The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1905-01-03
WILD TRAINS LONG RUN
Locomotive Goes Five Miles Without
Her Engineer.
Queer Accident on the Lackawanna Rail-
xOad Near Hackensack, N. J.--Fsre-
man Averts All Accidents.

Dover MI One Of the most extra
ordinary accidents in the history of
raiIroading in the United States hap
pened when Patrick Forth, the engi-
neer Of a heavily laden westbound
Laekawanna milk train, was blown out
of his cab into ditch and the train
sped on, gathering speed every min
ute, without any hand at the throttle
for FIVE miles.
The milk train is known as No, 43.
It was drawn by one Of the big camel
backs, III which the engineer and his
fireman are cut off from all personal
communication by the hump that sep
arates the man at the lever from the
man at the frebox. The fog was
dense, and No. As was running, or
rather cropping along on orders, but at
pretty smart clip. just after passing
Port Morris a connection leading from
the top of the boiler to the engineers
side Of the cab blew out, and the con-
cussion was so great that Forth was
hurled out, Just as il a pair of giant
hands had picked him up and tossed
him into the air He fell into the
mud and water Of a ditch at the road
side.
The rumble of the running train and
the choo, choo, chug of the exhaust
drowned the noise of the explosion, so
the fireman knew nothing of it, and
kept piling in fuel while he watched
the guage TO see if steam was
holding up to the standard. Long ia
miliarity with the road and the needs.
of the engine told him to get ready to-
take water into the tank at Waterloo.
He climbed out on the tender, but to
his amazement, the train, instead of
reducing speed, ran faster.
The fireman clambered back and
shouted No answer came and he
peered in. The cab was vacant In
an instant he was in the engineers
place with his hand on the throttle
He brought the train to a standstill
with a suddenness that sent the milk
cans rafting. He didn't know what
had happened, but he did know that
the train was plunging through the
fog without a guiding hand. or an eye
ahead.
Meantime Forth, five miles back,
bruised and shaken as he was. realized
the peril of the train. Ills groans at.
ltracted the attention Of a yardman.
Quick he cried. 'sBe quick I'm
hurt can't move. Run for your life
to the operator and tell him 40 is run
ming wild. He must stop her or she
will tear the road loose"
Without waiting to aid the injured
man, who waved him away, the man
did as he was told The operator broke
in on the message he was sending with
the call, Nine the emergency cry Oh
on every telegraph line.
He 'sgOtN the Hoboken dispatcher
Swiftly as fingers could tap, he clicked
out a brief message. The dispatcher
improyising a cure for the trouble on
the spar OF the moment, called Hack
ettstown, ten miles beyond Port Nor
ris. In two minutes crew had
manned a heavy but fast engine with
orders to run out ahead of the wild
cat, slow down as it approached. let II
catch lip and then send a man crawl
ing over the boiler into the cab and
take control.
The crew detailed for this desperate
expedient waited nervously for the
runaway. Many minutes passed, but
there was not d sound from up the
self Of a freight train that was between
"43'' and Hackcttstown. The railroad
men at once surmised that AS" had
smashed into the freight, and after a
longer wait for safety's sake, the
Eight engine was sent carefully back
to find the wreck AS it happened.
however, this freight had been run of
on siding. and the old camelback had
a clear track. When the light en-
CINE backed down the crew found the
fireman at the throttle. bewildered by
the sudden disappearance of his engi-
neer. A brakeman was at the firebox,
and the others of the crew were out
looking for the missing man. The IRE
man thought he had fallen out only
few yards back
Pat Forth was taken 10 st. Joseph's
Hospital in Paterson. He would not
be satisfied until they told him old
s43v was under control.
tsThat's good he said, as he sank
back in the cot. IF Bill hadn't
stopped her she'd a. ripped the hinges
off everything in her path"