The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-07-10


ounce of steam would be needed to
push the engine and cars up the stin
grades. He leaned against tine step
on the engine as he finished his work
of inspection. His blue overalls were
clean and neat In one hand a fam
| ing flambeau, in the other large oil
can. Under the greasy flap Of his
close fitting cap his eyes shone with
ali the vim and vigor Of young man
hood. He climbed to his seat high
up on the 81, laid down his oil can
and flambeau, tried the steam gauges
| looked at his large gold watch and
| leaned way out of the window look
| ing back over the line of cars that
stretched into nothingness in the
black darkness. A sudden jar told
him that the switch engine had coupled
the train. There was a trying of the
| air brakes, flutter OF scurrying lam
| terms, and Capt. Martins "All Aboard"
| floated out upon the night. The sig
| nal whistle sounded. Hicks good right
hand moved backward half an inch
the throttle came out that much, the
slack came slowly out of the cars
The train moved. 1t crept out of the
turtle back car shed, stretched itself
like a man awakening from a sleep
| cAo"iy pichtu It's pace ike great
black caterpillar and crawled out
The electric headlight looked a falling
monument of sunlights, 1t cut its way
| through the intense darkness. The
night air rose dark and damp, there
was the ordor of car grease and gas,
the monstrous drivers slipped upon
| greasy rail, handful of sand caused
them to catch the track and the 81
drifted under the guidance of that
| strong hand and clear eyes out upon
the main line of the great West Point
Route. the synonym for safety.
The rain drops falling against the
headlight looked like diamonds on
queens crown or dew drops in the sun
light of early morning. The bell
changed callously at the crossings.
The train twisted through the yard
switches as though to shake the water
off its back and gained speed with
every turn of the wheels. Back on
the train vestibule doors were slamm-
| ed shut and the mail clerks and train
crew went to work. The sleepy switch
lights in the yard blinked drowsily.
There was a clankety clank as the
train passed over the street car tracks
at Pickett Springs. The titantic strife
was on. Engineer Hicks brought his
reverse lever up and the throttle out.
The rain flew at the headlight like
mad hornets or bees disturbed. Two
fingers of the engineers hand lay on
the brass handle of the air brakes. In
that hand lay the safety of the train
and its mass of humanity. The ex-
haust pierced the night air like the
hum of a fire engine as the 81 fought
the long curve leading out of the
town viciously.
climbed up on the fireman's seat.
while Clarence L. Wickersham the
young representative of the passenger
department got up behind the engi-
neer. We were there to record the
run. Hicks never looked around. His
keen eyes watched the track except
when they glanced at the steam gauge
which trembled under it's mighty pres
| sure. The fireman bent low over the
| pile of anthracite. I looked back ov-
er the train. Through the gloom there
CLEANED the green signals on the rear
and they seemed a mile away The
light from the car windows cast weird
reflection upon the ground 1t seemed
| that the world was an ocean and we
were on the back of a great swallow
Swimming the tops of the waves. Inc
train was pulling heavily.
| The switch lights at Seven Mile
| looked like they were dancing when
they came in sight. My heart went
| to my throat Suppose the switch was
wrong. But with a rattle and bang we
were by and the lights lay far to south
| ward. The great reverse lever came
| straighter up by a couple of notches
for the West Point engineers do not
work their firement too hard and save
all the fuel they can, and an engine
works better as they work 1t. The
smoke stack ran from under the thin
blue wreath of steam that came hurl-
ing from 1t. There was no distinc-
lions in the exhausts. 1t was like the
peal of mammoth organ tuned to
one key alone. I saw the form of
the engineer bend low while his teeth
were shut fast. I saw his eyes riveted
on the shining steel ribbons that al
ways seemed to meet just ahead of us
but always separated as we went.
We seemed gliding into a tremen-
dous black cavern while the rain drops
battered and popped upon the head
light glass. We had begun the race
Mr.. Wickersham got a better hold to
keep his place. The 81, balanced like
a great spirit level on its trucks be-
gan to wallow like a ballastless boat
on stormy sea. 1t whined and moan
ed as 1T caught the curves and kicked
them backwards in it's mad rush.
he rain uTOpS at my Wln0OW came
like the popping of corn. The train,
like a black dog with nose to the
ground was hunting for Atlanta with
the pilot pointing the way. The Mag
ara Of sound and motion was moving
eastward with relentless force. The
throbbing was like a fevered pulse, as
the man wrought hurricane drew the
magnificent car palaces after 1t like
wind blown leaves on a march day
Mount Meigs station looked as black
as the wings Of a raven that flies only
in the midnight as 1t came into view
and danced backward towards Mont
gomery. / ducked my head quickly
in a moment more as we went under
a steel bridge near Tysonville and
then again beyond 1t. / did not have
time to think I would not be hit.
Atlanta, Queen of the Piedmont es-
carpment sits enthroned in the eter-
nal blue over a thousand feet above
the sea level. The breeze of summer
and the winters wind alike caress it.
Daughter of the gods of prosperity
and culture 1t looks out over noun
long climb to reach the level OF At
lanta In the IFS miles a sheer height
of 1000 feet must be surmounted COM
ing from Montgomery.
We passed the big bluff near CowIes
and hit the reverse curves there like