Morris tribune., 1896-01-08
A RUNAWAY TRAIN.
Lnclxily 1t Had a Clear Track and Cool
Headed Engineer.

A RUNAWAY TRAIN.
Luclxily 1t Had Clear Track and q Cool
Headed Engineer.
A railroad official, speaking of
some of his experiences, said:
IT lived many years ago in a small
Massachusetts city and managed a
aoad where every employee, from
abe section men up, was personally
known to me, and railroading was
more of a pleasure than it is here,
where the roads are so vast and long
shat one hardly knows the members
of his own Office staff. My Office
windows, I remember, looked. out
directly upon the principal business
street of the place and the entrance
to the Union depot, the street cross
ing the tracks at right angles not 30
feet from the great arohed station
entrance. Every hour or two New
York and Boston express trains were
arriving and departing, and it was
always an interesting sight the day
before Thanksgiving, when every
train was running in two or three
sections, and each one drawn by two
locomotives, loaded down with pas
sengers anxious to get to the old
farm in time for the Thanksgiving
dinner.
lone snowy, clustering day sat
waiting to see the 1925 train pull
IN from Boston, for somehow
Kind of smelled danger, as railroad
man often does. I knew the train
was heavy one, the rails slippery
and that before it struck the cross
ing it came down a heavy grade four
miles long. Out at the other end of
she depot was a great long bridge
carrying the train off to the west,
and also the tracks branching south
30 New York. On both these tracks
stood huge locomotives blowing off |
steam and seemingly in haste to
couple on to the coming train, which !
was destined for both the south and
west, and hurry it off to it's destina-
tion. Well, to make q long story
abort, that train got the best of the
engineer that day, owing to some
defect in the airbrakes, and there
was one of the most hair raising
train runaways I guess will ever
witness. A mile up the grade I
heard old Seth Mayor, the engineer,
making old No. 104 whistle for
brakes in a way that made me turn
cold. Almost at the same time the
train came tearing down over the
street crossing and into the depot,
going 60 miles an hour, and I re-
member to this day and always will
how cool Mayor looked as he dash
ed by. blowing his whistle for dear
life as warning to give him a clear
track.
''That they would even get those
at the other end Of the sta
ton out of the way thought was
an impossibility, but they did There {
were cool men about that place that {
day, and No. 104's great Crawford {
whistle had given the warning. The {
switches were hastily set straight {
on to the bridge, and away dashed '
the waiting engine in q race to get '
out Of the way of the runaway train. S
It was a close shave, and it unnerv- '
ed mo for a week, but luck saved g
the day. 6
THAT runaway ran four miles be- g
fore it stopped, and the engineer
with the light engine tearing along l
ahead of it was beginning to wonder G
f the tracks were clear way out to t
when the brakes worked t
and the runaway was brought to '
stop. For years have been wonder O
ng how that train ever dashed down I
hat grade and through the crowded a
Iepot, following the switches in and t
,ut, without a most frightful smash b
lp. il
"Old Seth Mayor, when he step L
Jed down from the cab after back v
ng back, regarded it as huge joke, o
,ut it scared everybody else within v
! mile Of the station out of a weeks b
growth. Chicago Chronicle. il