The record-union., 1897-12-02
PIONEER RAILROAD DAYS.

Charles II. Sherman, who died at
Dunkirk, n. Y, the other day." said
q veteran railroad man, was the en-
gineer who took into Dunkirk the first
passenger train that ran through from
the Hudson River to Lake Erie on the
Erie Railroad-the first train that ever
made the trip between tidewater ana
the lakes on any railroad. 1t was one
section of an excursion train that lett
PieTmont, then the eastern terminus OF
the Erie, on May IA, 1851. to celebrate
the opening OF the railroad that had
been nearly twenty years in Dulid1ng.
That section of the pioneer through
train carried the most distinguished
party that ever got together on a rail-
road train before or since. In 1t We're
Millard Fillmore, President OF the
United States, and his Cabinet, includ-
ing Daniel Webster and John j. CRIT
tenden; Stephen A. Douglas, William ii.
Seward. Hamilton Fish, Ex-Governor
Marcy, Daniel s. Dickinson, Charles
O'Conor, and six carloads OF others,
Judges, statesmen, journalists, all men
of great fame in that day. DANIEL
Webster rode much Of the time sit
ting in a big easy rocking chdir
placed on a fiat car as an observation
car. so he could see the country, ne
said. The trains were in charge OF lhe
officers and Board of Directors OF the
railroad company, among Whom were
William E. Dodge, Marshall y. Rop-
erts, Sheppard Knappe, John j. Fnelps
and Charles NJ. Leupp, Benjamin Loo-
er being President Of the company.
Dodsworths famous band accofnpaal-
led the excursion. Cad Lyman was the
engineer. of the first train out or Pler-
mont and Captain Henry Ayers the
conductor. The engine of the second
train was in charge of Onderdonk Mer-
sitt and the conductor was w. II. Stew
art. The trains ran to Elmira the first
day. On the next day they ran 10
Dunkirk. At Hornellsville, Charles II.
Sherman took charge of the first train
ass engineer and w. D. Hall Of the Sec
ond. That part of the road was en-
1irely new. and a locomotive was run
a. short distance behind the second ex-
cursion train to be on hand to help
In case of a. breakdown. This locomo-
tive was in charge of W. A. kimbali.
The first train was preceded by anoth-
er locomotive run by H. G. Brooks,
Erie. That locomotive was the first
one that ever sounded whistle on the
shore of Lake Erie west of Buffalo
Brooks, then an engineer on the Bos-
ton and Maine Railroad, was hired by
the Erie to fetch the locomotive from
Boston. It was carried on vessel
from that city to New York, where 1t
was loaded on an Erie Canal boat and
there If
was taken on Lake Erie steamboat to
Dunlxirk. Brooks set it up on the Erie
track at that place in November, 1900
1t was the pioneer locomotive of the
western end of the Erie Railroad and
was named the Dunkirk. Brooks re-
,nained with the Erie. He became Su-
perintendent of the Western Division
and Master Mechanic. He left the road
in 1869, and founded the Brooks Loco
motive Works at Dunkirk.
Brooks, Sherman, Kimball, Hall and
many others were all brought from the
Boston and Maine Railroad by Charles
Minot General Superintendent of the
Erie who was himself a graduate of
the Boston and Maine. He was a son
of Judge Minot of the Massachusetts
Supreme Court. He was the first to
use the system of running trains by
1elegraphfc orders. which he did on the
Erie in the fall of 1851. Sherman, the
veteran engineer, who died the other
day, was rs years old. Kimban is
still living at Hornesville. Hall is at
Batavia, n. Y, where he is running a
switch engine on the New York Central
Railroad. They, with Sam Yaples Of
Hornesville, are the last Of the pio-
neer engineers of the Erie that came on
the road with Charles Minot, nearly
fifty years ago.
''W. II. Stewart, the conductor who
started from Piermont with one sec
ton of the great excursion train, is
living at Waverly, n. Y, at the age Of
So He began as conductor on the
Erie in November. 1902, when the rail-
road was only fifty miles long, and
had been in operation but little more
than a year. This was between Pier
mont ard Goshen. Three conductors
were then all the business of the Erie
required. Stewart was the third in
the service, Eben F. Worden having
been the first conductor to run regu-
lar train on the Erie, and Henry Ayers
the second. Worden did all the work
of the road from it's opening In Sep
tember, 1911, until October, 1912, when
Ayers was added to the service, Stew
art following him two weeks later.
There were no such things as cabooses
on freight trains in those days, nor
cabs to the engines. The conductors
had to ride on the locomotives. There
was no protection from snow or rain.