fastened either by a heavy spring or a split cotter and pins; overflow pipes from the injectors to be put into the front and back part of the ashpans and used during the months of April, May, June, July, August, Sept., and Oct.

Every such company shall provide inspectors at terminals where its locomotives are housed and repaired, and cause them, in addition to the duties to which they may be assigned by the officials of the railway companies in charge of such terminals, to examine, at least once in every week, the nettings, dead plates, ashpans, dampers, slides, and any other fire protective appliance or appliances used on any and all engines running into the said terminals. To keep a record of every such inspection in a book to be furnished by the company for the purpose, showing the number of the engines inspected, the date of such inspection, and the condition of the said fire protective arrangements and appliances.

No employe of any such railway company shall do, or in any way cause, damage to the netting on the engine smoke stack, or to the netting in the front end of such engine; open the back dampers of the engine while running ahead; or otherwise do or cause damage or injury to any of the protective appliances used on the said engines.

Every such company allowing or permitting the violation of, or in any other respect contravening or failing to obey the foregoing regulations, shall be subject to a penalty of $25 for every such offence. Every such employe contravening or failing to obey the said regulations, or any of them, shall be subject to a penalty of $15 for every such offence.

No such company shall burn lignite coal on its locomotives as fuel for transportation purposes until such times as the Board shall otherwise order or direct. Lignite coal includes all varieties of coal, the properties of which are intermediate between wood and coal of the older formations. Every such railway company burning, or permitting to be burned, lignite coal on its locomotives in contravention of the regulation herein in this behalf, shall be subject to a penalty of $25 for each offence.

Every such company operating a railway by steam power in the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta, shall establish and maintain along the line of railway where the same passes through prairie country in the said provinces on each side of such line, and of not less than 300 ft. in width from the center of the railway, a good and sufficient fireguard, to be made by plowing the land to the extent of not less than 16 ft. in width on the side of the fireguard farthest from the railway, and by burning or otherwise freeing from inflammable materials the spaces between such plowing and such line of railway.

Every such company shall, at all times, keep such fireguards free from weeds and other inflammable material and in such condition as not to allow fire to spread thereon and therefrom through coals, cinders, or sparks falling from or emitted by engines upon its railway, provided, that no such company shall be bound to enter upon the lands of another for any of the purposes aforesaid without the consent of the owner of the said lands, unless such company can lawfully do so without being liable to make compensation therefor; provided, also, that the said company shall not be required to establish and maintain such fireguards where the nature of the country renders it impossible to do so, or where the doing so would involve serious loss and damage to property, all such places and portions of line or lines to be specifically described and reported to the Board.

The fireguards herein provided for to be completed on or before Sept. 1, 1907, and after this year, on or before the 1st day of Aug. in each year; and, in other respects, these regulations shall take effect and be operative on and from Sept. 1, 1907. These regulations shall not have effect during the months of Dec, Jan., Feb., or Mar., in any year.

Every such company disobeying or failing to comply with the provisions of these regulations shall be liable to a penalty of $100 for every such disobedience or failure to comply with the provisions of these regulations respecting fireguards.