Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-10-27
THRILLING SUENEs BY RAIL.
Thirty Yeas as Baggase-Master ON the
Erie Road.

Thirty Yeas as BasGase-Master on the
Erie Road.
SIN the fall of 1910 I commenced running
baggage on the New York and Erie Railway"
said Mr.. John Camp, one of the oldest through
baggagemen in the company's employ,in con-
versation with the writer at the Erie depot.
foot of Chambers street, "and rough time
we had of it, too. Rairoading was at that
period in it's infancy, the steam locomotive
Was new thing, and was everywhere regard
ed as one of the wonders of invention. Doing
away with, as 1t did, the old tedious stage lines
and making the distance in far less time, with
none OF the Inconvenience of the early
methods OF conveyance, it was, of course,
generally attractive.
But still, when look back and compare
our old cabooses, small wood burning engines
rickety cars and cheap rails with these modern
coaches and solid locomotives, comfortable
cars, heavy steal rails and reliable air brakes,
am as much astonished at the improvements
as people were at the first invention. You
see, we had no reliable arrangement in the
matter of brakes, and these terrible old
machines used for that purpose were simply
chain worked at each end by sort of wheel,
which, when turned by strong exertion,
pressed block Of iron made to tit the face of
of the wheel, tightly against it, similar TO a
like construction on heavy wagon. Well,
the boys detested these brakes, which were
dangerous thing to handle by an inexpe-
rienced man, with The train going at full speed.
More than one poor fellow has received his
deatli, from the breaking of the chain while
operating these bungling machines. In the
absence of name for the brakes of that day,
the boys used to call them the Armstrong
Brake which was we'll apl led, as it required
q full amount of muscle and nerve to operate
them
II began running from New York, by way
of Plermont, before the road was open to Suf-
ferns. We used to transfer passengers and
baggage up the Hudson River to Picrmont
from our old depot, which was located at the
foot of Duane street, on two boats owned by
the company, and from that place westward
by rail. The completion of the road down
through New Jersey is of more recent date.
After few months the road was opened to
Elmira, and thence up to Jefferson (now Wat
kinsJ at the foot Of Seneca Lake, and our
traffic was transferred from that place by boat
to Geneva and on to Buffalo. The year after
we ran to Hornellsville, and about 1851, or
thereabouts, we reached Dunkirk, then the
western terminus
think that the section from Port Jervis to
Deposit was about the worst and most dan.
gerous of any in the country, being either cut
in the rocks cliffs em.anking the river, where
in case of q slight accident the whole train
would have been hurled down the precipice
fully. 100 feet, into the foaming waters be
meath, or laid through the low woodland
marshes, clear down to the rivers level. II
was in these high cuts that the danger OF
rocks on the track was most feared. A slight
rain or the moistening Of the ground Occas-
toned by the frost leaving it in the spring OF
the year, would start large rock, which