Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1894-12-15
on A RUNAWAY TRAIN. /,
An Old Ensinesr's wild Ride Around
Horseshoe Carve.

"o''oiy upon Dis ptpe, was w Ou0
raw November night comm down
the mountain from 0allitzen to Al
toona. WASN'T no greenhorn neither.
~ tne time the thing happened, for
AZ nred three years right on that di.
VISION, and had run an engine for
eighteen months, 90 as far as expert.
ence went, had plenty, and beside I
KNOW the track like q book, which IL
sayin good deal, siuce the Horse.
snoe Curve or Kittaning Point Is
IlRht In the middle OF II. A man has
10 De mighty we'll posted before the
companyll trust him to pull freight
up the mountain, much less bring ono
down. 1t requires skill to haul q
string OF empties up that hill with u
oOuble.header and d pusher behind,
put that's ch,ld's play compared to
Orlngin' down q train Of Loaded cars
with only one engine.
"The sensation of bein' In front Of
MY or sixty box cars on u ninety.fOOt
grade and n wet rail where the brakes
won't hold Is somethin' like them
dreams u Teller has occasionally OF
uc'h' showed over bluff q thousand
icethigh. It's skatin' on mighty thin
ice, l tell you, an II you lose con.
troi OF the train-nine times out OF
ten you'd better say your Now ! lay
me- We'll, that night we pulled out
OF Youngstown with fOrty.odd coal cars
ana ten cripples for Altoona shop.
a cripple IL a car need In repairs, you
know; maybe drawbacks broke, the
the roof leaks, Or, what's cOmmOner
IMAM anything else, the brakes are
busted. 1t 40 happened that every
one OF them ten cars that night had
no braces, SO they were all put be.
hind next the cat.
HusTLlNa DOWN THE HILL.
''Along about 2:l5 In the mornin'
We passed Crcsson, and after creepln'
Wrought the tunnel began to hustle
down the hill. As l said, II was an
uIly night. all damp and foggy, max.
in' the track slippy and hidin' the
signals till You were IN agin them.
In them days there was no sucn thing
a. air brakes on freight cars or en-.
gines, and VIC had to depend on the
hand brakes bein' set ny the brake.
men to check the speed, aided, Ut
course, by what the engine could do
by hOldin' back.
'We.l when We got on the grade
1t wasn't long till tho wheels begun
To hum, an the old freight was
bunipin' along at mighty lively
gait let her 70, thinkin' 1t would
De an easy matter to slow down when
We reached Allesrippus, which, as
you know, Is just around the bend
above the horseshoe. All ut once u
tower shot up out Of the fOv right
ahead, and there was red light
dead against nc You bet / was
scared, for the run past u red light
means thirty days vacation.
blOwed for brakes. turned on the
sand, and motioned Billy to twist the
tender brake. Instead % stUppin', Il
didn't take 4 second for me to real.
ize we were runnin' away.
"Say. talk about bein' chased by q
herd OF Texas steers; that's y picnic
compared TO bein' showed down
the side of q mountain In front Of q
string Of wabbly coal cars, with the
alternative or jumpin' the track and
plunRin' into the valley hundreds oil
fect below. Or stickin' to the rails and
runnin' into the train ahead, for oil
the time you see was thinkin' oil
that rcd light We run past, which
was proof positive that there was q
freight IN front
"Yunk the whistle, Billy
yelled. 'Biliy grabbed the rope and
yanked. You wouldn't believe what
expression there IL to u locomotive
whistle Till you hear II ON u runaway
engine In the middle Of the night.
AS luck Of providence would have II,
the train In front was made up OF
empty cmigrant cars pulled by u
sccOnd.class passenger engine. When
the engineer heard our whistle nc
kn0Wed what II meant, an you bet
your life he got up an busted. His
tram bcln' lifted with air he had q
big advantage over Us, but he wasn't
thinkin' OF brakes just then.
eau hit q glimpse Of his tail lauIs III
they shot around q bend, an they
were daacln' u regular jig.
BRAkEs WE'RE USELESS.
"All this time our crew was hust
Ito nara as thcy knew now putin on
the brakes. but 1t had no more efYe |
than the wind l tell you ] thought
II WIS all up with us when VIC turned
the bend and Lcgun to rattle down
tho upper side Of the Horseshoe
"'biily,' yelled, I'm afraid we're
a goner.'
"'Never say die, Pete, nc shouted
back, meantime kecpin' up his solo On
the whistle. 1t wasn't exactly u
solo. either. for the engine ahead wat
playin' pretty much the same tune,
an Us the fog lifted u moment ] saw
what the trouble was; there were two
empty engines ahead Of the emiR
train, each about q quarter Of d mile
apart, an all sc0otin' down the slope
like Us II the devil was after 'cu.
Well, 1t looked SO durn cOmical had
to laugh In spite Of myself, an' while
was hucklin' we struck the curve
'JehOshaphat, how things shook
an screcched an strained. Way
down In the hollow l could SEQ the
water In the dam az the engine
rocked. ! thought she was goin' Il
jump right out into the air an down
into the reservoir, but In less time
than 1t takes to tell 1t the old ma
chine settled down on the tracks
again with thud an the forty car.
an ten crIpplcs groanin' an twistin