Griggs courier. (Cooperstown, Griggs Co., Dak. [N.D.]) 1885-1902, 1901-01-10
A QUEER EXPLOSION.
HOW A MOUNTAIN LOCOMOTIVE
CAME 70 An UNTiMELY END.

There Was Neither Fire In Her Fur.
aace Nor Water In Her Boiler, aAa
1 Yet She Managed tn Dlov, Up In the
Most Approved Style.
Mr.. Henry ADJUST, prominent rail-
road man, relates the story of Il Curl
GUS wreck, the facts in which he will
couch for.
lit is such a remarkable thing" said
Mr.. ADJUST to reporter, THAT l fear
! many will he inclined to brand it as
| pipe have been railroading now
for over 90 years. and never in all my
varied experience have l seen such a
unique and complete wreck as the one
| speak of--that of engine l.129 of the
Rio Grande Western. Railroad men
will tell you that locomotives seldom
explode nowadays. but 1.l29 did and
in Il Very peculiar way.
AT the time this wreck occurred /
was holding down the job of train dis
patchel at Soldier Summit. Utah. :,au
Il tough old job i: was. Never been
there. suppose? Well. Soldier Sum
init is station Oh til" top of one OF
! the Wasatch divides. IL bleak and lone
ly place. where the lilo Grande West
eln has a rounGhousr and coal chute
located. At the summit are long
snowsileds covering the tracks. These
sheds protect tile line from the Win
ter. .tnd it is only due to this method
/ that y train ever gets over the noun
| tain.
ION both sides of the mountain the
| lin" winds down in a succession OF
winding curves to lessen the grade.
Running OH from the railway are
switches. which. diverSing from the
grade. run up into the Hills and grad
Gally come to Il dead level These
switchbacls. as they are called. are so
constructed t!::,1 tl5,y can he thrown
from any poi:,: a .v grade And if
4 train breaks III 1850 Willie ascending
the STEEP :::".;> the r,:3lW@y cars can
be switched 81 To on" of these spurs.
where the bi'v;i....:lway finally stops aft
er it has run UP the spur as far as the
| momentum attained in its descent will
take it.
".All heavy trains have an extra To-
connective before the grade is tackled.
LACEY 'liS S.14tSO lItllJCl tli;-llCS stud
are kept in roundhouses ut each side
of the mountain With steam up.
lone night got word from Clear
Creek. a town in the western valley.
that the 800 freight would be 80 min
utes late on account of having TO pull
out a crippled engine. l.129. She had
burned out her tlueS and had to be
hauled to Grand junction for repairs
THAT night about 10 O'clock. after
had passed down the Salt Lake OK
press. ! heard the freight coughing UP
the long grade from Clear &s'eek. There
was a SnowStorm raging. and the wind
Lowled around the station like the
mischief. When the overdue 9:2o pull
ed into the shelter of tho big snow
sheds OF Til" wind swept summit. the
first thing | asked was. where's the
dead rngiiie:'
Behind the doghousc:" shouted the
con- But as held my lamp above
my head failed to see it. was just
about to call his attention to it when.
during Il lull in the storm. We pla:aly
heard the familiar rattle of the rails
as the runaway engine few at light
ming speed down the mountain. No.
l.129 had broken loose and was tear
ing down the grade to destruction.
II jumped and pulled the lever which
opened the spur switches. This |
knew would prevent a smasllup. as the
engine would run IT,, Oh the switchhack
and come To Il stop !:;:t | was too
late. Almost st the same instant !
threw the lever 4 terrific explosion was
heard from far down the mountain.
The runaway had exploded"
81 thought you said moment ago.
Mr. Alquist." interrupted The Scimi
tar man. that the locomotive was a
dead one:' If she had no fire under
her boiler. how could she explode"
'''.'ha; was the only thing couldn't
understand myself" the railroad man
replied. II could easily see how the
dead engine could break loose on that
grade. and could understand not
hearing its descent during such
bowling blizzard hui the explosion
foored me. The only theory which in
any way solved IT," mystery was that
the Old kettle was blown up by COM
pressed air.
"You see. when the engine broke
loose from the freight and started
down the mountain the pistons in the
cylinders began to act as air com
pressors. During the rough trip up
her throttle probably Jared open. and
as the speed increased With every rev
olution of her drivers her boiler soon
filed with f.on,nrpSSed.air II paS NOT
long before those flying pistcnS had
worked mp Il pressure Of nearly 800
pounds to 'he square inch. which came
in faster than ii could escape by the
safety valve. and before IT," old ma
chine reached Clear Creek her boiler
let 60" -Memphis Scmitar
Wanted to Sec the President.
The " 4. h!ngtCn Star says that q big.
eov.l-v fc,,,,>rv tod y1-opf RI tl,n \t;1,;4,,