Omaha daily bee., 1885-04-15
EARLY RAILKOADING IN THE
EAST.
Freight Car with but Four wheels
Stopping = Train to Attend
Dance.

SoHe OF the older officials, men who
have served their time in. almost every
position on the road, laugh at the ''hard-
chips" of the present service. Said one
OF these the other night: The boys
think they have q terrible time now
adsys If they are out On the road an hour
longer than the time card calls for.
When l began working for the corpora
ton, In 1S47, the freight hands went out
IN the morning and got back when they
could. The pay was 81 a day, and at
way stations we used to unload flour by
carrying the barrels On IL backs
from the car TO the freight house,
and other things IN the eame fashion.
There was but one track from
Worcester to Albany, and if we got
Oft the track we staid there till we
could get ourselves on. There was no
chance to telegraph for a wrecker to come
out and help us. But the fun came in a
few years later when | was conductor of
the night freight between here and Pitts.
field. We ran out of Springfield about
q o'clock, and were due back at 3 in the
morning, but we got in whenever we
took a fancy. We kept track of all the
dances along the road, and never failed
to join In their late festivities. We
would hurry through the work In the
Plttsield yard and get started fer
home, and then let the train stand on the
track for an hour or two at any station
which offered a chance for a good time.
What glorious sugar.eats we had at Beck
ct along In the early spring! When
thers wa nothing going on, we came
home In a hurry, often getting here at l
o'clock. l have come down the mount
ain in seventeen minutes with eighteen
cars. l was telling President Bliss about
1t awhile sgo when he was trying so hard
to bring the freights to time, and he
said: "You do that now and l would
discharge you as coon as I knew it." l
replied that 1t waB very likely, but that
times have changed. You see that the
"old man" that was Henry Gray, didn't
care. He never would let anything on
the track while we were out. He always
said: "You never can tell where to
find those night-freight fellows" Once,
l remember, a Westffeld fire company,
which had been down to a Worcester
muster, wanted to run home from here,
and they sent up to his house for leave,
assuring him that they could get to
Westtield half an hour before we were
due there. But it was no go; he knew
us too well. One night the engineer
aaw MIR Gray get into the cab at Pitts.
field, and when we stopped at Hiusdale
he came to me and said "Must | run on
time tonight and l told him never to
mind the old man, but run as usual. We
got in here at l o'clock, and the superih-
tendent got eff and walked home without
saying a Eord.
When The road was opened the freight
cars had but four wheels apiece, and
they were about as large as the preven,
dump cars. They would each hold in
the neighborhood of twenty-five barrels
of flour, some of them having a roof
and others being furnished with a can
vas covering after they had been loaded.
The latter kind had no doors, although
the framework was nearly as high as a
mans head. What they were made for
nobody knows. The freight had to be
put in and taken out in the best way the
trainmen could handle 1t, and the best
way was a pretty poor one. Sometimes
q. car would tumble down a bank, leaving
both hunters attached to the adjoining
cars. The brake for the whole train
was On the engine, and the engineer
pushed 1t down with his foot, stage
coach fashion, when he wanted to slack
up.-Springield Republican. .