The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-03-11
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THE TRAIN RACE.

1 Wewereon the platform at Kings Cross.
The evening train for Aberdeen was drawn
up ready for Its journey. Z; ::
"A fine train, sir" said to q guard Of
another later train whom i knew slightly.
AYE, aye, sir, II Is fine train, this
one. But-though say 1t as shouldn't
It's not the train 1t was year ago, when
we used to run against the London and
Northwestern every night"
"oh," said /, interested at once, $50
you were one Of the guards in that great
race, were your 1t must have been tire
mendously exciting"
Exciting, sirl Why, could tell you q
regular story about 1t, that night as we
ran from Kings Cross here to Newcastle
without a stop. That was something like
run, wasn't itp"
ut was, indeed, and If 1t is not trou-
bling you too much, I'd like to hear your
story Just while we are waiting to see the
train off,"
II was the guard of this train on that
particular night. sir. Our usual course
was to run to York without q stop, then
on to Berwick, Edinburgh, Dundee and
Aberdeen. Three nights before, though
we had gone large part of the distance at
80 miles an hour, the other company had
beaten us by just about five minutes.
"But this night all our officials not only
hoped, but had made all preparations
both for beating the London and North
western and also breaking the record.
II was sitting at home the day before
the eventful run was to take place, smok-
ing my pipe and thinking deeply, when
was aroused by q sharp knock at the door.
On opening 1t found tall, fair haired
gentleman Of about 80, who asked smiling.
ly If Mr.. James-that's my name-was at
home, and II he could see him.
II informed him Of my identity and in
vited him in
"'Well, have learned-by what means
need not say-what probably most Of
you on the line think is quite secret, that
there is to be very determined attempt
by your train tomorrow night to beat the
record, as well as the other company's
train. thought 1t as well to call and ask
your private opinion Of the chances of sue
cess, If you would not be averse to giving
me 1t on the O. T. You have doubtless
heard Of B. g. COP
II nodded, and he smiled again.
Exactly. Well, we have the offer of a
bet Of %, 500 to 81, 500 that your train does
not beat the London and Northwestern to.
morrow night / am, of course, inclined
to accept the bet, but thought 1t wise Just |
to drop In and ask your opinion first ION |
the strict Q. T. }, as to the chances of your
success. reckon pony would be very |
welcome, wouldn't it, for yourself, and |
"tenner" for each Of the othersr
You can depend on us tomorrow |
night, sir, said I. we have all in readi- |
ness, and shall certainly do the trick. Why,
bless you-though it's strictly private
we're going to run to Newcastle without
STOP
He had a drink of whisky with me,
and then he rose to go. oh, by the BY
said he before leaving, there's no risk Of
your having to stop on the way, supposed
l mean for foolish passengers who might
get nervous at the speed and pull the COM
munioation cord, or anything of that sortf
And there is no part of the rail likely to be
blocked, as there was few nights ago at
Darlington, I SUPPOSED"
No. l think both contingencies are
very unlikely, the latter especially The
only awkward piece of line Is that between
Arbroath and Montrose, where we have
only single line to work on. That nec-
essarily is ticklish, but til be all right to-
morrow night
amid storm of cheers from the many
spectators on the platform we set out from
King s Cross here for Aberdeen Our train
consisted of the engine and tender-our
very best, need scarcely say-with five
coaches and the guards van.
tFor tho hrst fi,no tbo,o ,,,o. 80 49, |
page at York, and we rushed along to-
ward Newcastle, through Darlington and
Durham. AS you know, we always felt
uncertain about this piece Of road between
York and Newcastle, the traffic is SO heavy,
But on this occasion there was not the
slightest need for any diminution of speed,
and as we drew up at Newcastle platform
for ten minutes stay We were actually
1--we minutes before any record time for
this journey
IAN went well to Edinburgh, over the
Forth bridge, over the Tay bridge and
through Dundee, until we began to get
within measurable distance of Aberdeen.
found on referring to my watch that
low, just before entering on this piece of
single line, we were about 10 minutes be-
ore our expected time.
We had gone about a couple of miles
when l fancied felt slight slackening of
,ur speed. Before another mile had been
covered this was more plainly evident and
when heard those portentous whistles of
he engine knew that the signals were
gainst us.
THE train gradually slackened speed ,
Until 1t came to dead stop at that wretched
ignal. AS no notice was taken of our re-
,eated whistling, I was about to go for
ward myself to the signal box to see what {
vas the matter when saw the signalman
waving white light. He protested, in 1
eply to my angry query, that he had sig.
aled the line as being clear for the last ,
alf hour; but assured him that the sig ,
al was against lis. I
But though we dashed into Aberdeen q
nth much putting of the engine at least
our minutes before our appointed time, D
70 were too late. That miserable stoppage q
n the single line had killed us, and we I
'und that the London and Northwestern 4
rain had beaten us by three minutes.
There was, of course, an immediate I
lquiry into the cause of the delay, and 1t @
as found on examination that the signal Il
IAN was not to blame, as the signal wires II
ad been tempered with. Hence the sig
al would not work when the lever was Il
llled. VI
The signalman recollccted having seen Il
gentlemanly fellow walking near the line 3,
10 day before and taking n stroll that a.
ay later in the evening but he was not n
all sure he could recognize him again.
at was about fortnight or so later b,
at received letter from New York. W
opened 1t, and read as follows: nj
" DEAR Mr., JAMEs-Thanks to your es
formation as to which was the most
,klish portion Of your line to Aberdeen, W
. were enabled to carry out our plan sue ar
ssfully. You see, we had bet that the ae
'ndon and Northwestern would win, not cl
Q Great Northern and so took sinns to | Ti