Perth Amboy evening news., 1906-09-21
by the steam from the gauge cock,
which had broken OF.

HnBiHe NO. 20, ENGINEER 4Ddfi5s
No, 20, Engineer Fisher. were run
ming opposite on the Amboy line
from Camden to South Amboy. This
was in 1S49. No. 80 had recently
reached the Bordentown shops from
the Norris Locomotive Works, and
had not, at that time, been put In
service. My father received instruc-
lions to test this boiler, by h~ydrostat-
ic pressure. This test was perform
ed by placing No. 80 on one of the
tracks in the engine house at. the
shops, and the famous John Bull,
ran in on the track directly opposite.
The Bull was then lacked up, so that
the drivers cleared the track, and
Alexander Hamilton, the copper
smith, made a copper pipe and bent
it, fitted and connected it from the
right hand pump of itltd Bnii to the
check valve on No. so No, 80 boil
er was then filed with Waiter from
the tank used for filing Locomotive
tanks and the Bull was started, and
the water from the ,RuITs tank was
forced into No. 3O's boiler through
this connection, and sqme time be-
fore the stipulated pressure, $50 lb.
was reached the staysleommenced to
6lNC way lit iCIJOi L-t koQI IN
mufled sound of a gun discharging.
Thisscontinued as tho, Stays gave way
and the pressure inctea$ed, until fl
nally the back sheet airectly in front
of the driving wheeis' axle, over the
furnace door BURST the entire
width of the boiler lea aAow of riv-
cts. AS | assisted iHficking up the
wreck of, 20, as Notwithstanding 80,
/ am familiar with. the facts.
Engine Nos. 2S and SO each had
new driving wheel centers put under
them; the hub, spoke and perifiry
were all forged in one solid piece,
with the spokes oval shaped, these
forgings were made in England.
1t is rather a singular coincident,
that all the locomotives that explod-
ed their boilers on this line, from
my earliest recollection in 1910, the
last was No. 8, thus: 20. 80 and So.
No. 29 at White Hill, 80 at Mount
Holly and So at South Amboy. 1
was in charge at the South Amboy
shops at the time the latter blow up,
and helped pick up locomotive No. 59l
The circumstances connected with
this accident are as follows: the To-
connective was nearing the top of the
cut with a heavy train, when a part
OF it became detached. The engineer
stopped the engine and the conductor
and fireman jumped off and ran back
to assist the train crew to stop the
detached part. The engineer, James
Capner, stepped back and on the
right front side of tender to get a
better view of the men who had gone
back. The boiler blew up blowing
Capner and most of the cab out and
back against the bank. He landed
100 feet from the engine at an angle
of As degrees from the roadbed. On
reaching the wreck | found Capner
standing on the. ground on the right
side neal the fireboX. On questioning
him he informed me the first thing
he realized was standing at the side
of the boiler as | found him, looking
at his engine. I started to investigate
and found a part of the frame and
the roof of the cab was thrown from
the engine back to the bank, at the
angle named above. At that time
there was some four inches of snow
on the ground. | traced this wreck
age and found footprints of Capner
from the bank to the engine, and the
imprint of his body in the snow
where he had fallen, and while he
was much bruised, the only severe
injury was a dislocated arm at the
shoulder. (And after being under
treatment by several doctors, DR..
Sol. Andrews, of this city, located the
trouble and set the arm.) The gig
top brakeman was blown in the OPP
posite direction from the engineer,
and was picked up on a ledge near
the top of the bank. When found he
was wrapped in his blanket FUSED by
gig top ~brakemen) /; fright to all APP
~pearances, was the result of his lift,
for on reaching Amboy, he stepped
off the fiat car without assistance. He
then abandoned the gig top brake,
taking the position of middle brake
man. One of the duties of this brake
man was to put up the switch after
the train leaves the siding, and the
following week as his train ran off
the siding at Cranbury and after sig
Mailing the engineer ran over the top
of the train. He never reached the
middle of the train, as he was struck
by an overhead bridge and his dead
body was found the next morning
near the track.
In taking a survey of the surround
ings where So blew up, l found the
dome of this engine some 800 feet
back from the edge of the bank.
Some 25 feet beyond | found a part
of the crownsheet, and some 80 feet
beyond this the safety valves. From
all the facts that could be gathered in
connection with this explosion, 1t was
decided that the safety valves were
not of sufficient area to allow the
steam to escape as rapidly as it gem
Grated. This locomotive had been
under heavy pull from the time it left
the terminal at Amboy, and the clos
ing of the throttle valve increased the
fire almost to a white heat, caused the
steam to generate very rapidly, and
the pressure increased beyond. the
- "a - - l--sIA.