The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1899-10-25
ONE CAR VANISHES
LEAVES THE MlDDt { OF A TRAIN, ANp
THE CONDUCTOR is BAFFLED.
Train Couples Again, and Completes
Its Journey Without Leaving It's
Loss Discovered Charles Bragnell
the Conductor Tells the Story.

Its Journey Without Leaving It's
Loss Discovered Charles Bragncll
the Conductor Tells the Story.
+ The most remarkable of all railroad
accidents occurred on the Chicago x
Alton railroad near Atlanta, ILL.,, when
loaded car jumped out of freight
train and lodged In ditch and the
! train coupled up and reached its des-
I tination without the crew either know
ing that an accident had occurred or
missing the ear from the train.
Charles Bfagnell, of Roodhouse, ILL.,,
the conductor the train. tells the story,
He says:
when | delivered my train was
told ] was n car short. | thought
mistake must have been made In
checking me up, l was called up for
an explanation. The clerical records
showed plainly enough that | had TAX
en- out OF East st, Louis car of hard
coal that | had never delivered had
lost ii some place between East st.
Louis and Bloomington. | couldn't ex-
plain II. We had made up heavy
train, put two engines In front of II
and caboose behind IL. and when
delivered II would have sworn that II
stood Just M we had made II up, and
that every ear left or added along the
line wns accounted for.
The next morning one of the passen-
ger crews reported II coal ear wrecked
in the ditch near Atlanta. When II
was looked up II proved to he the ear
| had lost The superintendent asked
me why | had not reported the wreck.
1t was news to me and II was news to
the whole crew We knew nothing
about II. II seemed impossible that II
could have occurred and not have been
seen, but II did. II had read of such
thing happened upon another road
would not have believed It.
THE ear that jumped out of my train
was the eleventh behind the engine. 1t
was loaded with hard coal and sup
pose we were running something over
| twenty miles an hour when the ear
| jumped out. The train ws coupled up
with automatic couplers, and when the
ear left its place the twelfth ear, Just
behind II, came mp and coupled on ut
the rear of the tenth ear"
| The Chicago Il Alton experts have
| agreed that this remarkable loss of n
ear out of the middle of II rapidly run
ming train of twenty-one loaded ears
can be explained In but one why. The
| iuilSf VI u iiOul tluNh NIlttl upon inc
ear wrecked is broken and Just below
where the car lodged the Ties are
marked rs though by n ear OFF the
track The eouplers catch with what
Is commonly known rs the Indian
grip" catching automatically. When
the llange of the coal ear broke. II is
reasoned. the cnr left the track at that
end and uneoupled itself from the ear
ahead by pulling one of the couplcrs,
| or hands, below the plane of the other.
AT the same time the coupler at the
other end sank below the plane OF It's
| mate and uncoupled the ear there, and,
| by some peculiar wrench, the uncou-
| pied car was shot out of the train and
| fell fifty feet from the track. while the
| tralnmen Were NIL unconscious how
near they had been to bad wreck
and death.
| 1t IL related among railroad men that
nm occurrence very like thnt at Atlanta
| happened years ago ON the Leh,gh Val
ley, where II ear left its train and rolled
down n long embankment and into n
Shick undorbrush Just leallng In early
summer. The tralnmen did not see the
ear go and IL was not known TINT they
had lost 1t until the train was checked
up and ear proven missing. In lit
| tie while the Ereening vegetation en-
tlrely hid II and the disappearance of
the car OF valuable merchandise be-
came the chief mystery of the road.
When the leaves fell In the autumn the
car was found and the freight which
| filed II WIS recovered with very little
| loss. The lost ear Of the Lehigh was
not, though, ms remarkably lost as the
| Chicago n Alton car, for the Iehigh
ear was the last upon the train and
could easily escape, while the Chicago
| & Alton car left the middle of the
train.