Back in the mid 1900's (say 1930 - 1960 or so) a Stationary Engineer was a person that watched over and took care of boilers, primarily in buildings, but I guess it could have been any boiler that wasn't on a piece of machinery the didn't move. I'm not sure when the term came about, but would suspect it meant close to the same thing when it was first used. I assume the meaning hasn't changed much in todays world; although I suspect that if it is still used, it was broadened to enclude folks that take care of the heating plant (and maybe the A/C) in a building. Make Sense? Roger ---- [email protected] wrote: > Can anyone tell me what exactly what an Engineer, Stationary is? Is it > connected with the railroad or is it a designer of stationary objects like > buildings, bridges, etc. > Thanks, > [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) (ed) >

Roger, When I was a lad, the only engineers I knew about were the ones who ran the steam engines on the railroad. Now, come to think about it, they were always on the "move", never staying in one place very long. The engineers who took care of, "ran" steam boilers in industry and large buildings were more "stationary", so that is the difference between the engineers. The term "engineer" today has taken on a different meaning, today engineers solve all kinds of problems in design and operation, testing and other phases of industry. I knew one who ran a 30 day, round the clock, test on a large steam valve and he forgot to intall one stress tab making all the other findings useless! If he had been a railroad engineer, he would probably have wrecked the train! G. Lee Hearl Authentic Appalachian Storyteller Abingdon, Va.