The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1892-01-05
RUN DOWN.
The Many Things Struck by a Loco
motive.
Everything From Trains to Geese
The Dangerous Pig and the
Irritating GOat-An Engi-
neeT Tells HoU 1T
All Feels

neeT Tells HoW 1T
All Feels.
YES" said an engineer who had
grown gray in the service of the COM
pany, as he stood beside his locomotive,
in Jersey City, the other day, the
suspense attending a acci-
dent when you are on an engine
smothers one l can assure you,"
he continued, wiping a blotch of oil
off the side rod with a piece of waste,
that l am somewhat of an authority
on the subject, because l have had
the misfortune to run over about
everything from a chicken to a fire
engine.
You would naturally think that a
collision, where your own life was in
imminent danger would cause you
more anxiety than anything else, but
it dOesen't. Usually a collision occurs
before you know where you are. You
are sailing along over the rails, trying
to keep as neal your schedule time as
you can, when suddenly something
shows up before you. With me it has
always been the rear Of a train, for I
have never tried to pass an engine on
the same track coming in an opposite
direction. In an instant you slam
on the air brakes, reverse the engine
and wait for the crash, and the en-
CINE buries herself in the caboose OF
ars of the train you strike. Then you
make the most of a bad job, and if you
are not at fault for the accident and
no one is injured or killed, you soon
forgot all about it. But it is entirely
different when you run over a human
being, You r speeding along and
see a man on the track in front Of you.
At first you think that he will hear
the train, just as thousands have heard
it before, and get off the track in time,
but he goes on with his back toward
you and you pull the whistle string
and the engine shrieks the warning.
He does not hear even that, so you try
to stop the train. The air brakes are
put on, the engine is reversed and the
great drivers begin working backward,
sending fire in showers from the shin
ing steel rails, while sparks of live
Goals from the furnace shoot from the
stack high up into the sky, as the
monster groans and struggles vainly
trying to stop the train behind.
while you draw nearer and nearer
the victim the suspense is absolutely
beyond description. All efforts are
useless. You feel a slight jar as the
poor devil is struck, and a coal sweat
breaks out all over your body, and a
faint feeling comes over you, until you
fall back on your seat, sick at heart,
and wonder what the fate of the man
was and whether he leaves a family
and what sadness there will be when
they learn the news at home. You
think that you would like to stop
railroading and earn a living at some
thing else. Meantime the train has
come to a standstill. The engine has
ceased her struggles and the only sound
you hear is the throbbing of the air
brake as it pumps back and forth,
making a noise like the breathing of
some exhausted beast. The baggage.
master, conductor and brakeman rush
out of the cars and take all that is left
of the victim from under the wheels.
"Well, you know his fate now. AS
soon as you are signaled to go ahead,
and as you touch the throttle, the engine
leaps forward eagerly as if she were
anxious to leave the dreadful place
behind, and in a moment the thought
of the accident is driven by other work
from your busy mind.
"a pig is a dangerous thing to run
over, for he is likely to throw the
locomotive of the track. When the
pilot of the engine hits him it usually
knocks him down and then rolls him
for a few yards under it before the
trucks strike him, and when they dc
there is great danger Of them leaving
the rails. The drivers are almost Ger.
tain to follow the trucks, and if you
don't go down the bank you are lucky.
So you see what havoc n pig can
make with a railroad. Another dis
agreeable thing about a pig is that he
never stops squealing from the time
he is hit until he is stone dead. Engi
neers are not fond of pork.
1T is next to impossible to kill a
goat with an engine. Goats are the
most irritating of all animals that
wander along a railroad track. Nc
matter how fast you may be running
or how quietly you steal down upon
him he will see you out of the corner
oE hir n-o nnd nnnooo To got out al