The Florida agriculturist., 1889-12-11
AN OPERATORS STORIES.
"REMINISCENCES OF AN OLD RAIL
ROAD TELEGRAPHER.

The Scared Brakeman Getting ''Time''
from the Operator-An Engineer Who
Thought a Signal was shown AS a Joke.
The telegraph operator stopped after
taking press dispatch describing rail
road accident and chatted with the re-
porter. The news that had been coming
in overithe wire brought up "reminiscences
of the days when he had been in charge
of little station on railroad.
"A railway telegrapher." he said, sis
brought into close relationship with other
employees of the road, but between the
engineers and himself there exists a
friendship that dates back from the first
time the engineer has signed an order at
his Office or by the motion of his hand,
as he flew by the office, asked for time
when he had exceeded the maximum
speed.
''Several years connection with rail-
road and in the companionship of these
men has convinced me that more brave,
nervy, reckless, daredevil and kind heart
ed set Of men do not exist. Block sig
nails and travelling train masters have
eliminated the reckless part of their ma
ture to great extent, but the nerve,
bravery and kind heartedness still re-
main and will until the end of time, as
only men of this caliber make railroad
engineers and stick to the business.
''Some ten years ago, when boy of
18, was located as night operator at
New Freedom, on the Northern Central
railway, about fifty miles north of Balti-
more. The signal tower was situated at
point called Summit, where the road
was down grade about nine miles south,
almost to Parkton, the next telegraph
station, and about eight miles north to
Glen Rock, the next telegraph station in
that direction. At that time empty en-
gines, known as 'pushers,' were sent out
from York, twenty miles north, to push
heavy freight trains over the summit,
follow on to Parkton and push train
north. 1t was the greatest delight of the
engineers of these 'pushers' and the
through freights, too, to lay to at my
Office, get me to give them five or seven
minutes-that is, say they had left that
length of time before, and then fall
down the hill to Glen Rock or Parkton,
o0 C1S CctoO l1dy OO. LILIES Au1luuSI-
able did they make the fall at the rate
of mile a minute, but the given time
saved them from censure.
Zone night Barney Riley-a better man
never pulled throttle-Q think he is
passenger engineer now came south on
a through freight. He had for front
brakeman man from the country dis
tricts surrounding Marysville, the north
ern end of the division, who was making
his first trip and knew little about the
trials of railroading. AS the engine
swept by Barney held up his open hand
asking for five minutes, which l duly
credited him with. How fast he went
down the hill that night will never be
known to certainty, but it must have
been like the wind, as / learned after
ward that he induced the operator at
Parkton to give him additional time, and
that the poor brakeman left his train at
that station and returned home on the
next passenger train, vowing that he had
all the railroad experience he desired and
solemnly declared that it took all his
energies to hold on to the car he was on,
and that had the train left the track it
would have kept going for mile at least
across the country.
'sThe engineers and operators along
the line at that time, said the operator,
were continually playing jokes on each
other, and the idea MAT l was Joking
came very near costing an engineer his