The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-07-07

An Engineer Tells How One of Them
Prevented aE Accident.

Prevented nE Accident.
Los Angeles Letter in New York Sun.
4 will tell you about one OF the %stransest
freaks Of a locomotive that ever occurred
mon p. Butler. the best known Southern
racine engineer in California, the other
vay: II happened , In the sum nnm Of : l%a
A T.. to Los Angeles. and l have. never
come across anybody who could give an
never been able to see through it myself.
You may draw your own conclusions
Ihe night / had my. experience was dark
and stormy. 1t was in the period OF pc
culiar storms and cloudbursts down in
Arizona l was ordered from Tucson for
midnight. Somehow everything sesmcd to
go wrong that night. The fireman seemed
to be slower than usual. and he had a great
The locomotive hostler at the roundhouse
had forgotten to fix the oil valves. and
make matters worse. the train dispatcher
kept US In the station a plump hour past
regular leaving time. and Just before we
the general superintendent was on board
the train and would 60 way through
with Us.
II ought to say here. even IL 1t does
sound egotistical that l had at that time
made the best time known over the south
haul the big bugs from the East over the
road whenever they came In a speciai car
a" This Msn, was e1 the irss time the superin-
tendent had ever been on my train. and
OF course l was anxious to sustain my good
mean hour late. the night dark and
stormy: Well. We pulled out of the sta
ton s with my mind made up 70 seacn ro UIs
stay under her. AS soon as we were Out
of Tucson / put on all the steam and let
her go. But she didn't seem to move at
half her usual speed. and then she didn't
make steam we'll, either. l began TO De
inpatient. and scolded the fireman for no,
would not steam cam we'll in spite Of his exer-
s soms. Omen One Of 5ns t RempS st Dsssa 70 working or arS'O al.
together, and the other became more IN
effective every minute. 1t began 10 GAVIN
on me that making up time was out OF the
question.
You may imagine my feelings. for. 1t
Seems sfat to me me t as 4 trim my w profes sep to Know
my business pretty well. and can get speed
out of an engine If any man can, ana my
heart was down below zero when we began
to drop behind our regular running time:
BUTT was no use. Everything was against
me- swb | WAS we mac ieft cle Mari sarodsn we were one
hour and ten minutes late. and the con.
ductor had just made a .remark that nettled
We're any orders at Maricopab. He an
swered, None except to try to get to Yuma
In nasm time sor for r DIR meade which onE ru Mas PUNE time sS Me
would be there in time for breakfast. Well.
my heart was clean down in my boots. and
Wuc i Snul Ol tuC SiCoAh eOAtao -
Wells / found the water so low in the boiler
that something had to- be done for the
n ns aRPer Dei %ss we then e9 a Sea 1say1 grade d to Climb
for several miles. / Informed the con-
ductor that we would be delayed hfteep or
down one Of the pumps. and then pro-
ceeded with the work.
w were Just ABOUT reany 20 STAR :
an engine. and, looking up, / saw q speciai
tourist excursion train from southern Call
in which we We're going. When the train
pulled into the station We found that the
Telegraph ops s;at at mee Marico opssrs h for
his train. Had it not been for the pumps
we would nave dashed on to what would
collisions in the history Of railroads.
Now comes the remarkable part OF the
story. From the time we left Big Wens
both pumps worked like a charm. Bear In
mind that 1 found nothing whatever the
matter with the pump that had taken
for its not working. and the old engine
seemed to dart along with twice her usual
speed. Gradually she began to PICK up
ming speed in those days. There were just
ty miles in, and I need not say that We
pulled into our destination On time. Here
was an instance Of a cranky engines saw
ing a collision that would proba bly, have re-
suited in a great loss of life and property.
"Railroading is full of such experiences.
AS 10 the DcculdTllltS VI SnSiucciS, IL 10
not best for me to say much for L am a
queer sort of a fellow myself: But there
is one engineer running on this road now
who thinks his engine can feel. for when
she doesn't run fast enough to please him
he beats her with a heavy oak club that he
always has aboard the locomotive when ne
takes her. Old Hank Turley, who ran on
the Central Paciic from ogden to Reno for
twenty-five years. would never sleep any
where but in his engine cab when he was
out on the road, because, he said, ne knew
from hundreds of experiments that his W
engine wanted constant company day and
night in order to give the best speed in her.
He told me that he had left his engine
alone several times in the round house at
night, just to prove to himself that he
made no mistake in his belief, and that he
invariably made poor time and had much
trouble with the machinery for several days
afterward.
'The locomotive engineers here think a
heap more of their engines than the East.
ern engineers. Many a man out mere Will
stick to an old engine after 1t has become
so worn and old as to be dangerous. be-
cause he can't bear to give up his old ma.
chine. I suppose the memory or the plains
and hundreds of miles we travel on the
plains without seeing villages and cities as
the engineers do in the Eastern states
make the Western men more attached to