The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-12-13
STORIES FROM ENGINE CABS
HOW 1T FEELS TO DRIVE AT THE
SPEED OF 112 MILES AN HOUR.

RorinC Holes Into the Black Night.
Heroes of the Locomotive Cab
trust to Nerve and Providence.
Always on the Lookout for Dam
yer. But Never Afraid to Meet 1t.
How 1t Feels to Be in an Acct
dent.
From the Springfield Republican.
This is the story of how it feels to drive
an engine at it's utmost speed, gathered
from the lips of the drivers. Various
nersons have from time to time related
their sensations while on board a railway
train travelling at the rate of a mile a
minute, but much more interesting are the
facts as to the sensations of the men in
the cab of the engine who face death and
danger, to whom peril is an every day
companion, and who'set their faces against
fear. It is one thing to sit in parlor car
and gaze at the landscape flying by as if
# we're a panorama instead of nature it.
self. 1t is altogether a different matter
TO look out the window of an engine cab
far ahead down the cleaning rails. not
knowing at what moment something of
tremendous Importance may happen.
knowing that a broken rail may turn the
great, living, breathing machine into a
total wreck within thirty seconds. For
this reason it is of more than passing in
terest to know what the engineer thinks.
how he feels. and whether he really is
made different from other men by a life
that combines danger and monotony. a
life that makes it necessary nerves should
be forgotten, while at the same time nerva
is a prerequisite. The sooty face that
looks out al you from the engine cab az
you watch the train slowly guide into the
station and alongside the platform on
which you stand, may give no sign of the
fact that not more than ten minutes he
fore death, sudden and awful, has looked
into it. 1t is very apt to be the case, how
ever, but the engineer becomes i'm time
as passive as the great boiler seems. DAN
ger he expects, and death and danger al
ways so hand in hand.
Think OF travelling at the rate of 112
miles an houf! only once in the entire his
tory of railroads has the feat ever beer
accomplished. The bearers of this record
are engine No. 999. that most famous of
American locomotives, and its driver
John Hogan. 1t happened on the tracks of
) the New York Central, between Syracuse
and Buffalo. This is what Engineer Ho-
4 gan says; ITO travel along the rails at
a the rate Of 1l2 miles an hour, is as near
4 like flying as anything l can think of
When we got outside of Syracuse and he
gan to crowd on steam we shook lust as If
we mad been at sea. I tell you felt ex-
cited, as we gradually put on steam and
Knew we were getting closer and closer
to point of speed that had never been
passed by any engine. Faster and faster
we went, my heart beating like a trip
hammer. The country and towns on each
side of the track didn't seem like any
thng but streaks. 1t seed to me as if
everything had gone out of my head but
a Just the power to watch that steam gauge
and TO keep track of that speed
a 'Wnen we reached the hundred-mile-an-
q hour pace, 1 knew all records had been
broken. Old 999 and John Hogan had
gone faster than any engine and engineer
mad ever Travelled. l felt a sense of exhil-
aratlon and pride such as / never expe-
a rienced before nor since. Then came The
desire 10 see what we really could do. 1t
seemed to me as if 1 would almost burst
saw that every condition was favorable
TO a wonderful run, and 1 had a good ex-
euse for it, for we were a little behind
une' little more pressure and the en-
glne jumped forward as if it was alive.
The rush of wind outside the cab was so
FL
storm One hundred and five, six, seven
eight' then nine and ten miles. began to
wonder what on earth we Were going to
uo' whether we ever would find a limit,
ana was so intoxicated~with the success
mat we had achieved that L made up my
mnd TO do all that was possible.
AT last there came a moment when /
Knew we were doing all that we could,
ana can't tell you how sorry it made me
!eel 10 hnd that limit. We were running
al me rate of 112 miles an hour and my
Aeart sank, when after about five miles,
we mad to slow down to the hundred rate
but, odd as it may seem, really did not
Iealze what had been done until we came
10 dead stop in Buffalo. and then it all
zane over me. Say, l was as weak as a
cat That is how it feels to ride at the
rate OF liz miles an hour"
Inc night run of the Empire State ex-
press from New York to Albany is one of
CHe pest known and most trying runs out
VI NeW York city. This is the star train
Vi me New York Central. Nothing must
De permitted to interfere with its progress.
II must be on time. All these things the
engineer has to face when he pulls the
throttle at Forty-second street, and the
,uu toward the Harlem river begins He
AHoWs he must make from 90 to Go miles
al hour and that accident is to be avoid
eu under any and all circumstances. Will
IA Aldhe5 THIS run three times
one week and four another. "Nerve?'
salu me- when he talked of the task that he
aecomplished so often, why / haven
eol any at all, if you mean the force that
mikes you tremble. l guess l have got
sumo OF the other kind, or l wouldn't be
,uhlllng this engine. 1 don't mind telling
sou mat man in this business wants to
,olset all about the fact that he's got
hheFes. They would only interfere with
a ais work. On the run like the one 1 have,
al man can do is to watch his engine
ana 90 ahead on time. When a man is
- me cab of his engine, he has eyes for
ony one thing, and that is possible dan
su' know that / am always on the
wpAout for it, and l always would be,
"ne'her l was running the Empire State
'4 press or local only three miles out.
mere is sense Of responsibility felt
~ locomotive engineers unlike that which
T s's upon man in any other business.
,L ne iact that one man Is responsible for
tHe hVes of hundreds is enough to make
nun CAREFUL On a fast train like / run
t ne engineer always has that sense of get
ing ls somewhere quickly, and l can't tell
~ now satisfactory it Is. Then he al
lays mas the feeling Of power. Somehow
Just comes to him from the big power