Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1893-12-13
RAILROADS EARLY DAYS,
The Oars Were Lighted with Candles an,
Heated with Wood.


Heated with Wood.
There is vast difference between
railroading now and what it was in
ante-bellum days, said a veteran rail-
rOader the other day. 1t is a snap
now to what it was in those DAYS.
Then every man had about three
times as much work TO do as now, and
got about half as much pay for it. 1
began my career as water carrier on
the Pennsylvania road in Ohio. My
business was to carry water through
the train to the passengers. every
twenty minutes, for in those days we
didn't have water coolers and ice wa
ter in the cars.
Railroad tracks were built with
stringers and old-time iron rails and
frogs and switches. 1t was considered
unsafe to travel over fifteen or eight
cen miles an hour and the fastest pas
senger train never made over twenty
miles an hour Rules and regulations
and time-cards differed considerably
from those of the present day. The
oldest conductor in the service always
had the right of way of the track,
and if his train was behind or dis
aIled all other trains had to wait on
his. Freight trains would wait
thirty minutes for each other at pass
ing or meeting points, and if neither
showed up at the expiration of that
/ time, they both lost the right OF way
of all trains of the same class. You
see we had no telegraph stations
then, and trains could not be moved
and run by special orders as now.
We used to do what was known as
! turning curves-that is, the flagman
would 60 in front of the train
around every curve and look out for
another train, and when two trains
would meet the one nearest to a
switch would back to it and let the
were not used at all The cars were
lighted with candles and wood was
burned on the engines and in the car
stoves. The old-time train generally
consisted of an engine and three
coaches instead of eight or ten cars
as now; and such thing as a sleep
} ing car was not known. We had no
! postal, express and baggage cars, but
/ one coach was used as a mail, express
and baggage car combined. The
next coach was used as a smoking car
and for colOred passengers, and the
seats were all wood instead of cush-'
ions. The third and last coach, known
as the ladies' car, was the incest Of
all, but not anything like the hand
some and luXuriously furnished cars
of the present time. The cushions
! on the seats were made OF leather in
stead Of the fine velvet and plush fin
| iShed ones now in use. The funniest
| thing about the old-time trains was
the engines, which were made with
the old.time walking beams running
| up and down like a propeller, instead
J of cylinders, and every part of the en-
gine was usually covered with brass
, Old Commodore Vanderbilt of the
Erie road, was the first man who did
away with the brass on an ems inc,
and as soon as he started it all other
roads followed suit Brass Oh the
engines was not of any service except
to make them look pretty. All the
engines used to be named after the
OulCCIS Ol lue IOdu anu dlltE Jue ulI'
ferent cities and States, but they are
numbered now.
Conductors and trainmen never
wore uniforms in those davs, and they
had lots else to do besides helping Ia,
dies on and off the car and make
mashes; but they had to work anC
work hard. A brakeman had TO clear
out all the cars, wash the windows
sweep and dust out carry in the
wood, make fires, get the train in or
der generally and do all the work pre-,
paratory to each trip.
Look what a change there is IN the
tickets OF to-day and thirty years ago
At that time tickets were no
punched, but the conductor would
take them up, return them to the
auditors Office, from which the!
would be distributed to the difTeren
stations sold from, and used again
There was no passes used then, but i
any one was entitled to a free ride tn
president or superintendent woulC
come down to the train and tell tn
/ conductor to pass the party to thei
place of destination.