Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1901-12-07
LOCOMOTIVEEXP
ALWAYS so MYSTERIOUS THAT THE
ENGINEERS ARE FATALISTS.

Capers-When One Blows Up the Eek
PLANTATION is That "She just Busted"-
Some Memorable Cases.
Locomotive engineers, like all mel
who are called upon to direct the great
applied forces of nature, are fatalfsts
When their mighty charges cut queer
capers they shake their heads solemn
ly, If they escape with enough left to
shake and call it Kismet, like the yer.
lest Arab Of the desert But of all the
terrors that the huge, numbering, hiss.
ing, roaring creature of steel and fire
and steam possess for their puny mas.
tiers. none are feared more than the eX.
plosion Of boiler When the flyer
meets the freight and death and de.
struction smear four tracks, somebody
Is generally to blame; when the fast
express kicks over the traces and bur
les her nose in ditch, loose tishbOlt
or Il fiat wheel will tell the reason
why; but when 100 tons of metal. trav.
cling truly over level rails, turns q
somersault in midair and lands on the
baggage car, twisted up like = pound.
ed tomato can, first causes are lacking,
and old railroad men shake their
heads and say "She just busted
which apparently covers everything
within the bounds of human compre,
hension.
An accident like this occurred on
October "a on the Wabash Railroad,
nannf,,p TNhn a
brakeman were crushed into the gray
ell, and the engineer. by ohe of those
strange freaks which make the fatal
lists, was only bruised. Six freight
cars We're distributed about the seen
cry, and the front end of the boiler
was found reposing heavily at the foot
of Il tree 500 feet away. This gave a
clew to the cause for the accident.
"She had busted"
This locomotive weighed 100 tons.
1t was the latest style, with the cab
over the middle of the boiler. After
the explosion the huge ma chine was
unrecognizable as a locomotive. Ex-
animation discovered that the crown
sheet had blown out from the boiler.
This is a heavy steel plate which
forms the lower half of the boiler over
the fires. The force of the explosion
was downward, which threw the EN-
CINE upward and to one side. 1t land
ed in the ditch.
When the question was asked, What
caused the explosion? silence alone
was the answer r. NJ. Donnelly, the
engineer, Is one of the most trusted on
the Wabash system. He said he was
sitting in his cab with the fireman.
Everything was running true C'steer.
ing well' is the technical phrase), and
the steam gauge showed the usual
amount of pressure. Without mo-
ments warning came Shattering
roar, and the whole engine seemed to
be jerked right off It's feet. That was
all.
Such terrific accidents are, fortu.
nately, so rare that they should be
ranked as curiosities of railrOading.
The last previous explosion on the Wa
bash, and, as far as can be learned. in
this country, occurred twenty years
ago. A passenger engine hauling n
fast express was blown into q lump
Of iron without wink Of warning.
The engineer. fireman and two mail
clerks were killed. No cause was ever
found.
The most noted explosion of loco
motive happened in the first year of
the Civil War, and strange to relate,
near the scene of this last catastrophe.
A train Of passenger cars loaded with
n militia regiment bound for the front
was just pulling out of the Decatur
station when, with n roar like a battle
ship with her thirteen-inch batteries
in action, the engine went up in steam.
The engineer and fireman were killed
and the colonel of the regiment was
frightfully scalded. The strange thing
about 1t was that the engine was fac
ing west when the explosion occurred.
When it landed it was pointing due
east. 1t had been blown over end for
end. A large piece of the boiler
plunged through the station, and the
down the track.
An old locomotive engineer, who
has served the New York Central since
the days when his fireman pitched in
wood instead Of coal, said that he
never understood the mystery of an
explosion.
Il have heard of them busting he
said, "but, fortunately, l never went
through one. I've talked with men
who have, though, and they tell facts
which make things all the queerer.
One engineer told me that he believed
they were caused by gas which
forms in the hues from the steam
Once, he said, he was lying on a sid
ing with the usual amount of steam
on, when suddenly his gauge hand be-
gan to run up like mad TO the very top
of the scale. The safety valve popped
off with boot, but not sign of
steam blew from 1t. He was scared
breathless, and believes to this day
that the boiler was just right for an
explosion when the gas or whatever II
was had a chance to escape"
Another engineer of wide experience
agreed with this view. He was even
more emphatic in saying that the
cause for the terrible force Of the ex.
plosions was to be sought in some gas
as quick and powerful as nitro glycer,
ine mo boiler" he said, has YET
been built strong enough to resist it, l
believe."-New York Tribune.