Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1902-07-04
THE ENGINEER OF NO. 81.

George Flagg was engineer of the
fast freight that pulled out of Black
River Junction at o'clock every week
day afternoon in the year. Men OF less
ambition than he would have been |
satisfied with the position for it was !
a fairly lucrative one, but Flagg saw
ahead of him the accommodation |
train, and ahead of that the express
and fast mail.
Usually in railroad life the more re-
sponsible positions are secured only
after years of gradual promotion but
sometimes the way is short, the en-
gineer of the freight today controlling
the limited express tomorrow. A
moments quick wit and a few minutes
of daring work counts more with the
management than years of uneventful
service. and the coveted position is
forthcoming.
Flaggs engine was standing on the
main line at the Junction one after
noon late in the fall and Flagg was oil
ing 1t, preparatory to the regular trip
north. 1t had been raining and the
engine was a gloomy spluttering OBJ
ject, pleasant neither to the touch nor
to the sight. Ahead were slippery
rails that mean trouble for every en-
gineer on the road the heavier the
rain the greater the trouble, and Flagg,
with the certainty of fiftyfour loaded
cars, was not in the most cheerful
frame of mind.
He had just completed the oiling of
his engine when the operator at the
Junction appeared on the scene. He
was coatless and hatless, and it was
with extreme difficulty that he gasped
.vzI
over the wires:
Get onto the siding. quick" he
cried: "the o'clock freight out of Vim
cent has broken away, with nobody on
board. 1t passed Harrisville five min
utes ago and is coming down on this
track"
Flagg was aboard of his engine while
the operator was yet speaking. and
before he had finished he had decided
what to do. He might have taken the
operators advice and made his quick
est time for the nearest siding, thus
saving his engine and getting out of
harms way himself, but he didn't. In
stead, he threw open the throttle of his
engine and started it up towards Har-
risville and the oncoming freight.
The operator stood for a moment
staring after the receding engine in a
helpless sort of way, which, were it
not for the seriousness of the situa-
ton, would have been ludicrous.
Gone crazyi" he muttered.
Flagg opened the sand valve the in
slant he started his engine, and as he
sped over the rails, he left two white
trails behind.
Strange thoughts enter a mans
mind at such a time; ideas come
nd of In.
coherent. Flagg wondered what the
officials in the main Office were think
ing of his strange conduct, for he was
confident that the operator at the juno.
ton had already wired the facts. He
wondered why the gates were not down
at the crossings and the flagmen at
their posts, and serious thoughts of
making wholesale reports at head
quarters, scoring them one and ALL for
gross negligence. Once he thought he
was insane; that was when a tiny
black object appeared on the rails
more than three miles away-an object
that increased in size as it drew
nearer, Fagg staring at it while won
dering what it was.
When the light came, he realized his
own danger, and for an instant he
wondered what he was there for; then
the thought which had actuated him
at the start required At once, he was
all alertness. He reversed his engine
and put on the brakes, and though tt
him it seemed hours, it was very few
seconds before his engine was backine
down the grade which he had just
climbed, gaining speed with every
revolution of the wheel
The dot where the rails seemed t.
meet had rapidly assumed the form
and proportions of an engine, and 4
was not long before Flagg could heal
above the racket made by his own en-
CINE the sound of escaping steam ant
the roar of the rapidly approaching run
away; it took very little imagination
for him to feel the engines hot breath
This was the plan by which h,
meant to catch the runaway. He haC
fastened up the track to meet it
Then, as it drew near, he had started
to run before it, gradually letting i
gain on him. Now he proposed t.
make the engines come together ant
then he would match the power of hi
own against the power of the other
thus getting both under control
Flagg,s engine and the freight wer,
well matched. and as they tore through
Porter's Station, the lone engine wa
1t was then that Flagg gently applied
the brakes and brought the two en-
gines together. He felt the jar al
they touched. and at once bore dow
on the brakes, presently reversing tn,
engine
The long freight rebelled. The lon,
string of cars shook and tangled a
their couplings as they felt the re
straining hand of the engineer AS
sisted by the sand which he haC
turned on the rails, Flagg's heav!
engine grudgingly yielded every length
of rail, and finally, less than an eight
of mile from the Junction depot
brought the runaway to a standstill
AT 4.90 Flagg started north with hi
regular train, half an hour late. A
Myricks, the agent tagged his train
and as it came to stop, fellow en-
gineer joined the operator at the sid
of the engine.