The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-04-02
Santa Fe the Santa Fe.' and the ST. Louis
and Sau Francisco the Frisco

/ u
/ given TO the Buffalo and Southwestern and
4 the Buffalo and Jamestown railroads. The
/ former was first called the 'B. and ). W.,
/ but of late goes under the name u Brandy
and Soda The latter road, on account Of
! its connection with Jamestown, Is known
all through the railroad world as the The
! JimtOwn' road.
TO come closer home the Chesapeake
and Ohio is called the +. f. W taken, no
doubt, from the name given its fastest train.
The Baltimore and Potomac the b. a p,
the Baltimore and Ohio, the b. and o., the
RishmOnd Terminal, the r. t. These are
all authorizations, but what the trainmen
know these roads by would not look very
well in print, and il made public might,
the managers Of these roads, who are GER
tainly the princes OF good fellows.
THE ACCOMMODATION.
There is a road up in Pennsylvania that
rms from FORK to Peachbottom that the
country people living in the country
through which it passes called the Accom-
modation.' 1t was, when oriRl nally built,
a narrow gauge road, and as business had to
be developed the train service was much on
the order of the Ro-as-yOu-please. There
were two trains, and each made one round
trip day, the road being about sixty miles
long The officers gave orders to the train
men 10 make friends with the people, so as to
make them 20 out Of their way TO patronize
the new road. The trsinmen took advan-
tage of this order at every opportunity
There we're no telegraph or telephone
stations on the road, and when train left
the terminal stations the conductor was
master of the situation until he got back
again or arrived at the other terminus.
They say that the superintendent of the
road had the hardihoOd to ride over the
road one day and that he hired a horse and
buggy and rode back TO York, as he was IN
a hurry.
1.-The train that puts up at Peachbottom
for the night leaves y urk about 2 o'clock 10
the afternoon, and it is optional with them
as 10 the time they arrive home. One of
the trainmen on the road told me some time
ago that on the trip down they picked up
drunken farmer who had laid down on the
track. The conductor CHANGED TO know
him, and held the train while the brakeman
and baggage master carried him TO his
home, nearly a mile away. Ia about an
hour the two men returned, with an invita-
tion from the farmers wife for the crew
and passengers to come over to supper.
There were only three passengers and they
readily acQuiesced. We went, and after the
repast an old negro, with cracked fiddle,
was brought in and a dance was INDUCED
in. The conductor then wanted to proceed,
but the engineer had become sweet on the
dance a few more rounds.
The train was due In Peschbottom at
6 O'Clock p. m. but that night we arrived
at midnight. Only one more passenger was
picked up on the lower end of the run, and
he only grumbled little, Sc no harm came
from the incident. That road is now owned
by Baltimore people, and is broad-gauged,
and the train service is almost first-class l
might add that it was a common thing for
the trainmen in the earlier days Of the road
to take large tin pals along and stop the
train at good locality and fill them with
blackberries before proceeding. But thai
only occasioned an hours delay, and was
little thought Of. No wonder they called it
the Accommodation road, ehG"
Have you ever known of road being
christened through a specially exciting incl
dentW inquired the reporter.
THE DAVY CROCKETT.
when the Erie road was first built,
which now runs from Harrisburg to Ca
nandaigua, n. Y, it was nicknamed the
'Davy Crockett, and for good many years
thereafter the name stuck. 1t was brought
about in this way: One dark night when the
conductor was taking three passenger cars
through 20 Sunbury he noticed the heal
light Of locomotive in his rear. He in
formed the engineer of the fact and both
began specializing what il meant. The train
was running at high rate of speed, but the
headlight in the rear was gaining steadily
on them. AS there we're no lights in the
rear of the headlight they concluded II
must be an empty engine. That road twists
in and out among the mountains and skirts
the banks of the Susquehanna in such
way as to permit any one looking back to
observe what is going on In the rear for a
considerable distance.
The conductor ordered the engineer TO
put on more steam and the latter pulled the
throttle wide open. Then followed q wild
weird chase through the night. Pursuer
and pursued tore along at the highest
speed. Everybody on the cars believed
that the engineer Of tina pursuing engine
was either drunk or crazy. At last
bright idea struck the engineer. he re-
called the fact that a locomotive can
make little progress on greasy rails.
The contents of two huge cans
OF lard oil were poured on the
track from the rear of the last passenger
coach. The idea was great one and proved
highly successful. Soon the headlight of
the pursuing engine grew dim in the dis
tance When it was safe to do 80 the train
was stopped and backed up to solve the
mystery. A very funny sight was revealed.
"One Of the finest engines on the road 4,
called the 'DaVY CrocketL'-they gave loco
motives names in those days instead of
numbers-had broken away from a hostler
up at w 1lilamsporG ana started down the
track on a voyage of destruction. The Oil
poured on the track had baffied all the de-
struotive abilities that locomotive possessed
There stood the 'Davy Crockett. putting
and snorting and paving like wild Texas
steer, the driving wheels buzzing
around on the CREASED track like a
fly wheel In a machine shop, but not
moving an inch. Not sign of an engineer
was found and the fireman of the pursued
train mounted the engine and shut her off.
They towed her into Sunbury. and there
found dispatch ordering them on to a
side track out of the way of the runaway,
but the oil had saved them.
"A large excursion train was returning
from Niagara Falls that night, and the es-
cape from destruction was really brought
about by the oiled rails. The 'Davy Crock
ett made many trips after that, but the
road went under that nickname for a long
time owing to the peculiar way the lives OF
many people had been saved"
Mr.. Morton HustlinR Husker.
From the 81. Louis Republic.
WASHINGTON, March 16.-"I see," said
the Hon. J. Sterling Morton, as he oheerily