Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-11-02

A
GETTING TIME" FROM THE OPERATOR
The telegraph operator stopped after taking
press dispatch describing railroad accident
and chatted with The STAR reporter. The
news that had been coming in over the
wire brought up "reminiscences of the DAYS
when he had been in charge of little station
on a railroad.
"A railway telegrspher," he said, sis brought
into close relationship with other employees of
the road but between the engineers and him
self there exists q 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 a railroad
and IN the companionship of these men has
convinced me that more brave, nervy. reck-
less, daredevil and kind-hearted set of men do
not exist Block signals and travelling train
masters have eliminated the reckless part of
their nature to great extent, but the nerve,
bravery and kind-heartedness still remain and
VIII until the end OF time, as only men of this
callber make railroad engineers and stick to
the business.
FLYING DOWN THE GRADE.
"Some ten years ago, when boy Of eighteen,
was located as night operator at New Free
dom, on the Northern Central railway about 30
miles north of Baltimore. The signal tower
was situated at a point called Summit, where
the road was down grade about 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 engines, known as 'pushers
were sent out from York. 20 miles north to
push heavy freight trains over the summit, fol-
low on to Partition and push train north. 1t
| 90 ~nG Igtrs
! 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
NIL to Glen Rock or Parkton. as the case may
De. lime lnnumerable did they make the fall
at the rate of a mile a minute but the given
| time saved them from censure
MEMORABLE RIDE
zone evening a 'pusher' was living at the
tower awaiting orders to go on to Parkton and
finally received them. The engineer, a man
named Beard, as usual asked me for as much
| time as possible, and after l had given him
seven minutes, he invited me to take a ride
along with him down to Parkton and back
lhe day operator happened near and volun-
teered to work for me until returned Jump
ing up on the box, on the firemans side pre-
pared myself to enjoy fast ride on a locomo-
tive. That ride will never leave nv memory.
The engineer pulled the throttle open and
away we went. Talk about falling we were
uolng TINS IN every sense of the word. To add
to my anxiety the engineer left me to watch
the track, climbed down to the tender and en-
gagged in a wrestling match with his fireman
Mind you, this was done while the engine was
fairly flying over the rails and rocking from
| side to side with such violence that expected
We would leave the rails at every curve This
was not recklessness, 1t was downright fool
hardness, yet that engineer was never hurt.
| but left the road several years later to settle
down to more quiet livelihood.
A FRIGHTENED BRAKEMAN.
Zone night Barney Riley-a better man never
pulled throttle-Q think he is a passenger
engineer now came south on through freight.
He had for front brakeman a man from the
| country districts surrounding Marysville the
northern end of the division who was making
his first trip and knew little about the trials
OF rallroadng. As the engine swept by Barney
held up his open hand asking for five minutes,
which 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 l learned afterward 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 vowlng that he
had all the railroad experience he desired and
solemnly declared that il 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.
HE THOUGHT IT WAS JOKE.
"The engineers and operators along the line
at that time, said the operator, were continually
playing jokes on each other and the idea that
/ was joking came very near costing an en-
gineer his life. 1t occurred in this way; Block
signals were not in vogue at that time and our
orders only called for the holding of freight
trains five minutes apart. Our signals con-
sisted Of red, white and blue. Red to stop.
blue to run slow or caution and white denoted
clear track The blue signal was seldom used
If at all. The engineer in question came north
on regular freight schedule. Ahead of him
was an extra freight. The extra had passed
my station, but about mile north, down the
hill, had stopped to take several cars off the
siding. In doing this several minutes had been
consumed. Immediately after they had passed
the tower lowered the red signal as usual and
kept 1t down the required five minutes. had
observed the lights on the extras caboose
away down the track and OWNED its purpose.
To display the white light to the next train
north had perfect right, as the extras
shifting was supposed to be outside my juris-
dictioD.
The extra, having concluded its shifting,
pnlled out and the lights of the caboose disau-
peared around the bend. As they did SO the
regular train north came into sight around the
bend south Of my Office and some sudden i'm
pulse made me lower the blue light. Now, as
have before remarked, this blue light was
never ustu, anu Nutu IL was uhsneQ IN the ewes
of this engineer he took it as joke, and as he
was "leetle" late proceeded to 20 down the
hill at the usual gait.
He had q heavy train back of him and il
seems he was not aware that the extra was
ahead OF him. All went well until he dashed
around sharp curve about half a mile south
of Glen Rock, when the danger signal was flashed
at him by the fagman of the extra who, not
expecting the regular to be SO close ON his
heels, was only a few yards back from his
caboose. The engineer whistled for brakes,
reversed his engine and turned to take the step
to jump when he found the little door leading
to his post Of duty had been slammed to by
the jar of reversing the engine. Before il
could be opened the crash came and the engi-
neer found himself buried under the debris of
about fifteen empty box cars. He was taken
out but slightly bruised and thankful for his
narrow escape. He afterward told me he
thought was joking when put down the blue
light on him, but in the future, he said, he
would have more respect for . blue signal
light"
Brown-"Hello, Simpkins, got new horse?
What's his name?" Simpkins-"well, / call
him Balaklava." That's a deuced queer name
for a horse" "Yes, you see the charge was
six hundred, don't yer know. Time.