The islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1891-1899, 1895-02-07
RAILROAD STORIES.
YARNS OF A TIME WHEN THE ERIE
WAS A SINGLE TRACK LINE.

ming of Railway Trains-What a "Snake
Spiker" was-How the Bel1rope Came
to Be Understanding Wheels.
Charley Minot had his little tussle with
one of his engineers about running train
ON telegraph signals along in 1851" said
veteran railroad engineer recently. 1.-The
Erie was single track then of course, and
the magnetic telegraph, as it was called in
those days, was a new and in many re-
spects an untried thing. The Erie had put
up line along it's road as had other rail-
roads, but the telegraph had never yet been
applied by any road to the running of
trains Engineers and conductors ran their
trains according to schedule, and if it was
down on the schedule that they were to lie
at certain place or spot on siding or turn
out until another train, running in an Oppo
site direction met and passed them, there
they would lie if the other train did not put
in an appearance for week. This resulted
in great delays in the traffic of the road,
and soon after the putting up of the tele-
graph line Superintendent Minot made up
his mind that by its use that evil could be
done away with and the whole existing sys-
tenn of railroad transportation be revolu
tionized.
He was timid though about making the
venture, but one day he happened to be on
train bound for Elmira, which was the
terminus of the road then. This was in
the summer of 1885, Big Ben Sholes was
the engineer. When they got to Turner's
station they found that the train from the
west which was to meet and pass them
there was half day late That was the
opportunity for Charley, and he made up
his mind to settle the question of running
trains on Geographic order right there and
then. He cent message to the agent at
Port Jervis notifying him that the train
would leave Turner 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 a train coming
toward him had the right of way, although
that train could by no possibility get onto
that track in the meantime.
''Such a 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 him
self not only to Port Jervis, but to Mar
rowsburg, 35 miles farther on the journey,
where the overdue train was met and passed.
The passengers thus escaped hours of de-
lay, and from that time the telegraph order
on railroads not only in this country but
everywhere where there are railroads be-
came the rule, and the science of railroad
ing was advanced a quarter of a century at
bound.
Speaking of snake heads there's some
thing the present time railroader or rail
road traveller knows nothing about. One
of the most important employees of rail
road in the old days was the snake spiker.
When the rails were simply iron straps
spiked to wooden stringers, the straps in
time work. loose, and the ends where they
were joined together curled up and looked
like big snake with its head raised few
inches from the ground. Hence the name,
and the snake spiker was trusted man
who had a certain section of track which
he was detailed to patrol, with a sledge
hammer and leather bag with new spikes
in it slung by strap over his shoulder. He
was to keep 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 fiat to the stringer
again. The safety of life and property on
railroads depended in IA 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 mile minute.
"rhen there's the bellrope and the sound
ing of car wheels with hammer when
train stops at a station. 1t was funny how
the use of the bellrope originated. The
introduction of car wheel inspection was
the result of catastrophe-the first really
terrible railroad accident in the country.
THE pioneer conductor of the Erie rail
way was Poppy Ayers, and he ran on the
road when it's whole working length was
between Piermont and Turner's, and there
was good room for doubt whether it would
ever get any farther. Nobody ever both
cred about buying a ticket in those days,
but paid his fare to the conductor. Once in
awhile the conductor found it desirable to
eject some would be deadhead passenger
while between stations, but as there was no
means of letting the engineer know about
1t except by sending a brakeman forward,
and as he generally had to climb over lot
of freight and produce cars before he could
attract the attention of the engineer it fire.
quently happened that the train reached
the refractory passengers station before it
could be stopped. Poppy Ayers lost good
many fares in this way, and he got tired of
such improbable railroading. So he hit
upon plan to do away with future trouble
on that score.
''One day he tied stick of wood to one
emf of a long rope, hung the stick on the
locomotive, where the engineer could it,
and carried the rope back over the cars to
the rear car and made the end fast there.
His idea was to pull the rope and agitate
the stick of wood when he wanted the engi-
necr to stop the train. In those days the
engineer considered himself the man who
WAS s. preme on the train, and this partic-
uler igineer resented this plan of Poppy
Ayers as making him subordinate to the
conductor, and he chucked the stick of
wood overheard the first time it was put in
use ard went on with his train. When they
got to Turner's, Poppy Ayers pitched in
AID gave the engineer the worst kind of a
licking, put the stick of wood back On the
engine. aud it worked to charm. This led
to the introduction of the bellrope on rail
road trains.
Soon after the Erie was finished to
Aiddletown in 1S43 the first regular
pleasure excursion ever run on the road
started from Middletown for the Elysian
fields, the famous old time pleasure ground
hear Hoboken. The excursion was got I'D
by Professor McGregor of the Middletown
academy. The train was filled with pas
Sengers. The wheels on railroad cars were
then made with cast iron spokes after a
plan devised by Ross Winans. One of these
wheels broke while the train was running
at high rate of speed, and several of the
cars were thrown down high embank-
ment near Seamansville. Several of the
sxcursionists were killed, one being bride
who, with her husband, was making the
excursion her wedding trip, and a number
were badly hurt, some fatally That was
the first casualty of the kind in the history
OF railroads. 1t was discovered that the
wheel that broke had been crackad for