Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-12-22

orally amounted to about, four passenger,
two freight and two switch engines. Com
pared with the equipment of the present
Time as taken from the census report on
railroads, the growth has been something
marvellous. The cash value Of q locomo-
tive, as have before stated, is $4,000, and
there are now In use in the United States
about $4,000 of them, representing a total
Investment Of nearly $35,OQ0000
THE Pennsylvania railroad comes first
on the list with an equipment of 1.625 loco
motives. That elongated western road. the
Atchison. Topeka and Sante Fe. follows
closely with 1,602 The New York Central
takes a little drop, but comes third with
1900 The Union Pacific is fourth. and is
Just over the one thousand line with 1,066
The Baltimore and Ohio then switches into
line with $50, just tw 20 engines ahead Of the
Chicago and Northwestern with S5S. The
Chicago, Milwaukee and st. Paul has 79S:
the Northern Pacific $40; the Erie GA; the
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western b64;
the Louisville and Nashville $50; and SO
on down until we strike the narrow-gauge
lines with their half dozen engines. AS to
how long they last, II all depends on the
er gineer that handles them. 1 know one
man. Hay Smith, the oldest engineer In the
employ of the Pennsylvania road at Co
lumbia, Pa, who has run a switching en-
CINE for the last thirty years, and the ma
chine looks today as If it was good for
fully thirty years more. Some engineers
bag, while others will nurse their engines
as IL they were things of life; the, latter
class of men you will seldom find out of
employment or looking for job.
Railroads in War Time.
''The most exciting period in my railroad
career was during the late war, and mis-
haps and thrilling experiences crowded
one another so closely at that time that
it is a hard matter to pick a good story
from the bunch. The transportation of
troops is one of the most difficult things
in he H1rhan he yoif 10
fever heat and all the employees have al
most lost their wits. When the southern
forces made dash into Pennsylvania and
marched far north as the Susquehanna
river 1 was located on the north side Of
that stream and you can imagine the trials
had to contend with. Raw militia was
being pushed out of Philadelphia at every
possible moment and the speed made by
several of the trains as they came north
was something to wonder at. But one en-
gineer overdid the speed business. He was
given orders to make Columbia quick as
possible and he proceeded to do IL. All
went well until about twenty miles out
of the Quaker city, when the terrible roclo-
ing of the cars alarmed the soldiers and
they commenced to put en- the brakes.
When the train was stopped they sent a
committee to the engineer and told him to
take it easy and stationed two men in the
locomotive to see that this request was
carried out. They arrived at Columbia in
plenty of time to face the rebels, but the
bridge over the river had been burned and
burg and to defeat
I'm connection with the burning of the
bridge another exciting incident in the rail-
road line occurred. Several cars loaded
with passengers stood on the south side
of the stream about fifty feet from the
bridge entrance. All was excitement and
the passengers were yelling at the engineer
to pull out, but a cool conductor was in
charge and he waited until all the women
ard children in sight had boarded the
TAIN When the signal was given the con-
fndn tn0 uYnr hon IN ha
railroad about a quarter of a mile away
and shots were being exchanged with
group of militia clustered around tho
bridge entrance.
Then came the Union army down the
piked road in full retreat narrowly miss
ing the flank movement of The southern
ers, and the train and this mass of human
ity entered the bridge together. Thirty
seconds later and the structure was fired,
and when that train pulled out of the
north end OF the bridge the south end for
three hundred feet was a mass of flames.
That locomotive and half a dozen cars
comprised the equipment of that branch
road, and had the invading army captured
the OUTFIT it would have been of great adj
vantage to them.
Reckless Soldiers.
''As to the number of soldiers killed on
the railroad during the war; it must have
been an appalling list, but human life was
of small moment i'm those stirring times
We generally carried them in freight cars
and the instructions given by the employees
looking to their safety all went for naught
as they did as they pleased They would
climb on top of the cars, and in pleasant
weather they considered this a great lark
Several of the bridges crossing the track
were not high enough to admit of a man
standing up on the car roofs, or even in a
sitting position, while the train was pass
ing under them. Protests Were of no avail
they believed the employes We're irving
to brighten them. Consequently it was not
an unusual sight to see these brave but
reckless fellows swept from the cars and
killed. There is a bridge directly south of
the Lancaster, Pa, depot spanning a deep
cut, and one morning, after a hot, sultry
night, eight dead soldiers were found
alongside the track. / remember a captain
and lieutenant being killed at that spot.
The men of their company said that while
they were sorry for the lieutenant, they
were glad of the captains fate, as they
would have killed him sooner or later, on
account OF his cruelty to them"