The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-05-29
Railway Stories.

A paper on " Engine Drivers and their
Ways" in Casselrs Magazine, contains the
following anecdotes:
81 have alluded to a drivers GOODNESS
and resolution in an accident, but no chro.
nicle ever has or ever will be written which
will tell one tithe Of the accidents which
the courage and presence of mind Of these
men has averted. A railway ran over q
river-indeed, it might be called an arm
of the sea, as it was the inlet to an i'm.
portant harbor, provision was obliged to
be made for the shipping, and so the piece
Of line which crossed the water, at a height
of seventy five feet, was, in fact, bridge
which swung round when large vessels had
to pass. i need hardly say that such a
point was carefully guarded. At each end
at fitting distance, a man was placed
specially to indicate whether the bridge
was open or shut. One day as the ex.
press was tearing along on its up jour.
ney, the driver received the usual sall
right signal but to his horror, on com.
ing in full sight of the bridge, he found
it was wide open, and a gulf of fatal
depth yawning before him. He sounded
his brake-whistle, that deep toned scream
which signals the guard, and he and his
firemen held on, as before described, to the
brake and regulator. The speed of the
train was, of course, checked; but SO
short was the interval, so great had been
the impetus, that it seemed almost impos.
sible to prevent the whole train from going
over into the chasm. Had the rails been
in the least degree slippery, any of the
brakes out of order, or the driver less de-
termined, there would then have occurred
the most fearful railway accident ever
known in England but by dint of quick
decision and cool courage the danger was
averted the train was brought to stand
still when the buffers Of the engine abso-
lutely and literally overhung the chasm.
Three yards more, and a different result
might have had to be chronicled.
"Some of my readers may remember
an incident in railway history which dates
back to our first great Exhibition. / men,
tion it here for its singularity, and for my
having known the driver whose GOODNESS
was so marked. In ascending very long
gradient, the hindmost carriages of the
train snapped their couplings when at the
top; the engine ratified on with the re-
HdluuCl, NnllC luCsS lau uo"u VIC SiopC,
which was several miles in length, with a
velocity which of course increased every
moment. To make matters worse, the
train next on the same line was compare
lively close behind, and, in fact, shortly
came in sight. The driver of this second
train, watchful and experienced hand,
saw the carriages rushing towards him,
OWNED that they were on the same line.
If he continued steamiDg on, of course,
in couple of minutes he would come
into direct collision with them, while, on
the other hand, if he ran back, the carl
riages would probably gather such way
that they would leap from the bank. So,
with great presence Of mind and wonder
ful judgment of speed, he ran back at a
pace notquite as fast as the carriages were
approaching, so that eventually they over
took him, and struck his moving engine
with a blow that was scarcely more per-
ceptible than the jar usually communi-
Gated by coupling on fresh carriage.
When this was done all the rest were easy
he resumed his down journey, and pushed
the frightened passengers safely before
him until they reached their destination,
where the officials, as may readily be sup
posed, were in state of frantic despair
at the loss of half the train.
"These anecdotes could be multiplied d
to almost any extent, as could the gloomy
yet strangely fascinating record of acci-
dents to the men,"