The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-05-03

track then, of course, and the magnetic
telegraph, as it was called in those days,
was new and in many respects an un-
tried thing. The Eric had put up line
along us road, as had other railroads, but
the telegraph had never vet been applied
oy any road to the running of trains En-
gneerS and conductors ran their trains
according to schedule, and if it was down
on the schedule that they were to lie at a
certain place or spot on a siding or turn
out until another train, running in an op-
poslte direction, met and passed them,
there they would lie. if the other train
dldn put IN an appearanCein a week. This
resulted in great delays in the traffic of
the road and soon after the putting up
of the telegraph line Supt Minot made
| up his mind that by its use that evil could
| be done away with, and the whole exist
ing system of railroad transportation be
revOlutionized. He was timid though
| about making the venture. but one day he
| happened to be on a train bound for Ell
mira, 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 thew found
that the train from the west which was
10 meet and pass them there, was half a
day late. That was the opportunity for
Charley, and he made up his mind to set
tie the question of running trains on tele-
graphic order right there and then. He
sent 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 toward him had
the right of way, although that train
could by no possibility get on to 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 himself not only
| to Port Jervis, but to Narrowsburg, thirty
| i've miles farther on the Journey where
| the overdue train was met and passed.
The passengers thus escaped hours of de-
lay, and from that run the telegraph
order on railroads not only in this country
| but everywhere where there are railroads
became the rule, and the science of rail
reading was advanced a quarter of a
century at the bound.
| 1t was believed for years, and many
railroad men believe it vet, because they
haven't heard any different, that Charley
Minot also was the first railroader to
have a train run a mile a minute, and the
| engineer who held the throttle ON that
occasion, Bill Hall, is to-day running a
| yard engine on the New York Central
railroad at Batavia. This was in 1S4S, on
| the Boston and Maine railroad, where
Charley MinOt was superintendent. The
| engine was called the Antelope. and she
was worthy of the name. The run was
made between Boston and Lawrence,
twenty-six miles. Charley stood on the
locomotive at the engineers side, and
when the first twelve miles were run. and
it had taken thirteen minutes, Charley
said to Bill:
- This will never do William! Pull
her wide openr'
And William did pull her wide open,
and they made the remaining fourteen
miles in thirteen minutes That is a
great record, and one for any engineer to
be good and proud of, but away back in
1882, on the old Mohawk and Hudson rail
road, on the fourteen miles of track be-
tween the head of the Albany plane and
the foot of the plane at Schenectady,
David Matthew ran the distance repeat
eddy with the greatest of all the pioneers
among locomotives, the Davy Crockett, in
thirteen minutes, including one stop for
water. This is on the authority of a let
ter of Matthew's, still in existence and
he was known as man of strict integ-
rity. The Davy Crockett was built after
designs made by John B. Jervis, who built |
the Delaware and Hudson canal, and who |
was the first chief engineer of d railroad |
in this state That locomotive was the
at the front of the boiler as all engines
have been made ever since.
Speaking of fast locomotives of the
olden time reminds me of the greatest one
of its day, the Carroll of Carrollton.
named for the great Maryland signer of
the declaration of independence She !
was built by Ross Winans in Baltimore
for the Boston and Worcester railroad in
lS49 She was the first locomotive in this !
country to have wrOught-iron driving |
wheels, and the first one in the world |
with drivers seven feet in diameter And |
she was a coal burner, the very first of |
her kind. Jimmy Jackman was the en-
gineer who ran her, and he saw every bit |
of her machinery made and put together.
a good many of the appliances being of |
his own suggestion. He thought nothing
of running her mile in sixty second, and |
a mile in SiXty-three seconds was a COM
mon and easy task for her. Those were |
the days of single tracks, mind YOU, and
cast-iron rails. liable to snake heads
and hand-brakes and other primitive APP
planes, so to run a locomotive at mile |
a-minute rate, which to-day is considered
a feat worthy of being talked about and
boasted of, required nerve and judgment
in an engineer that few engineers have to- !
day.
'And speaking of snake heads, there's |
something the present-time railroader or
railroad traveller Knows nothing about. |
One of the most important employees of
railroad in the old days was the 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 a few inches from the ground.
Hence the name, and the snake spiker was
a trusted man who had certain section
of track which he was detailed to patrol,
with a sledge hammer and a leather bag
with new spikes in it slung by a strap
over his shoulder. He was to keep a 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 fat to the stringer again.
The safety of life and property on rail
roads 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 a mile minute
''Then there's the bell rope and the
sounding of car wheels with a hammer
when train stops at a station. It was
funny how the use of the bell rope origin
ated The Introduction of car-wheel in
spection was the result of a catastrophe, |
MEnInAI