The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1896-01-18
I She Was Finished on Friday and Was Con.
tlnaaily Ceiling Into Trouble.
moi: AT ALL LIKE HER TWIN 1903.
witch was Finished on Thnrsd"y
4 ana Always Ran rrue. But the io7
was Four Times Wrecked and
Finally Killed EIcr ,fnn- Now Her
Boiler Runs funk Pump.
Copyright, 1896. by S, S. Mcclure. Lin


Il received an order from Western foau
7 for two locomotives Of peculiar type.
3 They were for n narrow gauge me
y which at that time connected The East
q and West, and by which the soui Is
travelled across the Rocky Moun!aii.s.
They were to be compact, short, stiorS
81 and swift, capable of pulling IKE
mule on a heavy grade and running
8 like q scared wolf in valley.
!. l5 At that time the concern was turning
~ out q locomotive complete every TWEEN
ty-four hours. Let us look at the
Nsorknen as they begin to erect
two s.Rockaways.'' as they were ailer-
ward called probably because tney
N rolled and rocked when running NJ
i high rate OF speed through the Crooked
x caIt2ns of Colorado. On the floor OIL
the great shop are two boilers, two GETS
& OF frames cylinders. eccentrlcs-in
short, all the parts of Il locomotive IN
duplicate-and from this heap the neip-
ers bring one of each of the duplicate
parts, and the machinists put them to-
4 rether until one locomotive Is COM
s pleted and rolled out to De paintee
Out of what Is left the second engine
IS made. There Is no cullins or sort
3 ing, and as the separate parts OF each
are made by one and the same pattern,
: there Is no good reason why these TWO
locomotives should not ride, run ana
7 steam equally well. When the two en-
gines were completed, painted and num-
Z bered, they We're loaded onto IL standard
gauge fiat car and shipped to the road
for which they werebulit. When they
arrived and had taken stalls in the
Il ,Ssoundhouse at Pueblo, they became en-
+ Sines 10I and 100. and attracted great
deal of attention from the enginemen
7 of the division.
S2 "She's a scary lockin' devil" said
\ Badly Hooten as he stood In front of
4 I ffe hundred and seven. and she really
dsu loak bit top-heavy with her long
legs, short body and feet" SO close to-
Is gether that they could almost run on
81 one rail.
'iTake her. you fellows that are look
in for fly runs. Tdont warI her" And
q with that Badly walked out of the
loundhouse and over TO the place of
the Triangle" and shook the man there
Ssf for a cigar.
f{ When the two engines had been raced
& around the yards few days. and linn
Il bered up" the hundred and nine was
coupled onto the Pacific express enc
Il night and introduced to the curves and
y corners of the Grand Canon. The road
q then was not what Il IS now. The next
~ time You go through there If you sit
on the rear platform, YOU VIII notice
}& that the crumbling grade that marks
y the route of the old, narrow gauge
i croases the present standard track 100
times in fifty miles. 1t was so crooked.
3 Badly said. that a new runner was sure.
81 9is own headlight. However the hun
z dren and nine held the rail and made
g good record; SO good In fact that,
II notwithstanding 1t was Friday. the
hundred and seven was sent out on the
II following night. She left the house an
\ hour before leaving time, and it was
nj lucky she did. for she ran off the track
Mt the water tank and was got back
barely in time to take her train out.
8F No man can call me superstitous,
eaid the engineer but they Amt no
RI sense In temptin' providence by takin'
a new engine out on Friday"
It'll be midnight before you reach
the canon" said the night foreman.
and there is no danger this side"
There's danger in bed eff its down
that way" was the sullen response of
the driver as he backed down and cou-
L, Piled onto the express
It was one of those clear moonlight
nights that make every peak and pin
nacle on the mountain ranges stand out
as clear and distinct against the cold
!. sky as they do in the daytime: moon
3 that shames the headlight, and shows
the twin threads of steel running away
Off yonder and meeting and going on
S together where the darkness begins
q Being new, with a clean boiler, the
hundred and seven steamed like a
burning house, and the fireman, not le-
Ing affected by the fact of its still be-
Ing Friday, found time 10 hang out the
If open window and watch the slvery rip
( pies that were romping on the cold,
,9sW white bosom of the winding river along
g6s whose banks the road lay.
Not word has passed between the
~ engineer and fireman since they started
q out, and now they were swinging round
&; t the curves at a good express gait. The
rs new engine was rocking like a lich,
a poad on rough sea, but otherwise she
~ was riding as easily as a coach. II
3 was ll:5o when they passed Goodnight
III anu Two minutes later the fireman was
sEs siarlled by that dreadful word which
~ aiEiost every fireman has heard at some
p time or another: Jump"
II Is as natural for an engineer II
II can 10 his fireman to jump and saw
~ nimseif-for he of no use on a locomo.
81 i've &bout to be wrecked-as II is 70,
~ the engineer to remain at his post and
Jump" shouted the driver and tbs
hTeinan, glancing ahead, saw q confus
II ed mingllnS of horns, hoofs and iaiI.
.!tp between him and the track He i,imn
cd and came down on a bunch of sae.
ia brush amid shower of steers. and c. ;,
the hundred and seven leave the ira OIL
~ plough along the side of the low hanl.
"A and finally stop without turning over
Inc tratn-the engineer having set m
atr.-stopped with all the cars, save TN
s mali car, Still on the track
es45s Thus, on her first trip the 'hundro
sss ana seven made bad record and 80
heFself talked about. OF course Sin
ssstt$Was put back onto the run as soon ,s
s few slight injuries were repaired =,
R5st II was no unusual thing in tfove III ~,
ss5&TgSSnere the track MOI Sa.-., '"s