The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-08-07
We Yin.
BY HERBERT E. HAMBLEN.

times allow me 10 meet MIN on our
side of the tunnel and ride through on
the engine. 1 would sit on the fire
mans seat, ring the bell furiously all
the way through, watch out for the
nagman at the other end and fancy
myself quite a chap.
On the return, when the engine would
be backing-light-to the roundhouse
father would take me over TO his side
and let me run her. When he said: All
| right, Frank; you've got the block;
back upi" l would grasp the great
throttle lever with both hands and tug
with all my might. He would have to
held me, but l didn't mind that. And
when she plunged into the thick, black
smoke that nearly always filed the
tunnel, and the exhaust reverberated
with deafening roar under the solid
rock arch, 1 would be glad he was
there. The light from the open firebox
door shining on the great pillows of
smoke as the rolled in over the back
of the tank gave them an appearance
of sQlidity. as though they would smash
US TO pieces.
How l silently welcomed the appear
ance of a gray blotch in the blacknesS,
indicating our arrival near the exit. 1t
would. brighten rapidly, until a sudden
rift would show us daylight, and the
grass and bushes on the sides of the
cut.
While congratulating myself on our
escape from the dismal blackness,
would feel the throttle showed in, the
exhaust would cease, and father would
say:
.'You want to shut off. boy, an not
go over these switches forty mile an
hour"
His hand would go to the air brake
valve, but 1 would say:
"Oh pa. let me?"
After awhile / was able to apply the
| air brake without bringing her to
sudden stop. L shall never forget the
| day. was nearly Is, and quite large
and strong-that I brought her all the
! way over without father putting his
hand to her. I stopped just right, at
the ash track, and got off with his
overclotheS and dinner pail, while he
registered and made out his report.
I could hardly keep IRON running
ahead to tell mother and sister May of
my great feat. l was sorely aggrieyed
| when 1 did tell them, to note their utter
| lack of establishment
The Belleyille roundhouse-likea all of
| its kind-was low, dingy, smoky at
fair. 1t held about fifty engines-being
complete circle, with the turntable in
| the center The engines entered through
an arched doorway, barely wide enough
to permit them to pass. Occasionally a
the big wooden doors were not fastened
wide open, would smash one of them.
In fact, these doors, especially the left
| one, nearly always displayed patches of
| fresh black paint, indicating recent re-
pairs.
Once through the doorway, the en-
CINE ran directly on to the turntable
The wipers would turn her, and the
| hostler run her into her stall.
There were handsome green lawns in
! front of the house, inclosed by neat
fences ingeniously constructed of iron
pipe. These eXpanses of brilliant green
were pleasantly broken up by artistic
| flower beds, designated by the foreman.
| The largest of these displayed to pass
| ing trains the initials of the road in
| letters two feet square, formed of neat
| ly trimmed box. The whole was reliev-
ed by frame of freshly whitewashed
| stones, forming locomotive in outline.
There was a handsome fountain, also
the product of Mr.. Dale's fertile brain,
with its basin well stocked with carp.
Mr.. Dale would have no loiterers on
| the company's property. Boys We're his
| especial horror, and so well did we
| know it that we would as soon have
| thought of breaking into the church as
| of trespasSing on the roundhouse prem
| ises. We came to regard the round
| house and the big machine shop near
i it as a sort of wonderland, a'forbidden
paradise, which We would dearly like
| to investigate. l, who had seen some
| of these things and told tales to those
! who had only heard of them. Father
being nearly the only railroad man liv-
| ing in the village, l had no rivals to
| expose me.
/ Joe Babcock. the postmaster's SON;
Pete Joyce, whose father was a we'll
TODD merchant in the city, and 1 were
| s,,Ix- hi 10
| tened to my stories and envied me to
| my hearts content.
| On a short spur running out from the
track connecting the shop and round
| house lay three old engines The two
! foremost were dead and gone: every
thing that could possibly be of use had
been stripped off them. The other was
sometimes fired up and used, when
! there was no other to be had, for NOV
ing cars and dead engines about the
| shop. As the spur on which they lay
| was concealed by a growth of birohes
and willows, we sometimes evaded the
night gang and spent a pleasant hour
| on the old engines.
We looked them carefully over, dis
| cussed their merits and shortcomings
and gave our versions of the few wrecks
of which we had any knowledge. We
kept a sharp lookout, and when a
swinging lantern hove in sight we sat
silent, holding our breaths with palpi-
| tating hearts and guilty consciences.
We cast longing glances at the round
house from whose mysteries we were
shut out, and speculated on the posi-
bility of forcing an entrance. But
knew that the fOreman's office was just
inside the big doors, and that all the
| windows were protected by heavy wire
netting The citadel was well defended
1.-THE truth of the adage, "All things
| comes to him who waits" was proven
in our case. Father related, at dinner
one day, how a hostler had lost control
of an engine. and she had showed her
pilot through the side of the house,
making a hole three or four feet in
diameter.
Strict attention TO the narration, aid
ed by "a few well-directed questions, as
sured me of the location of the break.
During the afternoon l took a distant
survey of the ground, and hurried over
to Joes Immediately after supper. He
was holding a skein of yarn for gran
ma" With eXasperating deliberation
the old lady lifted each turn from the
skein, winding il as carefully as though
il mad been spider web. She tortured
me with questions in regard to our do
nestle affairs. Owing to the preoccu-
pied state of my mind, some of my
answers so puzzled the old lady, and
diverted her attention, that she tangled
the yarn.
seized the opportunity to fire rapid
lvolley of winks and mods at Joe-ther-
by destroying his usefulness. As
displayed my heels at the door, l re-
ceived a parting injunction from gran
ma, to be sure and tell my mother not
to have any scruples about "borrying'