Telegram-herald., 1889-12-25

TIE telegraph operator stopped arter T.
Il kiaz PISS dts9aIch doscri oing = Fal-
road accident and chSEtsd with tie 10
porJeF. The Ds~s tLAzE hAd been coming
Ia oyerFhs wirs brouzht up "reminiscences
OF the 3ays - hen he hzd been N charge
u little station % railroad
"A railway tslegraphsr,@ be said. ''ls
brou gnt into close relationship with other
e1nBloyzs q the road but between the
engineers and himself there exists
frlsudship Ihat dates back from the trsE
time the engineer has signed az order al
his Once or by the motion ot his hand.
a. lie dew by The ofioe. asked for time
when he had exceeded the maximum
speed
Several years connection with rail
road and In the compsni0nship ~ these
men has con vinced me that a more brave.
neryy, reck kleSs, daredevil and kind heart
ed set OF men do not exist Block sig
mails and travelling train masters have
eliminated the reckless part Of their ma
ture 10 a great extent, but the nerve,
bravery and kind heartedness still TO
main and will until the end OF time. as
only men OF this caliber make railroad
engineers and stick 10 the business.
''Some ten years ago, when boy OF
IS, 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 al
a point called Summit, where the road
was down grade about nine miles south,
almost 20 Parkton, the next telegraph
station. and about eight miles north 10
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, 20 push
heavy freight trains over the summit,
follow on 10 ParktOn and push train
north. IL was the greatest delight Of the
engineers Of these 'pushers' and the
through freights, too. TO lay TO at my
office, get me 70 give them five or seven
miuutes-that is, say they bad left that
length OF time before, and then fall
down the hill TO Glen Rock or ParktoD,
as the case may be. Times innumer-
able did they make the fall at the rate
Of a mile minute, but the given time
saved them from censure.
lone night Barney Riley-n better man
never pulled a throttle-(I think he is a
passenger engineer now came south on
a through freight He had for front
brakeman a 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 | duly
credited him with. How fast he went
down the hill that night will never be
I known 10 a certainty, but it must have
been like the wind, as / learned after
ward that he induced the operator at
ParktOn 10 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
4 energies TO hold on TO 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. II occurred in this war: Block sig
mails 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 10 run slow or caution,
and white denoted a clear track. The
I blue signal was seldom used, if 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 a 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 KEEP. il down ths 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
perfec, right, as the extras shifting
was supposed to be outside of my juris
dicti0n.
The extra. having concluded it's shift
ing. pulled out and the lights Of the ca
bose disappeared around the bend. Al
they did so the regular train north came
into sight around the bend south Of my
Office and some sudden impulse made ms
lower the blue light. Now, az l have
before remarked. this blue light va,
never used. and when 1t was flashed IL
the eyes q this engineer he took it as ;
ioke. ard "a he was 'lectls' late pro
ceeded 20 60 down the hill at the usua
gait.
tie had 4 heavv train hack of him an
it seems he was not aware that the eK
ira was ahead II bim- Al went wei
until he dashed around a sharp curve
about half a mile south q Glen Rock
when the danger signal vas flashed a
MIN 5v the fsCman # the extra, who
not expecting the regular % be 50 clos.
on his heels was only few Yards bach
from bis rarccsa
The engineer whistIed for brskes 70
verse3 his engine ard turned ~ take It's
step % jump when he found the iol'
dor leading 20 he posf cf duty had beer
slammed ~ bv the Jar of reversing ~
engine Befors i- could be 0peued %.
orash came. snd the nzineer found bin
So buried under the debris ~ shou
ffteen orr-~ hcK rars he vas tass-
ont hut 81 Zatlv bruised. ard tbsuzfs
f0~ his narrow escape He sfterWar
toi me he thought & va joking when
rut down Che blue hEbt Cn bIm. out 81
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