The Hartford herald., 1885-06-24
AN ENGINEERS STORY.

AN ENGINEERS STORY.
The following thrilling story was told
by the late Duff Brown, one of the old
est locomotive engineers in the coun-
try:
'In 1863 was running train on the
Buffalo, Cory X Erie Railroad. The
track from Mayville Summit to Br0c-
ton Junction is so crooked that while
the distance is actually only ten miles,
the curves make it by rail fourteen.
The grade for the whole distance Is
over seventy feet to the mile. About
nine O'Clock on the night of August IL,
1869, We reached the summit with IA
train of two passenger cars, six oil cars
and box car. The latter contained
two valuable trotting horses and their
keepers, on their way, l believe, 10
Chicago. There were fifty or sixty pas
sengers in the two ears. | got the sig
nal to start from the conductor and
pulled out. We had got under con.
siderable headway, when, looking back,
L saw that an oil ear in the middle OF
the train was on fire. | reversed the
engine and wbistled for brakes. The
conductor and brakesmen jumped of,
uncoupled the passenger ears, set the
brakes ON them, and brought them to
stop. Supposing that the brakes on
the burning oil ears would also be put
ON, | called to IA brakeman on the box
ear to draw the coupling pin between
that car and the head oil tank, backing
so that he could do it, intending to run
far enough to save the box ear and the
locomotive. AS / ran down the hill,
after the pin had been withdrawn, what
was my horror to see that the burning
ears were following me at speed that
was rapidly increasing. The men had
not succeeded in putting on the brakes.
i saw that the only thing that was to
be done was to run for it to BrOcton,
and the chances were that we would
never reach there at the speed which
We would be obliged To make around
those sharp, reverse curves, where We
had never run over twenty miles an
hour. When i saw the flaming cars
for the whole six We're Oh fire by this
time-plunging after me, and only a
few feet away, pulled the throttle
open. The oil ears caught me, though,
before l got away. They came with
full force against the rear of the box
box car, smashing i'm one end and
knocking the horses and their keepers
flat on the floor.
'"The heat was almost uncomfortable,
and to do my best j couldn't put more
than thirty feet between the pursuing
fire and ourselves. I'y the light from
the furnace, as the fireman opened the
door to pile i'm the coal, / caught sight
of the face of one of the horsemen, he
haying crawled up to the grated OPEN
ing in the end. 1t was as pale as death,
and he begged me for Gods sake to
give the engine more steam. | was
giving her then all the steam she could
carry, and the grade itself was sufficient
to carry US down at the rate of fifty
miles an hour. We went so fast that
the engine refused to pump. Every
time We struck one of those curves the
old girl would run on almost one set OF
wheels, and why in the world she
didn't tOpple over is something / never
could understand She seemed to know
that it was race of life or death, and
worked as if she were alive. The night
was dark, and the road ran through the
woods, deep rock cuts and along high
embankments. There We were, thun-
dering along at lightning speed, and
only few PAGES behind Ills that fiery
demon in full pursuit. There were fif-
ty thousand gallons of oil in those
tanks at least, aud it was all aflsme,
making a flying avalanche of fire five
hundred feet long The flames leaped
into the air nearly one hundred feet.
Their roar was like that of some great
cataract. Now and then tank would
explode with noise like a cannon.
when a column Of flame and showers
of burning OIL would be scattered about
in the woods. The whole country was
lighted up for miles around. Well, il
wasn't long, going at the rate We We're,
before the lights of Brocton came in
sight down the valley.
"The relief felt was short-lived.
remembered that train No. on the
lake shore road would be at the junction
about the time we would reach it. This
was the Cincinnati express. Our only
hope all along the race had been that
the switchman at the junction would
think to open the switch connecting
the cross-cut track with the Lake Shore
track, and let us run into the latter,
where the grade would be against us,
if anything, and where We would soon
get out of the way of the oil cars. The
switch would he closed now for the eX-
press, and our last hope was gone, un-
less the express was late or somebody
was thoughtful enough to flag it. While
we were thinking of this, we saw the
train tearing along toward the june
tion. Could we reach the junction, get
the switch, and the switch be set back
for the express before the latter got
there: If not. there would be an iney-
liable crash. i'm which not only we but
scores of others would be crushed to
death. All this coniecturing did not
occupy two seconds, but in those two
seconds l lived years. Good Godp j
said to my fireman, what are We to
do?' The fireman promptly replied
and he was brave little fellow-that
should whistle for the switch and take
/ n n. x..l,s It'll