The Saint Paul globe., 1900-06-10
TILES ENGINEERS TELL
Queer Acting Locomotives, Disappearing
Cars, and Oft Occurring Accidents
They Know Of

iS They Know Of
Milwaukee wis) Sentinel.
In reminiscent mood, the older ones
among the visiting locomotive engineers
are full of story and incident They get
together to tell their hair-breadth es-
caPes, Of their hoodooed engines and
ghosts, for every railroad has its ghost,
of "logy engines" of lazy engines, and
tired locomotives to their hearts con-
tent. Many of these stories make inter,
esting reading.
Would you believe" asked an old
timer Of the rail- that engines need
rest, that they absolutely get tired?
| 1T is fact" continued he. Il have
known engines to get absolutely tired out
In my experience. 1 remember Veral
years ago on the Pittshurg, Fort Wayne
q Chicago, at a station called Nevada, 1
| was making pretty sharp run to clear
No. 3, the fast mail, and was getting
pretty close to her time. We went into
Nevada on heavy grade, when I sig
nailed for the switch, and the station
tender came down and opened the switch
! Just as We reached the opening L dis
| covered that the engine was going to
| lay down between eXhausts.- I could
| hear the express rumbling down the hill
| behind. 1 was a little nervous as the en-,
1
| curve to, the siding. AS I feared, she
| quit lay down like a steer in the corn.
| had but small train, not more than
| tWo-thirds of her load. I looked at the
| steam gauge She had 120 pounds, all
| we were allowed 10 carry; there was
absolutely no excuse for her refusing to
| pull that train, except that she was tired.
In my disgust I turned to the fireman
| without shutting off the throttle and
said: Well, the old Jade is played out
| knowing that it was impossible to
| back up and take another run at the
hill, there was nothing to do but wait
| and flag the express and have them
| push us in to the siding. The throttle
was still wide open, mind you, all this
| time, and the lever was down in the
| corner. [ presume for one minute the
engine was dead TO the world. This min
| ute seemed to Inc like an hour. My dis
| gust and contempt was nearly ready to
break out, when from the safety valve
came pop. followed by a groan from
| the engine, and what do you think
that engine picked up that train and went
on in the sidetrack at a ten-rnile clip"
TWO CARS LOST.
"Once," spoke Up another old-timer, II
was a brakeman on the old Detroit &
Milwaukee road, now part of the Grand
! Trunk system. l was out on what they
called the night express, which was a
.I |
| Between DaVisburg and FentonYille the
train broke in twain. I went out on the
train, and when the forward part had
| discovered the break and backed down,
/ went down and made the coupling and
signaled the engineer ahead. In those
days all freight trains carried a bell
| rope; when 1 coupled up the rope and
got back to the caboose, 1t seemed to
me that there was sight of slack in
the bell rope. 1 reeled and reeled, but
made nothing more than a casual men
ton of 1t to the conductor, whose name
| was Thomas Rook. At Fentonville l was
given the numbers of two cars to shunt'
out. l looked the train over and over,
and no such cars were in the train. L
reported the matter to the conductor.
HE said l was blind, called me an
idiot. He said they were there when we
| left Detroit, for he personally took the
number of the cars Of the train, so he
| started out bigger than life to make ms
believe 1 was an idiot. He went the full
| length of the train one way, but did not
| discover the cars, then walked back to
to engine again and counted the cars.
| He was two cars short. None had been
sidetracked since leaving Detroit. The
| result was that the matter was reported
at the Office, and the next morning the
| Fentonville accommodation was ordered
| to look out for those stray cars They
| found them where the train broke In
| two, on either side Of the track, one
fully ten feet in the clear, and the other
down the bank upside down.
Stories like this are common, yet the
| majority Will not believe them and Will
| regard this as a pipe story The Idea
of train breaking In two and two cars
| breaking out and the rest of the train
| running on without jolt or jar sufficient
to alarm the train crew may be regarded
as hshy, but it is history no less"
AN. ENGINE ELoPEs
Here third man put in his oar and
| said: Say, Joe. on the old western
! Union road or later what was called the
Racine and Mississippi, knew an engine
! to leave the track, go down the bank,
| and the passengers in the cars looked at
| the engine as the balance of the train
went past, and everybody was innocent OF
| the fact that they were riding on an en-
| gineleSs train until it began to slacken
speed. At another time, on the same
| while running wild, in coming through
| the station of Rock Run on sharp curve,
| discovered a fright car standing across
the track The wind had blown 1t off
| from the siding each side Of the track.
the trucks stock squarely in the clear or
| the rails. Black said he had not time
| to stop, so he opened the throttle and he
| and his fireman got down behind the
| boiler head and waited for the crash. 1t
| came; they split the car into splinters,
tore the smokestack and bell frame from
| the engine, ripped half the jacket Off, ana
| made kindling wood of the Cab but the
| engine staid on the track. Black had To
| fix up a smokestack out of boards set
| down into the smoke arch around the nOz-
| zles, but he went into Racine with his
own steam. and boasted that he had never
been 'towed in yet. The story is his
! tory, although 1 am not personally known
to the facts. But it is one Of the stories
4 that old-timers relate who knew Wis
| consin in the days when Alexander Mitch
! ell and Capt. Gilbert Knapp, OF Racine,
| were the biggest men from the railway
point of view"
HOODOOED.
''I have known engines that were alb
| solutely 'hoodooed.' l knew or an ensl-
neer who was eternally in trouble, yet
| he was always breaking down or going
| into the ditch. Several times he had
| narrow escapes from death. He went
| through all the accidents that engineers
can undergo-throwing off tires, punching
| out cylinder heads the blowing out OF
| gauge cocks, breaking side rods, and 9TH
| er like mishaps. Finally, we laid 1t to
| the engine; said she was hoodooed. de
| was given another engine, and the same
| ilI-Iuck followed him. One morning,
standing in the gangway between the
| cab and tank, he threw tire and oroKe
a side rod The whipping Of the rod and
the 1olting of the tireless, wheel threw
him from his engine, and he was Sc
| yerely injured. He recovered from his
injuries was given still another engine,
| and still his misfortunes pursued him. He
| quit the road some twenty years ago
| and went to the Flint & Pore Marquette
in Michigan, where he has had contln-
uous run of prosperity and good luck