The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1889-11-24
AN OPERATORS STORIES.
"REMINISCENCES OF AN OLD RAIL.
ROAD TELEGRAPHER.

Locomotive Engineers ana Their "sy1
The Scared brakeman Getting Thine"
from the Op<rator-An Engineer Who
) Thought = Signal Was shown A. Joke.
The telegraph operator stopped after
taking a press dispatch describing rail-
road accident and chatted with the re-
porter The news that had been coming
in oyer:the wire brought up "reminiscences
Of the days when he had been In charge
Of little station on railroad.
"a railway telegrepher. 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
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
| ls. | was located as night operator at
New Freedom, on the Northern Central
| railway, about fifty miles north of Bali
more. The signal tower was situated at
point called SummN, where the road
was down grade about nine miles south,
almost 10 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. 10 push
heavy freight trains over tho summit,
follow on to Parkton and push train
north. It was the greatest delight of the
engineers Of these 'pushers' and the
through freights. too, 10 lay TO at my
Olll1ts Hti W 6ift thti4 hNC VI bcNfii
minutes-that is. say they bad left that
length OF time before, and then fall
down the hill to Glen Rock or Parkton.
as the case may be- Times innumer-
able did they make the fall ut the rate
Of a mile minute. but the given time
saved them from censure.
lone night Barney Riley-a better man
never pulled thrCttle-tk think he is q
passenger engineer now came south on
a through freight. He had for front
brakeman man from the country dis.
tricts surrounding Marysyille. 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 10y 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 peyer be
known to a 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 ii took all his
energies To hold on 10 the car he was on.
and that had the train left the track it
would have kept going for a mile at least
across the country.
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 engineer his
life. 1t occurred in this way: Block sig
nails were not in vogue at that time. and
our orders only called for the holding Of
freight trains five minutes apart. Our
signals consisted 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, il at all.
The engineer in question came north on
a 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 it down the required five min
utes. 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
a perfect right. as the extras shifting
was supposed to be outside of my juris-
6iction.
The extra. having concluded its shift
ing. pulled out and the lights Of the ca
boose disappeared around the bend. AS
they did so the regular train north came
into sight around the bend south Of my
office and some sudden impulse made me
lower the blue light. Now. as have
before remarked, this blue light was
never used. and when it was flashed in
the eyes of this engineer he took ii as
Joke. and as he was 'leetls' late pro-
ceeded 10 60 down the hill at the usual
gait.
"He had heavy train hack Of him and
il seems he was not aware that the ex-
ira was ahead of him. All went well
until he dashed around a sharp curve
about half mile south Of Glen Rock,
when the danger signal was flashed at
him by the hagman of the extra. who
not expecting the regular to be so close
on his heels. was only few yards back
from his caboose.
The engineer whistled for brakes, re-
versed his engine and turned 10 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 it could be opened the
crash came. and the engineer found him
self buried under the debris OF about |
fifteen empty box cars. He was taken |
out but slightly bruised, and thankful
for his marrow 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. Wash