Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1904-01-21
HOW JIMMIE
GOT Ills ENGINE
BY WILLIAM
WALKER HINES
COPYRIGHT, 1905, bu T. c. Mcclure

1t was the general understanding
among all the employees Of the Law
reneeburg division Of the Z. and 7 r.
r. that when Jimmie Kincaid got his
engine he would also get Nettie Oliver.
But Jimmie's chance for getting an en-
CINE in the near future did not seem
particularly bright. He was fourth on
the list of firenen of the Lawrence
burg division, and that meant he must
wait until four engineers died. reached
the age of limit or were fired. OF
course there was always the chance
that he would be able to do something
to attract the attention of the superin-
tendent of motive power. and then he
might get his engine at any time.
In the meantime Nettie had fairly
good position as telegrapher at Ben
son station. and Jimmie could get
chance to chat with her for few
minutes every day when his train, pas
senger No. IA. lay over on the siding
at Benson to allow the limited mail to
pass. When he had begun scraping
an acquaintance with Nettie some
thing over a year before Jimmie had
used the pretext that he was thinking
of learning telegraphy and under her
tutorship he had picked up fair
working knowledge of the Morse code.
Many sly joke did the train crew
of No. IA crack at .Jimmie's suddenly
born ambition to learn telegraphy. but
he bore all of these with equanimity
and said that the knowledge might
come in handy some time. After
awhile it became understood among all
the men that Jimmies case was really
serious. and then the jokes stopped.
Even the head brakeman of No. IA.
who had a reputation as wit. forbore
to make remarks about the connection
between the Morse code and pretty
girls.
Benson station is at the foot of
Twelve Mile hill, and this hill is re-
garded By the engineers as the worst
place on the division. The grade is so
heavy that the track winds up the hill
in two long loops. When you get to
the beginning of the second loop you
are only mile from Benson station
on straight line. but It is six miles
distant by the track. After he had
mastered the. rudiments of the Morse
code Jimmie would take hold of the
whistle cord when No. IA came to the
loop on the down grade and signal
Hello" to Nettie at Benson station in
sharp blasts upon the whistle. which
stood for the dots and dashes of the
code.
So things went along for year and
Jimmie's prospects of promotion got
little brighter. On the records of the
Office of the superintendent of motive
power he was still merely James Kin
caid. fourth on the list Of firemen,
with good reputation and the pros
pect of succeeding to an engine in the
course of five or six years. When
business picked up in the fall a num-
Der of extra freight trains were put on.
and he got his first chance to run an
engine
On the first trip it fell to his lot to
take out the third section of freight
train No. LOG. east bound. The third
section of No 1O6 was made up of thir-
ty-one heavily loaded cars. and none of
these was equipped with air brakes.
AS he pulled out of Adairyille the old
yard master swung himself up into
the cab of the engine and said:
81 think yen pull the engine all
right, Jimmie, me bye. but for the
love of the saints be careful when ye
strike the top of the hill this side of
Benson. Faith. it's a heavy train
they've given We. and if it should break.
in two going down that hill and thin
cyars vita no air brakes on to them
there'll be the devil and all to pay
Despite this warning, there was no
fear of break in two" in .Jimmie's
heart as he nursed his engine along
toward the top of the hill on the other
side of which lay Benson. This is an
accident which happens very rarely
and which not even the most expert
enced engineer can successfully guard
against. But as he struck the top of
the hill and began to descend on the
side toward Benson he felt jerk
which nearly threw him off his seat.
Looking back. he saw that the worst
had happened. A coupling had snap
ped in the middle of the train.
For the present there was but one
thing to do. and that was TO go down
grade. as fast as he could Looking
back. he could see that the rear brake
man. who was the only man on the
cars which had been left behind. had
made one Intellectual attempt TO set the
brakes and then had jumped to safety.
Jimmie knew that if the fourteen cars
running wild behind caught up with
the forward half of the train there
would be wreck which would cause
damage to the extent of Thousands of
dollars and blacklist. If not kill. the
engineer responsible.
Faster and faster the telegraph poles
on the side of the track flew past him.
Jimmie's mind was working faster
than it had ever done in his life. His
orders directed him to walt on the