The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1895-01-26
ON A RUNAWAY TRAIN.
Engineers Wild FRide Around Horse
shoe Curve.

L
old engineer, as he pulled meditatively
upon his pipe, was on one raw November
night comm down the mountain from
Gallitzen to Altoona
II wasn't any greenhorn either, at the
time the thing happened, for I'd fired
three years right on that division, and had
run an engine for Is months, so as far as
experiece went had plenty, and beside
knew the track like book, which is sayin'
good deal, since the Horseshoe curve or
Kittanning point is right in the middle of
| it.
"A man has to be mighty well posted
before the company'll trust him to pull IA
freight up the mountain, much less bring
one down. 1t requires skill to haul a
string of emptes up that hill with dou-
Bile header and pusher behind but that's
child's play compared to bringin' down
train of loaded cars with only one engine
''The sensation of bein' in front of 80 or
60 box cars on s0-foot grade and wet
rail where the brakes won't hold is some
thin like them dreams Teller has occa-
sionally of bein' showed over bluff 1000
feet high.
ITS skatin on mighty thin ice, | tell
you, an if you lose control of the train
nine times out of ten you'd better say your
Now | lay me- Well, that night we
pulled out of Johnstown with forty odd
coal cars and ten cripples for Altoona shop
"a cripple is a car needin' repairs, you
know: maybe a Drawbacks broke, the roof
leaks or, what's commoner than anything
else, the brakes are busted. 1t so happened
that every one'of them ten cars that night
had no brakes, so they were all put behind
next the cab
"Along about 2.15 in the mornn' we
passed Cresson, and after creepin through
the tunnel began to hustle down the hill.
As said, it was an ugly night, all damp
and foggy, maxim the track slippy and
hidin' the signals till you were right up
again them.
''In them days there was no such thing
as air brakes on freight cars or engines,
and we had to depend on the hand brakes
hein' set by the brakemen to check the
speed, aided, of course by what the engine
could do by holdin' back.
WELL when we got on the grade it
wasn't long till the wheels began to hum,
an the old freight was bumpin' along at
mighty lively gait.
let her 90, thinkin' it would be an easy
matter to slow down when we reached
Ailpgrippus, which, as you know is just
around the bend above the horseshoe.
'All at once a tower shot up out of the
fog right ahead, and there was "A red light
dead against me. You bet was scared,
for to run past red light means 80 days
vacation. blowed for brakes. turned on
the sand and motioned for Billy to twist
the tender brake. Instead of stoppin' it
seemed as if we were goin' faster, an it
didn't take a second for me to realize we
were runnin' away.
''Say, talk about bcin' chased by herd
Of Texas steers; that's picnic compared to
helm showed down the side of a mountain
in front OF a string of wabhly coal cars,
with the alternative of iumi in the track
and plungin into the valley hundreds of
feet below, or stickin to the rails and run.
min into the train ahead, for all the time
YOU see was thinkin' Of that red light we
run past, which was proof positive there
was a freight in front.
"'Iank the whistle, Billy" | yelled
Billy grabbed the rope and yanked. You
wouldn't believe what expression there is
in locomotive whistle till you hear it on
runaway engine in the middle of the
night
GAS luck or Providence would have it,
the train in front was made up of empty
emigrant cars pulled by a second-class pas
scnger engine. When the engineer heard
our whistle he knowed what it meant, an
you bet your life he got up and busted
ellis train helm fitted with air-brakes
he had a big advantage over us, but he
wasn't thinkin' of brakes just then. |
caught a glimpse OF his tail lamps as they
were dancin a regular jig.
"All this time our crew was hustin'
hard as they knew how putin on the
brakes, but it had no more effect than the
wind. tell you thought it was all up
with us when we turned the bend an
began to rattle down the upper side of the
Horseshoe.
Billy, | yelled, I'm afraid we're
goner.
Never say die, Pete, he shouted back,
meantime keepin' up his solo on the
whistle. 1t wasn't exactly a solo either
for the engine ahead was playin' pretty
much the same tune, an as the fog lifted
moment | saw what the trouble was;
there were two empty engines ahead of the
emigrant train, each about a quarter of "A
mile apart, an all scootin' down the slope
like as if the devil was after 'em. Well, it
Looked ca comica1 7 had to lauph in snite of