Rock Island daily Argus., 1893-07-25
RAILROAD STORIES.
YARNS OF A TIME WHEN THE ERIE
WAS A SINGLE TRACK LINE.

The First Use of the Telegraph In the Run.
ming of Railway Trains-what a .snake
spiker" was-How the BelIrope Came
to Be Understanding Wheels.
Charley Minot had his little tussle with
oneof his engineers about running train
on telegraph signals along in 1851, !" said q
veteran railroad engineer recently THE
; Erie was single track then of course and
the magnetic telegraph, as it was called in
those days, was a new and in many re.
spects an untried thing. The Erie had put
up line along its road as 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 were to lie
at 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 tele-
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 reyolu-
tionized.
He was timid, though, about making the
venture, but one day he happened to be on
| a train bound for Elmira, 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
! there was half a day late. That was the
opportunity for Charley, and he made up
ind ff,, laf ha
| trains on Geographic order right there and
then. He Aeat a message to the agent at
Port Jeryis notifying him that the train
would leave Turner 5 and run to Port Jervis
On the time of the belated east bound train.
The engineer refused point blank to pull
o2t on n track over which a train coming
toward him had the right of way, although
that train could by no possibility get onto
that track in the meantime.
such a 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, 81 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 quarter of century at
a 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 rail
road in the old days was the snake spiker'
When the rails were simply iron straps
spiked to wooden strineers, the s-i-ars in
| time worked loose, and the ends where they
were joined together curlcd up aad looked
Ikea big snake.with its head raised 4 few
inches from the ground Hence the name
and the snake spiker was a sl man
who had Il certain ,.c:ion of track which
he was detailed to patrol, with "A sledge
| hammer and Il leather bag with new spikes
IN 1t slung 10y aStrap over his shoulder He
was to keep IL 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 lite and property on
railroads depended in II great measure on
the vigilance of the sn2lc spikcr And it
was over such rails rs thCse THAI the bows
of tie old days had the nerve 10 push their
engines a mile 4 minute
Then there's the bellrope AND :hesuund.
ing OF car wheels with IL hammer when
train stops at a station 1t was funny how
the use of the bellrope originated. The
| introduction of car wheel inspection was
the result OF a cataStrophe-the first really
terrible railroad accident in the country
1.-The pioneer conductor of the Erie rail
way was Poppy Ayers, and he ran on the
road when its whole working length was
between Piermont and Turner's, and there
was good room for doubt whether it would
ever get any farther. Nobody ever both
| cred about buying ticket in those days
| but paid his fare to the conductor Once in
| awhile the conductor found it desirable to
| eject some would be deadhead passenger
while between stations, but as there was no
| means of letting the engineer know about
| 1t except by sending brakeman forward
| and as he generally had to climb over a lot
! of freight and produce cars before he could
| attract the attention of the engineer it FIRE
! quently happened that the train reached
the refractory passengers station before it
could be stopped. Poppy Ayers lost 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
I on that score.
"One day he tied stick of wood to one
| end OF long rope, hung the stick on the
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 agitate
the stick of wood when he wanted the engi-
neer to stop the train. In those DAYS the
! engineer considered himself the man who
| was supreme on the train, and this partic-
J ular engineer resented this plan of Poppy
! Ayers rs 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
licking, put the stick of wood back On the
engine, and it worked to "a charm This led
to the introduction of the bellrope on rail-
road trains.
Soon after the Erie was finished to
| Middletown in 1S43 the first regular
pleasure excursion ever run on the road
started from Middletown for the Elysian
! fields, the famous old time pleasure ground
/ near HOhOkpp Tho ayc1rcion ,.-ac ,rnt ~,