Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1874-04-18
RACING LOCOMOTIVES.
An Exciting Twilight Match Between
Two Iron Horses.

An Exciting Twilight Match Between
Two Iron Horses.
Few persons who have travelled over
either of the two great routes, to wit,
the Lake Shore or Fort Wayne, from
Chicago eastward, have escaped notic-
ing the fact that the two roads run side
by side for a distance of twenty miles
before they diverge so much that the
passengers on one train cannot dis
tinguish the features of friends upon
the other train, providing two trains
are running alongside. A rivalry has
existed between the operatives of the
two routes ever since the completion
of the Fort Wayne road. By the time
the trains reach South Chicago, the pas
sengers are all alive to the excitement
of the race. On a recent occasion the
Times representative was invited to
"get up" at Grand Crossing, and see it
down just once, so he jumped off as the
train Stacked at the crossing, and run
ming quickly forward, did get up, and
perched upon the narrow seat of the
fireman at the left of the cab, he took
few notes "onto" as pretty a race as
was ever run over this course. The
rival train had little the start, but our
engineer thought he could get out of
South Chicago even with them, and
"then was when the fun would come"
It had grown dark enough to have the
sparks CLEAN brightly as the two en-
gines vomited forth, with nervous,
spiteful coughs, great volumes of coal
smoke mingled with steam, which
streaked off away over the trains and
lay like sullen storm clouds over the
low landscape. We left South Chicago
well together, and each engine was
soon put to lively work. AS the fire
man opened the furnace doors bright
streaks of glaring angry, red light
would shoot backward through the mass
of smoke and steam, for moment light
ing it up with lurid glare that smack
ed of the internal regions. Faster and
faster flew the driving wheels, and the
like motion of the parallel
bars bewildered the eye. The head
light of our engine seemed to throw it's
luminous rays ahead by jerks, lighting
up weird scene of low, sedgy marsh,
sandy wastes, stunted pines and slug
gish lagoon, through which lay the
iron-bound course over which our pom
derous engine glided at fearfully rapid
pace, seeming to give every energy to
the struggle, as much as if it were
thing of life and reason. Side by side
the two trains sped for many miles,
ours leading by half Car length.
Our engineer was one of the most
careful on this road, and one who very
seldom INDUCED in race, but he con-
cluded that it would never do to suffer
a "scoop," as that is something the
paper never allows; SO to show what
his pride of an engine could do, Just
before parting company with his rival
he gave the old machine little more
and the faithful assistant
heaved in an extra dose of coal, when,
with an intensified growl, away he sped
at rate of speed rarely accomplished
by locomotive, and with q parting
screech of the whistle we left the
vainly struggling rival far in the rear.
AS the roads diverged we could see the
engine of the opposition line plunging
madly through the low oaks and pines,
seemingly running twice as fast as we
were. We had jumped by switches,
sidings, and stations, but now coterie
of red and green lights appear. The
reverse bar is thrown over, the throttle
valve closed, the bell set to ringing by
steam, and, with hand on the valve
which governs the air-brake, the en-
gineer, with great drops of perspiration
on his brow, gently reiRs his
glowing steed, and stops the pondrous
right where he can water it
easily, and then remarks, with great in
ward satisfaction, "Well, they got it
that time" Then, as he gets down
with torch and oil can to make the
grand rounds, the representative bids
him a hearty goodnight, and slips back
to full-sized seats and lazy-backs, and
is greeted with the remark, "You were
out there, were you? wondered what
had got into the old man."
The passengers are all elated over
the victory, each one regarding it in
the light of new case of personal
prowess, quite as much as if they had
run the engine, or in fact owned the
road. No other topic entered into the
general conversation, and, as the train
drew up to the supper station, sixty
miles out of Chicago, every person on
the train seemed to have a keen appe-
tite, which the excitement of the grand
race had begotten. OF course all the
passengers of that train will ever after
swear by that road, unless, perhaps,
they should some time suffer defeat,
and that would leave them in quandary
as to whether they had been beaten
fairly, and whether they did not have
more and heavier cars than the rival
train. In year or two more, when the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the
Canada Southern, and the Air Line
Railroads are completed, there will be
many lively race in that neck of woods
which skirts the lower lake shore, so
that the representative American may
hope for any amount of fun of the
rapid kind.
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