The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1902-03-06
RAILROAD STORIES.
Tales Told Out of School by
Boys Who Handle Trains.

in company with number OF old
time conductors and those who had
seen service as breakmen on the line
in the pioneer days of the road. One
story followed another in the line OF
reminescence. The events related
seemed to revive memories of the
days that used to be, when the road
was young. Tales of the hard work
that was endured by the trainmen
were followed by stories of this and
that particular hardship and quite
naturally the conversation turned
upon the operation of the road in the
winter months and the small expense
of operating today in comparison
with the bills for ''snow- fighting"
that had to be met by the earlier OPP
Grating departments.
SIT was back in the late seventies
or the early eighties" said an old
veteran of the road, "that the snow
was 80 bad as to keep the road bound
up from Northwood to Abba the
greater part of the season. One
storm followed another 30 closely
that the snow plows in use al that
day could not make the rounds be-
tween Marshalltown and Mason City,
let alone the troublesome places be-
tween Oskaloosa and Marshalltown.
THAT was terrible winter" con-
tinued the speaker. "Snow came
after snow and blizzard followed
blizzard in rapid sequence. Drifts
were piled almost mountain high
along the line of the road. No train
was on time and almost every day
would find half the freight service of
the road abandoned on account of
the storms. Why sir, l remember
distinctly in the mid-winter when not
a wheel turned through the city of
Oskaloosa for three full days and
nights. Let me see believe "Micky
Mcfarland" bless his old soul, now
doing service out there in Seattle,
Washington, was first on the road.
FL. ID. Mcdowell too, had just been
introduced into the Central operat-
ing service. The gentleman has
since gone over to the Rock. Island
and is now doing the passenger SER
vice and running through this city,
80 l am told. 1t was back in the day
when old Louie Baumgaurt, bless his
good-natured old self, was in the
height of his glory with his Bakery
restaurant and Railroad Mans board
ing house just west of the tracks,
right where Charley Brooks is now
holding forth. These boys here re-
member we'll the time IL was time
of bitter cold, the sky was cloud
covered at all times and snow fell on
any ones provocation. This partic-
ular storm that l recall started in
early one Wednesday morning and
came out of the north west. 1t was
an easy, steady downfall, thick and
fast that piled up, inch upon inch, as
the hours of the day passed by. As
the afternoon waned the weather
turned suddenly more chilly and as
the mercury went down the wind be-
gan to blow and snow to fall the
faster. The sold residents and ma
tives" said it was an old fashioned
Iowa blizzard" Gentlemen, want
to put myself on record right here, l
had never seen anything like that
storm before in my railroading ex-
perience and l never want to see an
other one. was on a freight run
ming extra out of Marshalltown that
afternoon with orders to make Oska-
loosa. had to meet the "Grinnell
turn around" at Searsboro and after
that bad right of way to "Oska," so
my orders read. / had one of the
best engines in the service at that
time, the "sixteen spot" the round
house lads called her and she could
turn the rails at a fifty miles to the
hour clip and never make grunt.
Well we showed out of Marshall
town about one o'clock and dropped
car here and there as ordered for
the stock men. / was behind time
and could not make anything up.
Gentlemen, went into snow as high
as the head light. The wind had COM
menced to pile it into the cuts but it
was light and soft and we went
through it like frog goes through
water. But the storm increased and
the cold grew more intense, the wind
was getting stronger and drifts were
becoming more compact. We were
etuck several times north of Grinnell
and had to back and take a run for
the drifts. We entered Grim ell about
three thirty o'clock and it's a. fact We
had to light our head light before
pulling into that station. The turn
around" had reached Grinnell a few
minutes ahead of me and was there
alb andoned.
l received orders here to leave my
train and hook up to couple of way
cars filed with shovelers and get to
Oskaloosa as best / could. Every
thing else on the line was abandoned.
The hour was four O'Clock as / left
the water tank south of Grinnell. 1t
was quite dark and the light ahead
cleaned out as against solid white
sheet. l had never before seen it
snow so hard. l had tender full of
coal, a tank of water a good machine