The Irish standard., 1907-10-12
QUEER MlsHRs TO TRAINS.

QUEER MIsHAPe TO TRAINS.
Actual Happsnirss In RaiIroadins Of
Most Sensational Mature.
"There are actuaf1happeninss in rail-
roading every yearswhich are far more
sensational thansthn widest dreams of
any writer of acttdn,' . said railroad
man to a New York Sun reporter. and
he proceeded to tell stories to demon
strate his theory:
The first story related to freight
train on the New Hkyen Railroad. Will
liam Dellert, now travelling engineer on
the New York divisisp Of the road. was
the engineer. When the train reached
Stamford the car inspectors examined
the cars and in the middle of the train
saw a sight that caused them to start
back in amazernent The forward
truck of one of the.box cars was miss.
ing and the only saliing holding that
end Of the car up WAs the coupling.
A hurry call was lent out for every
available man to start in search of the
missing truck, for5an object of that
kind loose on four track road wa.
likely to cause a lot of trouble The
truck was located dswn bank on an
outcurve at Cos Cob, six miles west
of Stamford. .%,sEG
1t seems that al. the car started
around the curve thespin connecting the
car and the. truck broke and the truck
shot out from underthe car and then
ran down the bank, leaving the forward
end of the car suspended only by tfp
coupling. When it is considered that
the train was running at speed Of
thirty-five miles an hour when. it round
ed the curve, aid .:that this gait was
kept up into stamford, the escape from
q bad wreck was agrprisiAg. =.
Engineer, ethislsai IN assl sarperly
on the Connellsvilla dixision Of the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. had an
experience somewhat similar. He was
firing a Grant engine, with three large
driving wheels on each side, the mid
die wheel being without a .fange; They
ihad passed Glencoe and were mounting
the grade to the long Sand Patch tun-
mel when. they were tagged and stop
ped.
sHTtle engineer utilized. the delay tg
get down and oil up little. A mo-
ment later Clark heard him gasp:
CLARK, for: the love of Heaven,
come down here and see this engine!"
The middle driver on the engineers
side had twisted off it's axle flush will,
the outside Of the journal box. but the
massive wheel was still in an upright
position. leaning al slight angle on
the side rod, which was the only sup
port holding it on the rail. 1t was evil
dent that in this condition the loose
driver had been running along the rail
for at least the two miles of straight
track at the end of which they were.
It was thought that the wheel was
twisted from its axle as the engine
rounded a. sharp curve about two miles
below, and it was pretty certain that II
would have jumped the track and fallen
In the way of the hind driving wheel
as soon as the engine started to &c
around the very next curve. That this
did not happen was due to the acci-
dent of the train Icing tagged. The
engine ran along all right until the
train was tagged, but once stopped the
engine was completely dead and had to
be hauled to the end of the division.
One night a long freight train broke
in two as it was coming around a sharr
curve on the Erie road between Buffalo
and Corning, N. Y. The enfajneer nut
on full speed and ran away from the
hind section in order to give the con.
ductor and brakemen on the rear END
q chance to stop their section. Thi.
. they succeeded in doing in a quarter ol
q mile or so, and then tho enrinee,
backed the forward section. coupled or
to the rear section and proceeded te
Corning. the end Of the. division.
The conductor who. was to take thu
train over the next division discovered
In looking over his train. that he hat
!, a way bill for a. car which was moi
among those delivered to him. TIL.
other. conductor was certain that h.
! had the car when he. started. for Cor.
, ming. and showed its number cheoket
off in his report. ~.
No solution of the mystery came fol
a long time. Then some boys cam.
. across the missing car at the bottom
of ravine below tho curve on which
the freight train had broken in two.
1t is supposed that when the rea,
, section Of the broken. train started t,
round the curve this car had jumped