Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1867-05-02

A Runaway sroRY. A paper on
aRngine Drivers and their Ways" In
Cosseil's Magazine, contains the follow
ing anecdotes
"Ihave alluded TO q drivers GOODNESS
and resolution in an accident, but no
chronicle has or ever will be written
which will tell ont 1.-THE of the accidents
which the courage and presence Of mind
Of these men has averted. A railway
IA. over river--indeed, 1t might be
cali, 4 an arm Of the sea as IL was the
inlet o an important harbor, provision
was 0 ,liged to ne made for the shipping
and 81 the piece Of line which crossed
the mater, at height of seventy-hye
feet, was, in fact, bridge, which swung
round when large vessels had TO pass
need hardly say that such a point was
carefully guarded At each end and at
a fitting distance, a man was placed
specially to indicate whether the bridge
was open or shut.
One day as the express was tearing
along on It's up journey, the driver re-
ceived the usual all right signal, but to
his horror, on coming in full sight OF
the bridge; he found ii was wide open
and a gulf OF fatal depth yawning be-
fore him. He sounded his brake whistle,
that deep. toned scream which signals
guard, and he and his fireman held on,
as before described, TO brake and regula-
tor. The speed of the train was OF
course checked but so short was the
interval, 80 great had been the impetus,
that it seemed almost impossible to pre-
vent 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
determined, there would then have &C.
Cured the most fearful railway accident
ever known in England but by dint Of
quick decision and cool courage the dan
ger was averted the train was brought
to standstill when the buffers OF the
engine absolutely and literally overhung
the chasm. Three yards more, and q
different result might have had to be
chronicled.
Some of my readers may remember an
incident 10 railway history which dates
back to our first Great Exhibition. l
mention it here for its singularity, and
for my having known the driver whose
GOODNESS was 80 marked. In ascending
very long gradient, the hindmost car
riages of the train snapped their coup
1ings when at the top; the engine rat
tied on with the remainder, while these
ran down the slope, which was several
miles in length, with velocity which
of course increased every moment. 10
make matters worse the train next on
the same line was comparatively close
behind, and in fact, shortly came in
sight The driver of this second train
watchful and experienced hand, saw
the carriage rushing towards him, anc
OWNED that they were on the same line
II he continued steaming on, of course
in couple of minutes he would come
into direct collision with them, while
on the other hand, if he ran back, thu
carriages would probably gather such
way, that they would leap from the bank
So, with great presence of mind, ant
wonderful Judgment OF speed, he ra
back at 2 pace not quite as fast as tn
carriages were approaching, so tina
eventually they overlook him, and struc
his moving engine with blow that wa
scarcely more perceptible than the ia
usually communicated by coupling on
fresh carriage. When this was done a
the rest was easy he resumed his dow
journey, and pushed the frightened pas
sengers safely before him until the
reached their destination, where the off
Gals, as may readily be supposed, wer
in a state of frantic despair at the los
OF half the train.
These anecdotes could be multiple
to almost any extent, as could th
gloomy yet strangely fascinating recor
of accidents to the men"