Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-05-13
LOCOMOTIVE MAKES |
LEAP
Biz Engine strikes Bunch Of Dyna-
mite and speed Carried
Train over Hole.

It is thrilling enough to see bicycle
or an automobile leap the gap. but think
OF a great railroad train performing the
feat! This extraordinary adventure has just
befallen the Frisco Meteor, one OF the
fastest trains in the southwest.
The Meteor was running south a mile a
minute through southwestern Kansas. II
flying through the outskirts OF Turck,
a flag station three miles north Of Column
bus when a terrific shock and explosion
ahead struck terror into the hearts Of
trainmen and passengers. The train lifted
as IL running upon air; then IL struck
with gliding, running impact, rocked VIC
lently for an instant and then resumed its
smooth and even gait. The air Missed, the
speed slsckened, voices shouted and doors
banged, and the Meteor stopped
The engineer climbed out Of the cab and
lesped to the ground. AS he walked back
to meet the trainmen and passengers who
had swarmed out Of the cars, he said:
''Dynamitel"
Men shuddered ct thought OF their mar
row escape. but they knew little Of the
remarkable feat OF the train-the thing
that had saved them.
II think they tore the track out under
us some" the engineer said. and the train
was backed up to see. single glance was
sufficient to show what had happened.
Train wreckers had placed dynamite upon
the rails. The forward truck wheels Of the
great engine had fred the explosive. which
| had torn a great hole in the roadbed, cut
ting a three-foot gap in the track
The Meteor had leaped the gap!
What might have happened the Frisco
Meteor the other night is happening trains
| in the United States with the frequency Of
things that are commonplace. But what
! actually did happen is a remarkable
! story
The wreckers that plotted the destruction
Of this splendid train were making an ex-
pertinent. There have been all sorts OF
schemes for wrecking trains. but rarely
have men laid dynamite upon the rails
| The effect could not be easily foreseen
The speed of the train might save It; or
Il might the better serve to smash Il up
That the explosion would blow out a sec
ton of the track before the drivers Of the
engine passed was reasonably certain
| Quick as the train was, It could not be so
quick as the explosive.
Granting that the dynamite would tear
out a section OF track in front Of the
drivers, what would be the result? Would
the great weight OF the iOO-ton engine force
the drivers into the gap, or would the
| engine leap the gap? And II It did leap
the gap would the wheels track?
| A train wrecker is not a student OF nat
| ural laws, but he has that native sense Of
| things which served in his desperate bust
| ness. He knows that a very little thing
| will sometimes wreck train, and that
there IL a we'll known list Of things which
| will certainly throw the fastest and heav-
lest train that runs. He might reasonably
have counted upon his dynamite TO wreck
| the Meteor
But It didn't. When the great drivers left
the rails and flashed through space there
was a terrible chance that they would not
return to the rails upon the other side Just
| what the chance was II is impossible to
know. Study of the subject might reveal
| the surprise that II the track were perfectly
| straight and the train were running fast
| enough II would always return TO the rails
after leaping gap OF any reasonable
width
! Upon the other hand, It could have been
a within of fate that the Meteor was saved
| II might rush upon the same conditions a
thousand times and never repeat the feat
of leaping the gap and escaping with moth
Ing more than few bent rods and little
disODlored paint
The engineer went over the engine care
fully, but he could find no greater damage
than the loss OF a cylinder cock This
! slight injury to the engine was due to the
| fact that the explosive force of dynamite
is downward. An equal explosion OF giant
powder would have wrecked the great mo-
gul's vitals.
The only other scratch upon the train
was broken window In the baggage car
1t was smashed by piece OF debris. Who
plotted the destruction OF the train and for
what purpose are mysteries. Railroads
have frequent mysteries of this sort
few months ago there were such per-
sistent and successful attempts to wreck
trains on the Santa Fe lines I'm Kansas that
a reward OF 5000 was offered for the con-
viction of the vandsls who were doing the
work. They were never caught though
the Santa Fe worked in the field for
months with all the ingenuity known to
detectives.
The feat of the Frisco Meteor astounded
the tralnmen and the passengers To look
at the hole blown In the track by the dyna-
mite one would ridicule the idea that a
train could fly across there without injury
To be sure, the gap was not wide but
even a single yard seems a big nattar
when one considers the tremendous weight
of train, and especially that OF a train
drawn by such engines as those that pull
the Meteor
II the train could leap that gap, what
more could It do? Could It do twice as
much, or three or four. or perhaps Ave
times st. Louis Post Dispatch