The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1901-12-08
END OF FAMOUS LOCOMOTIVES
900 NOT THE ONLY ONE TO HAVE
A FALL IN THE WORLD.
Some Of the Earlier Machines Which Made
a Stir I'm the Mohawk ~valley-No. $50
With Her brass Jacket. and No. o with
Only One DRIVING wheel on Each Side.

once the greatest HyeT vi eh ~ "e ~
down to pulling the milk train said the
veteran engineer. "She certainly was a
bird o. the rails" he continued taxing
n very long pull at his very short pipe
"but there was others.
Il suppose you don't remember 2so' 40
YOU? ] guess you are too young put sp*ah-
ing of birds there was never anything IKE
her. at least a. far as show was concerned
"She was built at West Albany in the days
when each fancy machine had a name
She was the William II. Vanderbilt and n
dazzling sight she was when she came out
Of the shops. Such a pretty machine never
rode the rails before.
I'm the first place, she had a complete
Jacket of polished brass which shone hke
pure gold in the sunlight, Otherwise
~hn was painted and powdered, rugged OUT
10 kill. The steel for her machinery was
all imported and only four men had a hand
in building her.
1T took 'em six months to DO the lob'
bat they did it so well hat no one objected
on the ground of time lost. She cost about
sGo.ODo. which Is six times as much asa hrS'-
class ayer costs these days They lust ABOUT
build 'cm at SO much a pound now.
Well. when she flashed up the Mohawk
Valley. her brasses shining and Reup Aueh
at the throttle, | tell you there was great
doings all along the line from Albany 10
Syracuse. People turned out III sWarins
TO sae her and the ncw' pap'rs used TO
make an item Of il every time she passed
through. And wasn't Rcub proud OF her
and didn't lac look fine in her can
You see. Reub was one Of the snow en-
oineers of the division. lie had "hl'e halr
80 - q l-,.l al nlNNo - Ngnrn fine
corduroy clothes. Besides that h" was as
sure n hand that ever pulled a throttle
Mr.. Vanderbilt wouldn let any one else
take his private car up through the \aley'
and ne always travelled a. top speed
Reub lived al Schenectady and Inc was often
fined there for running through me placf
faster than he law allowed. But that never,
tronbled him much. The road always paid
his fine.
heap long ago, ! suppose; she lasten n
iong time. hut she had her day JUS, like any
other machine. First she lost her brass
Jacket. Too much trouble to keep IT clean.
| reckon
Next she lost her name. That was the
blow that almost killed the beauty. Sh'
never seemed the same aftcrward. The
last eaw Of her she was kicking around
the Wet Albany yard. You'd never thought
from looking at her that she was once almost
a. much Of an attraction as circus lsiTau'
"Thcn there was old 22i, another gay nird'
always primped up like a woman OF lash
ion. She was the Henry Il. keefe, ana IN
her palmv davs only crack men We're al
lowed to take her through. For a long
time she took the . o'clock run out OF Al
hanv, then one Of the fastest on me road
The train j. running vet, but bless you
IL mint in [. for speed or beauty with some
of The new oncs. The Henry X. keefe
went the way of the rest. Maybe The scrap
hear got her or mayte She wa~ sold TO some
small road ont West. N any rate sie
pis~apfoarrd one day after getting way
down in the world, ana n one in her old
territory appears To have seen her since.
Another crackcrjaCk machine In. the
DAYS when the Central beyond Albany
was a two-track road and Major Z. {. Priest
was the boss Of the Albany and Syracuse
divisions was 700. You could always tel
her within hearing distance, even ~ you
couldn't see her, because she had such an
o~dd-sounding bell.
fact. that was tho common belief all along
The road. Whether IL was actually true
ar not couldn't say. hut she certainly dld
have the sweetest hell YOU ever heard
Tom pormRny ran her for years. tie
Ua. one Of the grrat'~' engineers on the
rad He retired n rich man not 80 long
ago after about fifty years or railrGadihg'
and he's alive and kicking yet. HIS last
work was on the Eiupir" stat" where
for a NIila he ran oppo-li" To I'd
Cla-c.
'n l.. la 'hr business and come out 81 ".
Won might ~av. without a scratch II
was particularly - N ~" ca" 81 Dor
uadv because mp~i ot th" tlu" ~" was
Of n la handled nothing hut last runs.
put Ei~ vac . Good read, a steady head
nuJ "A uuurk DNs I've uu doubt nat Ines"
pulled HIM un' of many u had hole f"r
il. rNtrripnc.l engineer d''-lI lave ihh'
ha-u'' had mary O. clos shaw"