The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1899-02-09
Jim WOODS FAMOUS BELL
Line Of the New York Central
Railroad.


Hear that bell ringing? That's Jim
Woods engine coming.
Hundreds of railroad men and hun
dreds of other people living along the
main line Of the New York Central and
the various branches over which Jim
Wood ran his engine have made the
above remark, for Jim and his engine
became celebrities On account of tie
bell.
Twenty years OF more ago the t.eii
was made. At the same time a rev en-
CINE was built, especially for Engineer
Wood. In those days the new engine
ranked as one of the highest class On
the road. A feature of the engine was
the bell. When it was displaced OF
new engine it was discovered that there
was flaw in it and il was sent to the
foundry and trimmed down, rendering
1t thinner than the usual run of loco
motive bells, The result was that the
new bell gave out a peculiarly sweet
tone. Indeed, its changing as It went
by crossings and pulled into stations
was full Of the sweetest music, and il
was not long before Jim's engine be-
came known by the sweet music its
bell pealed forth, and people could dis
tinguish it among all the other engines
on the line and would say:
Jim Woods engine is coming.
Hear the bell?"
Wonderful improvements have
wrought wondrous changes in the
equipment of modern railroads, but
none OF them ever replaced this famous
bell, which is known by its sweet sound
to every railroad man connected with
the New York Central.
When, few years ago, Jim's en-
CINE was taken off the passenger serv-
ice and replaced by the frst-cIass en-
gines OF the present time, it was used
around the yards at the Central station
doing shifting and pushing work, and
not long ago was sent to Buffalo to do
the same kind of work there. There
was an effort made by some of the en-
ing it for one of the high-class engines,
and this was accomplished few weeks
ago. The bell now rings out its merry
chimes from engine 92s, which runs the
Limited" east and the East Mail"
west between Buffalo and Syracuse.
After serving many years as engineer
on the New York Central, Engineer
Wood was superannuated and is now
living in retirement in this city. But
like all old railroad men there is fas-
cination about the yards of great rail-
road system that is irresistible, and
Mr.. Wood can be frequently seen down
at the Central station exchanging
greetings and recalling old times with
the railroad men there. About month
ago little incident occurred ilIustra-
tive of the innate love the engineer has
for the great iron machines that be-
come a thing of life under their skill
full manipulations.
Mr.. Wood was standing in the Sta
ton talking to some old friends when
the merry, silvery tones of the dear
old bell rang out The men instantly
stopped talking and listened; then they
simultaneously made rush for the
siding where the sound appeared to
proceed from. There, standing on the
track, was old ITO, the engine Jim
had piloted for so many years, and
Ginning with the old time-wonted
sweetness was the same old bell In some
way or. other the old engine had been
sent along from Buffalo with load of
cars. The sight of the old engine and
the sound Of the bell brought tears to
Jim's eyes.-Rochester Herald.