Thomas County cat., 1886-08-19
A RIDE ON THE PILOT.
An Adventure, and "What II
Felt Like"

:. story of adventure? Well. here's
short account of one that came to me
in the course of railway service in Min
ncsota few years ago.
A party of us had special train one
day. consisting of an engine, baggage
Car and coach just enough to balance
well-in order to do some work along
the line between St. Paul and La
Crosse. Late in the afternoon we re-
ported our readiness to go in, and got
orders from the train dispatcher to
''fy" to La Crosse, some scventy-five
miles distant
Now, / had more than once ridden
on the pilot, or ''cow-catcher. of a
locomotive, but my experience had
been at pretty slow pace. On this aft
ernoon we would 60 down the bank of
the Mississippi a-humming. and l sug-
-gested to the assistant superintendent
that we two go out on the pilot and see
what it meant to be pushed through
the air ahead of railway train at fifty
or sixty miles an hour.
We took cushion from the coach,
spread it on the narrow iron platform
at the top of the cow-catcher, cried out
'.All rightn' to the engineer, and were
of. The sensation is somewhat start
ling at first. The grumbling and
throes of the steam and hot snoEe-cur-
rents imprisoned in the great machine
behind you are heard in dull sighs and
chugs, and felt in muffled jars and
tremblings, mot loud, but deep"
There is no rolling, lurching, and leap
ing like that felt in the cab OF the To-
connective, high above the driving
wheels, nor the bouncing and jarring
of the ears. The whole forward part
of the engine rests only OH two (or
four) small guide wheels, and the pilot
is ahead of even them, so that You are
sitting out on the end of aspring-board,
as it were, and feel only an elastic
swaying, sensible, in a curiously exact
way, however, to every impulse or
checking of speed.
Overhead hangs the headlight Ian
tern, supported upon brackets. and
hiding all behind it. There is nothing
beside YOU. or in front, and you can
only leave your place by climbing
back over the foot-board, which runs
nearly on top of the boiler from the
cab windows to the smoke-stack-a
feat by no means easy to do at j stand
still. unless you are agile.
In two minutes from the time we
left the station we had picked up a
terrific pace. Our huge carrier would
dive into cuts and dart out of them,
leap culverts and narrow streams
seemingly without touching the
bridges, and, where the track was
level and straight, seemed to slide
rather than roll along, for we could
feel no Jar of wheels, and heard little
was evoked. The breeze of our swift
progress cleaving the air out there in
front almost shut our eyes, and quite
closed our mouths. Stations whiSked
by as though bewitchcd. Leaning
toward curves, we would glide around
them as if on skates, and when long
descending grade sloped away ahead,
and we went down it with the steam
shut of, yet with steadily growing
swifiaess, l could only recall the sem
sation of being the front man on a
Montreal toboggan.
Well, twenty miles or so Of this ex-
citing flight had been reeled out behind
us. and We had had hint of the posi-
BILE danger against which the cow
catcher is provided. in dodging an ami
NAL that had lain down in the road at
a crossing, and whose carcass We had
no desire to receive in our faces at cam
non-ball rate. when long stretch of
open country was reached, and the en-
gineer let out the last notch-pulled
the throttle wide open. Then our iron
horse settled down to racing just as
fast as his limbs could carry him; that
is. as fast as the wheels could be made
to go around-tifty, perhaps sixty.
miles an hour.
The superintendent and glanced at
one another and smiled: we couldn't
talk Then we turned our eyes ahead
just as the locomotive bent to curve
around slight ridge, beyond which a
..fill' spanned q bit of lowland; and
there, in the middle of the high bank,
not hundred yards in advance. We
saw hand-car loaded with workmen
slowly pumping their way homeward!
What is a hundred yards at fifty
miles AL hour? Four seconds of travel,
q dozen tickings of a watch. And
when this morsel of time had flashed
out, what then? Perhaps splintered
wreck of train and hand-car, passen-
gers and workmen together at the bot
tom of the bank; perhaps only 3 |
smashed engine-head and two dead and
battered men under the hand-car,