College Of Engineering Celebrates 100 Years Of Teaching Students To Drive Trains

Story by Jacob Zlomke 

| Published Feb 9, 2010

The 2009-2010 school year is monumental for UNL’s College of Engineering. The faculty and students are celebrating being part of a program that has taught students the finer points of train-driving for nearly 100 years.
“In 1862, the first tracks of railroad were laid down in Nebraska,” said dean of the college Tom McGlomick, “and, before 1909, engineers were learning on the job — which is fine, but they didn’t completely understand what they were doing. They just knew how to do it.”
In 1909, the college, founded by renowned train engineer, Fredrick Hampton, started with just one classroom, one professor, 12 students, and a vision to make Nebraska railroads safer.
Today, the college boasts more than 1,000 undergraduate students, more than 100 professors, six buildings spread across three campuses, and access to trains all over Nebraska.
McGlomick said the school has come so far as to offer multiple degrees, from chemical to mechanical, rather than one, general train-driving degree.
“This means students can learn about the chemicals behind train driving, if they so please, or learn about the parts that make a train go, including the wheels, the engine valves, the fireplace that you shovel coal into and even more,” McGlomick said.
“We’re very proud of our engineering college,” Chancellor Harvey Perlman stated at a celebratory luncheon, last Tuesday. “Every year, we send dozens of student out into the world, ready to drive everything from subways in New York, to coal trains in Montana, to high speed trains in Japan.”
Perlman did note that forging this path has not always been easy. In 1986, one engineering graduate of UNL accidentally allowed his train to be hijacked and driven straight to the North Pole, Perlman said.
“After what came to be known as 'Polar Express fiasco,'” McGlomick said, “we obviously had to restructure our entire program to include train-driving safety in the required curriculum.”
Even so, McGlomick said, the college has soldiered onward and plans to continue doing so.
“Who knows what the future holds for us? I’ll be satisfied as long as I know I’m sending students out into the world with the knowledge of how to drive a train both safely and effectively.”