The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-04-19
STORIES
SHOWING now MUCH DEPENDS ON
the RAILROAD OPERATOR.
How One OF Them Made Up for n Biunder
nv Saving the LImited-An Enginccr's
Nerve 90 An Accident where Acci-
dents Were Deemed an lmpossibIIIays


From me Pittsburgh Cop,mer'iit Gascitc.
Said the telegrapher: Jones was night oper-
ntor at u town near Altoona. On tho pcnrsy
sylvanin Railroad. He had lost n great SiA 81
sleep and was very tired. The night wore along
and trains were few. II was hard to keep
awake. Finally the operator In the eiRna1
tower next TO tho west reported No. 4. the exc
press, passing east. The track was clear and
Jones pullcl tho white signal and waited for
No. !. lie had almost fallen asleep when he
was aroused by the roar Of the train ne No. 4
swept past the white signal. lie saw the red
lights ut the rear of the train as she disap-
pcared around the curve and he reported her to
the operator Mt the signal towers next east and
west. Thea he waited to hear that she had
passed tho tower east. Three or four minutes
was nil 1t should have taken her to reach that
tower. hut no waited long after that and no
word came to- him. He called M smith, tho
operator there, and asked him II 80. 4 had
passed. Smith said No. They talked over
the wlro aud concluded that she had broken
down or been wrecked between the two towers
AT about that time the train despatcher
called up and asked anxiously where No. 4
was. Jones said that she had passed hip
tower, aud Smith was sure she had not PASSED
train was certainly lost, and a lost train Is q
serious thing on a railroad. The despatcher
thought that she might have slipUcd past with
out Smith, seeing her, but the towers all along
the road leyond declared She had not passed
Joncs's tower and the conductor was asked ~
lac had seen No. 4 between the two towers. lie
said that there was no sirn, of her.
'Then the pcrspiratinn began to stand ouSI
on the operators aud despatchers. The traoki
4 GiEh stone trW wall stipports It. TEc only pos.
sible sXplanntion seemed to he that No. 4 had
sSpG have over sd the w %"i in i%' fht tn air. riy &cnri hA an fSS oa1
M3d ! n" s,c con THG Id river Th seemed frsfdr, the Hon only place
,ui val nr.1pra tn unpputln lis .pnipn mud rim
hut conli see n3thins of 30. i on the track o!
rnil where she could have gone over the wall.
Then le wa ordCr red t. to ,, run slowly WY, TTeesiSS
way between ,1ones's tower and the one west
Of him the express was found, will. n. broken
H.. Jones had dreamed 1t, although lie do
clares to this day that he was wide awake all
Jones was in bad rcputc for a time. but he
was not discharged. as he WINS n good man. and
5ss,T miJt HiS, sH9 w H2t G" a few a w wrSSs' b hiS r re-,
presence IF mind and quick action m saved the
limited. That was an Hnnsnai case also. ~
know; but, he may have been misicd by some,
one elsc's blunder. one day the limited wasi
seldom that the limited runs In more than onei
section. 4 freight was lying in front OF Jon, ~
train dispatcher sent out an order saying, No:
= nhe limited, VII run forty MINUTES mute late;s
read; Second No. e will run forty minutes.
freight, who went down out of the tower and
started his t ira H., on fl to the s main track h.lor ,unr.;
the telegraph Instrument began ticking. and
tones read a report saying that the limited
around the curve. not "a mile and a half away;
! was n question of seconds. There was no.
to drop the red signal. The engine had already
PASSED, There was no time TO think. Jones'
er ana threw The ink bottle at ,he engine,
his might, The bottle struck the cab and att
tractcd the engineers attention. lie lookea
Ing like q a mailman. Just at the same moments
they both heard the shrill scream of the linz
i'e %Tbe W ehginee as did IFe n %np st"p to o tms G% nvwih.v
II was. The engine was clear out on the main
track. lie reversed iii: engine and sent her
forward motion was stopped, hut the, train was
so heavy that il would not start back; About
half tho engine was still on the main track
a mile away: coming at tho rate Of forty miles
wondorfnl GOODNESS. lie ran his engine for
ward several feet. so rs to separate the first few
give him a chance to get some momentum iR
his engine goirg bnck. and thus start the train.l
liberatcly start forward with IKE limited in
sight took nerve. When he had gone a Few
hIS nmp ps toS against aS the " irai zen" and DE she RsS started
back. Tones held his breath and watched. To-
v" was y n s,co q @he whe,b %I S the frst n2w; engine nsi {" wno arIas
clear the switch before the limited or not,
1.-The two engines seemed almost to melt melt To-
great train. with its precious burden. went by
u%nlnrm,d. The switch was open for The
and when the limited struck IL il was forced
open along the mali, line. As soon as the en-
+" put on steam again. and the great train
rolled on out Of sight, without ever stopping to
gers. who were chatting plcasantly in the cars+
may have wondered why there had been such
a sudden Jerk when the brakes went on lust
dreamed Of the danger they had escaped.
the r9nhandle. It was a single-track tunnel.
and the officers of the road had perfected Q
bile for an accident e, occur. a tower was
erected at each end of the tunnel and the two
were connected by wire. Every train,
was compelled to come to a stop and get orders
from the operator before she could enter the
tunnel. Neither operator was allowed 70 let e
train enter the tunnel nntil lie had called up
the other operator and got from him assurance
that the track, was clear. Jones worked at ono
let a train 90 into the tunnel until ninth said
so, and Smith could not let a train 90 in until
wa, for each man 70 let a train 90 in at the
time. Even il both operators were t9
work, Tor the train conductors going into tho
for orders would awaken, the OPERATORS,
tunnel mel" TN" Two Trains lad met head on. sew,
hh'
cral Of the crews were badly injured. and Z
thin, t"4 died There was an Gyestigation.
the scene OF, III" wreck. The two operItors
were called before him. II was impossible to
learn anything about the wreck. Each oper<
ator was Furo the other had reported the track
clear. and could give no explanation OF taS
Now, boys. will tell you what will d1i
| feel sure you know how this happened. 10
neither of YOU will be discharged. ! Ihoughu
| Ind a system here that was absolutely safe.
aud il is Of more importance 10 me 10 learn
the wreck occurred than Ia, punish, the
who wa- responsible. ! must find out how
It happened 20 that | can take caro- il docs nos
occur again. Tell mo sAe truth, and ! will give
yuu uny word tlnt YOU sill not lose your Jobs,
Then the twu boys confessed. During The
long nights they would become sleepy. Some
times one would fall asleep, Then II a train
'aine, tho other could not got an answer from
him. OnO night smith was sleeping sound!y
and Zones could not get any answer. lie did
not like to hold the traln Tor fear smith would
hts Job. 80 he let the train go through,
lie knew II was perfectly safe. for Smith could
not let n train In without calling him up. When