The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-10-31
In PIONEER %RAILROADDAYS
INCIDENTS RECILLED M THE
DEATH OF 4 TErERAN ENGINEER.


y. V, the other day" said a veteran railroad
man. was the engineer who ;nuk into Dunkirk
the first passenger train that ran through from
the hudson River to Lake Erie on the Eric
Railroad-ihc first train thar cycr made the trip
between tidewatcr and tho lakes on any rail.
road. 1t was one section Of an excursion train
that left Ficrmont, then the Eastern terminus
of the Eric, on May II, 1851. to celebrate the
opening OF the railroad that had been nearly
twcnty years in building. That section OF tho
pioneer through train carried the most disiin-
guishcd party that was ever got together
on n railroad train before Or since. In il were
Willard Fillmore. president OF the I'niicd
States, and his Cabinet. including Daniel Web.
stcr and John J. Crittcndon; stephen 4. Doug.
las, William II. seward, Hamilton Fish. cx.Gov.
Marcy, Daniel 5. Dickinson. Charles O'Conor,
ana sin carloads Of others, Judges. statesmen,
journalists. all men of great fame in that day.
Daniel Webster rode much OF The time sitting
in a big easy rocking chair placed ON II Hat carns
an observation car, so he could sec the coun.
try. he snid. The trains were in charge of
the officers and Board OF Directors of tho rail.
road company. among whom were William H..
Dodge. Marshall q. Roberts, Sheppard knapp,
John J. Phelps, and Charles VI. Lcupp, Bcnjt.
min Lodcr being President ot the company.
Dodsworth's famous band accompanied the cx.
cursion. Cad Lyman was the engineer of the
first train out Of Piernont. and Capt. Henry
Ayers the conductor. The engine Of the second
train was in charge of Ondcrdonk Merritt and
the conductor was w. II. Stewart. The trains
ran to Elmira the first day. On the next day
they ran to Dunkirk. At llorncllsvillc Charles
H.. sherman took charge of the first train as en-
ginccr and W. d. Hall of the second. That part
OF the road was entirely new. and a locomotive
was run n short distance behind the second
excursion train to be on hand to hclp in case of
"A breakdown. This locomotive was in charge OF
w. A. kimball. The first train was preceded by
another locomotive run by ii. G. Brooks. then
an engineer in the employ OF the Erie. That 10.
comotivc was the first one that ever sounded a
whistle on the shore of Lake Erie west of
Buffalo. Brooks, then an engineer ON the
Boston and Maine Railroad, was hired by
the Erie 10 fetch the locomotive from
Boston. 1t was carried on n vessel from
that city to New York. where il was loaded on
an Erie Canal boat and transported TO Buffalo.
From there it was taken on a Lake Eric steam.
boat 10 Dunkirk. Brooks set it up on the Erie
track at that place ia November. 1850. 1t was
the pioneer locomotive OF the western end OF the
Erie Railroad. and was named the Dunkirk.
Brooks remained with the Eric. lie became su-
pcrintcident of the western division and master
ee tbe Br3ot ne I lels 5hS iys w in is" 8; n rnd found
Brooks, sherman, kimhall, Hall. and many
others were all brought from The Boston and
superintendent OF the Erie, who was himself a
graduate Of the Boston, and Maine. He wasa
preme Court. lie was the first to use the SIS.
lem or rnnninE trains, by teleg'ap!,r,c orders.
sherman, the veteran engineer. who died the
other day, was = years old. kimh'll is sin
living at llornc!lsvi!!e. Hall i al Batavia, y.
y, where ne is running n switch engine on the
New York Tsntrnt h,ilrond. They; with Sam
pioneer engineers Of the Erie that came on The
road with Charles MinOt. nearly nifty wears ngO.
w. II. stewart. the conductor Who started
| IRON llerlnnnf with one section Df the q rpti pN-
cursion train. is living at Wavcrly, y. ,f.,nt the
age OF 80. lie began as conductor on the Erie in
November, l~i2, when the railroad was only
my miles long. and had been in operation put
, m,on, more nor than a SS Ear, This Was between Pier;
all that the business OF the Erie required. stew
ART was the third in the service, Eben 4. Mordcn
train on the Eric. and Henry Ayers the second.
Worden did all the work on the road from its
when Ayers was added TO the service, Stewart
following him two weeks later. There were no
those days. nor cabs to the engines. The
conductors had to ride on the locomotives.
was not an uncommon thing To see The engineer
ana conductor covered with ice. There were
Goshen and Chester. The conductor was
provided with tickets for each station on the
and a bag containing so in small CONS and
bills. This was carried IN the box. and was The
c % r"iitai for The day: II WA. !" make
Larger than the amount CHARGED. The I'm box
| ana lis contents were delivered at one end of
the run to the general ticket agent nt riermont;
This was Henry ;, Fitch. Fries first general
passenger agent, still living at Jersey ,'ity. The
account was balanced, with the conductor and
the box returned 10 him with $40 in the bnE
again for use on the return trip. All tickets for
New York were collected on the steamboat.
Conductors Ayers and stewart we're selected
70 run the first and second section of the great
Al that place Conductor {. ". Robinson was TO
take the first section. and Conductor a. y.
Chaplin the second section, and run them 10
punkirk. The train lay all night u! Elmira. and
oyerything was wide OPEN Things We're
inson, carried away by the universal good cheer.
was not feeling IN shaJe 10 take charge Of his
AIinot put Conductor stewart in charge OF sec.
ZION ! OF the train. ana, 50 he ran all the way
the itrst conductor TO m n"GE, the N" ihro ompiT rim mn
the Erie. and on the first through train, a distinc.
ton OF which he Is very proud in his Old age.
This dean OF the now wide fraternity of rail
road conductors also ran the first train that
was ever run on tclcgrophi" order. This was in
the fall OF 1901. Up to that time the trains on
the road were run on the tlmc'intcrval system.
The track was single, and nj convcnicn, sidings
would wait ten minutes for II train coming i'll
the opposite direction. East bound trains lad
minutes late in reaching II turnout or waiting
station; ana they mus, altm tax" a siding
pass. stewart was running. the west bound
express: His Gng!nccr was Isaac lGwiI. 81
ticulnr day. At Turner's station II was 20 walt
for the cas-. bound express 10 pass; Th" Erie
Telegraph line ntu men Dlt recently Dcct i'Lii III /
operation, ana IL was u mystery to the Old rail-
road men. superintendent Nlino, was a tcIc-
graph Op. rntor. When the wc-t-buund express +
arrived at Turner's, Minot tclcgrUuhct to he
operator ~ ,i0alIcn asking him WhelhaCr the
cast-buuRd train had left that station. The an
swcr was that the train had MOI arrived AT
that station yet, showing that i was much he.
hlnd, its time. superintendent Minoi then wrotc
and handed to Conductor stewart, the first one
ever written, an order 10 run his train to Goshen
regardless OF the train coming cnSi. he con
dnctor took, the order, and handinS il 10 his
engineer, told him 10 20 ahead. The engineer
read the order. and passing IL back to stewart.
exclaimed:
do yon take me for damn fool' won't
run by that thing
Conductor Stewart reported 10 Tie ~Snicrin.
tcndcni. who went forward and used his author
iN on Engineer Lewis, but without nN.ti, /
Minot then climbed into the cab and took charge
OF the locomotive himself. Lewis jumped On
aud got ia the rear seat "f the rear car. The
superintendent ran the train TO Goshen. The
Other irnin not having reached mat point yet.
lac inquired for il at MiGdlciowu. II waS. not
ihcrc. He ran to Middlrlnwn. and 80 on Ia Port
Jcryi4, whore The "aSl.houni tram entered, the
& kn pl t.,,., No.. -, a g. al .t. NRtt il. fvl1I d