The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-06-20
RAILROAD STORIES.
YARNS OF a TIME WHEN THE ERIE
WAS a SINGLE TRACK LINE.

The First Uso of the Telegraph In the Run
ming of Railway Trains-what n ''Snake
Spikcr" was-How the BelIropo Came
to 10 Understanding Wheels.
"Charley Minot had his little tussle with
one of his engineers about running a train
on telegraph signals along in 1851" said
veteran railroad engineer recently. 1.-The
Erie was single track then of course and
the magnetic telegraph, as it WAS called in
those days, was new and in many re-
spects IN untried thing. The Erie had put
up line along it's road rs had other rail
roads, but the telegraph had never yet been
applied by any road to the running of
trains. Engineers and conductors ran their
trains according to schedule, and if it was
down on the schedule that they We're to lie
att certain place or spot on siding or turn
out until another train, running in an oppo-
site direction met and passed them, there
they would lie if the other train did not put
in an appearance for week. This resulted
In great delays in the traffic of the road,
and soon after the putting up of the tcle-
graph line Superintendent Minot made up
his mind that by its use that evil could be
done away with and the whole existing sys-
tenn of railroad transportation be revolu-
tionized.
venture, but one day he happened to be on
a train bound for Emira, which was the
terminus of the road then. This was in
the summer Of 1850: Big Ben Sholes was
the engineer. When they got to Turner's
station they found that the train from the
west which was to meet and pass them
Shere was half n day late. That was the
opportunity for Charley, and he made up
his mind to settle the question of running
froir fn1n
then. He cent n message to the agent at
Port Jervis notifying him that the train
would leave Turner'S and run to Port Jervis
ON the time of the belated east bound train.
The engineer refused point blank TO pull
out on track over which train coming
howard him had the right of way, although
shat train could by no possibility get onto
that track in the meantime
such proceeding was unheard of, and
he wouldn't let his train take the risk
ThereupOn the superintendent discharged
him on the spot and ran the engine him
self not only to Port Jervis, but to Mar
rowsburg, IS miles farther On the journey,
where the overdue train was met and passed
The passengers thus escaped hours of de-
lay, and from that time the telegraph order
on railroads not only in this country but
everywhere where there are railroads be-
came the rule, and the science of railroad
ing was advanced q quarter of Il century at
bound.
speaking of snake heads there's some
thing the present time railroader or rail
road traveller knows nothing about. One
of the most important employees of a rail
road in the old days was tho snake spiker'
When the rails were simply iron straps
spiked to wooden stringers, the straps in
time worked loose, and the ends where they
were joined together curled up and looked
like big snake with its head raised few
inches from the ground. Hence the name,
and the snake spiker was trusted man
who had certain section of track which
he was detailed to patrol, with slcdge
hammer and leather bag with new spikes
in it slung by strap over his shoulder He
was to keep sharp lookout for snake
heads, for they were dangerous things for
train to come in contact with and when he
found one, spike it down fiat to the stringer
again. The safety of life and property on
railroads depended in great measure on
the vigilance of the snake spiker. And it
was over such rails as those that the BOYS
of the old days had the nerve to push their
engines mile a minute
Then there's the bellropc and the sound
ing of car wheels with hammer when a
train stops at a station. 1t was funny how
the use of the bellropc originated The
introduction of car wheel inspection was
the result OF n cataStrophe-the first really
terrible railroad accident in the country.
Tho pioneer conductor of the Erie rail
way was Poppy Ayers. and he ran Oh the
road when its whole working length was
Between Piermont and Turner's, and there
was good room for doubt whether il would
ever get any farther Nobody ever both
cred about buying a ticket in those days
but paid his fare to the conductor. Once in
awhile the conductor found IL IIn
eject some would be deadhead passenger
while between stations, but as there was no
means OF letting the engineer know about
lt except by sending n brakeman forward
and rs lie generally had TO climb over Il lot
of freight and produce cars before he could
attract the attention of the engineer il fire..
quently happened that the train reached
the refractory passengers station before it
could be stopped. Poppy Ayers lost n good
many fares in this way, and he got tired of
such Improbable railroading So he hit
upon plan to do away with future trouble
on that score.
Onc day he tied Il stick OF wood to one
end of long rope, hung the stick on tho
locomotive, where the engineer could see it,
and carried the rope back over the cars to
|the rear car and made the end fast there
His idea was TO pull the rope and agitatc
the stick of wood when he wanted the eng
1eer TO stop the train In those days the
engineer considered himself the man who
was supreme on the train and this partic-
.ular engineer resented this plan Of Poppy
Ayers as making him subordinate to the
conductor, and he chucked the stick of
wood overheard the first time it was put in
use and went on with his train. When they
got to Turner's, Poppy Ayers pitched in
and gave the engineer the worst kind of a
clicking, put the stick of wood back Oh the