The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1890-01-03
All OPERATORS STORIES.
"REMINISCENCES OF AN OLD RAIL
ROAD TELEGRAPHER.

from the Operator-An Engineer Who
Thought a Signal Was shown As a Joke.
The telegraph operator stopped after
taking a press dispatch describing a rail
road accident and chatted with the re-
porter. The news that had been coming
in over,the wire broughtu up "reminiscences
of the days when he had been in charge
of a little station on a railroad.
"a railway t~elegrapher," lie said, sis
broughtinto 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 al 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 q rail-
road and in the companionship of these
men has convinced me that a 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 a great extent, but the nerve,
bravery and kind heartedness still re-
main and will until the end of time, az
only men of this ealiber make railroad
engineers and stick to the business.
''Some ten years ago, when a boy OF
19, | 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
a 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 Partition and push a train
north. 1t was the greatest delight OF the
engineers of these 'pushsrs' and the
through freights, too, to lay to at my
Office, get me t give tl.am 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,
as the case may be. Times innumer-
able did they make the fall at the rate
of q mile a minute, but She given time
saved them from censure.
zone night Barney Riley-a better man
never pulled a throttle-q think he is a
passenger engineer now came south on
"a through freight. lie had for a front
brakeman a 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 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 Il certainty, but it must have
been like the wind, as ! learned after
ward that he induced the operator al
Parkron 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 experiences hedesired 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 a mile at leas,
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
cahe very near costing an engineer his
life. 1t occurred in this way: Block sig
mails were not ia 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,
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, lad stoppedto 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. I had observed the lights on the
extras cabooso away down the track
and OWNED its purpose. To display the
white light to the next train north I had
a perfect right, as the EXTRAS shifting
vas supposed to be outside Of my juris-
diction.
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 wa flashed in
the eyes of this engineer he took it as a
joke, and as he was a 'leetl.' late pro-
ceeded to go down the hill at the usual
gait.
"Le had a heavy train back Of him and
1t seems he was not aware that the ex-
ira was ahead of him. Al went wei!
until he dashed around a sharp curve
about half a mile south of Glen Rock,
when the danger signal was flashed at
him by the flagman 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, re-
versed 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 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