The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-10-29
1AEY SEE THINGS.
on the Track
Brighten Rail-
road Men.
ENGINEERS Oh FAST TRAINS
sometimes Forced to Take
it Easy on Freight
Runs.
ENGINEERS Oh FAST TRAINS

Recent events recall to the minds of
Fome of the older railroad men, says
81 The Cleveland Leader, the days when
ghost walks" were a common thing
on all of the railroads and a good per-
centage Of the engineers had a faculty
of seem things at night as Eugene
Field so aptly put it. Ordinary mortals,
wheE under stress of great excitement,
usually fear, see ghosts, for the most
part of persons departed, but it is
left for the engineers to be a peculiar
sect in this respect. They rob the
scrap heap of old and forgotten loco
motives, Undue them with life and mo-
tive power, and then send them scud-
ding alonS the tracks on which they
are travelling, save in an opposite di-
rection.
Doctors have been called upon to
dlagEose these cases and to prescribe
Tor them, but they have never been able
TO come nearer to the root of the evil
than to say that it is a nervous dis
order. Which, like heart failure, covers
multitude of illnesses. There are, to
be sure, nervous disorders when we'll
behaved gentlemen see things" at
night, usually a twisted lamp post,
sidewalk that has turned into a con-
tortionist, doorknob with a woman's
lace booking out of it, or a dog with a
creditors coat, vest, and collar on. But
these things come after a long watch
IN the night hour with plenty
of company-and other things-and
have no part in this narrative
The doctors say that the peculiar
malady of locomotive engineers is SUI
perinducea by an over-exertion of the
~ .tr3.. -
Engineers, for instance who have been
on long runs or who, as they often did
IN former days, have stayed at the
throttle for hours, watching the signal
lights go past in Whirl, or looking
out a. every curve, or straining the ear
on the-bllEd side of hill for the sound
OF the whistle of an approaching en-
glne, these have this malady and have
suffered severely from it.
The real malady was always restrict
ed to the best men on the various rail-
roads If an engineer came in with a
story that he had seen the fence posts
running out to try and trip the engine.
or if he saw cattle doing a Virginia
reel in the middle of the track a mile
ahead, only to come up and see them
scampering away on velvety wings TO
the woodland; or even if he saw the
tracks gparled and twisted ahead and
pulled up only to be told by the fireman
that all was smooth sailing, ne was not
treated as a pet, but was asked to pay
a visit to the general superintendent
where he was advised to take a sixty
days lay-off to contemplate the cause
of those sudden appearances. If he was
q steady man, who did not visit the
booze shops along the yard lines, ;"
and went directly home after his run
and kept no jug in the cellar, and still
saw these sights, he was usually
changed at once to a freight run and
was given it easy for a few months
or was sent to a hospital outright to be
cured. When once these objects" COM
mence to appear on the track, however,
the mans nerve is gone, and he might
as well quit driving fast trains first as
last, for the end of his usefulness on
these is at hand
These sights used to be seen more in
the west and still are, where the roads
are rough ard the curves are sharp, and
the engineers have to keep a close
watch at all times for signal lights.
There was a time when the Erie road
in this section was even more crooked
and more hilly than it is now, and when
there were enough curves in the road
bed to give contortionist a case of
the "willies" One of the best engineers
had been running on those bends for a
dozen years or more, and knew every
been watching for wild train on those
curves all his years, yet had been lucky
enough TO miss them. The Erie did not
use the block system of signals In those
days. One night he was rounding
curve near Warren, o., and saw ahead
the full glare of a headlight. Positive
that his time had come at last, he set
the brakes, reversed the lever, and
with the engine going at full speed he
yelled to the fireman to save himself
and jump cut into the right. There WAS
no ghost about this, however, for the
moon was just coming UP in the east,
which he had not seen before, being III
the woods. When his engine rounded
the Curve the moon was directly ahead
and shining above the track about the
height of an ordinary headlight. The
fireman remained or the train until it
stopped.
There are instances where engineers
in this section have seen whole trains
coming at them, with steam kissing
and the engines evidently wide open.
These are the things that are hard to
exnIain and have added much to the
rolnance there is to the life on the rail.
A good many old stagers will remem
her the pioneer days of the Baltimore &
Ohio, when it was having hard time
TO make a shift and keep its head above
water. In those days the engineers had
were often kept at the throttle longer
than ordinary men care to be tied down
TO a less exacting business. If the rec
ord is not mistaken 1t was back in the
times when the ROYAL Blue line was
close friend to the government during
the late unpleasantness with the south,
and the Baltimore & Ohio was the only
thing the federal officers could depend
upon to keep the different branches of
the army connected with their base of
supplies. AS the story goes, Jerry Kill
patrick, one of the best engineers on the
road in those days, had been at the
throttle for three days and three nights,
with but a few hours Of sleep snatched
of opportune times. The engine he had
been running, BLACK Molly" had been
blown UP a few days before, and he
was nut out on the run that night with
a new engine that had just been
brought from further east She had
the reputation for being tricky, and
was in consequence in bad repute with
the engineers on the line.
Jerry said he wasn't "a bombed bit
IMMEDlATE RELIEF AND PERMANENT CURE