Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-10-24
QUEER MISHAPS TO TRAINS.
A Freight Car That Lost It's
Forward Truck.
And stiil Ran On--Ap Enrinc Thn.
Twisted on u Driver hut Didn't
Break Down--Disappcnrnnc
Of Freight Cars

reading every year which are far more
sensational than tho widest dreams of
any writer of fiction" said a railroad
man. and he proceeded 70 toll stories to
demonstrate his theory.
The first story related to freight
train on the New Haven Railroad. Will
liam Dellert, now travelling engineer on
the New York division 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 nmnzcmcnt The forward truck
of one of the box cars was missing and
the only thing holding that end of the
car up was the coupling
\ hurry call was sent out for every
available man to start in search Of the
loose on four track road was likely TO
cause lot of trouble. The truck was To-
Gated down bank on an outcurvc at
Cos Cob six miles west Of Stamford.
It seems that as the car started around
tho curve the pin connecting the car and
tho truck broke and the truck shot ont
the bank leaving the forward end of the
car suspended only by the coupling
When 1t is considered that the train was
running at speed Of thir.y-fve miles
an hour when il rounded the curve, and
that this gait was kept up into STAN
ford, the escapa rom a bad wreck was
surprising.
Engineer Charles NJ Clark. formerly
on the Connclsyille division Of the Bali
moro and Ohio Railroad had an cx-
percnco somewhat similar. He was fir
ing Grant enElre. with three large
driving wheels on each side. the middle
wheel being without a hange. They had
passed Glencoe and were mounting the
grade to the long Sand Patch tunnel
when they We're tagged and stopped
The engineer utilized the delay to got
down and oil M little A moment
later Clark heard him gasp:
CLARK, for the love of Heaven. come
down here and see this engineer
The middle driver on the engineers
side had twisted off its axle flush with the
outside of the journal box, but the mas
I sivc wheel was still In an upright posi-
ton, leaning at slight angle on the
side rod. which was the only support
holding it on the rail. 1t was evident that
| IN this condition tho loose driver had
been running along the ran for at least
the two miles Of straight track at the end
of which they We're.
| It was thought that the wheel was
twisted from It's axle the engine round
| ed a sharp curve about two miles below.
| and 1t was pretty certain that it would
| have jumped the track and fallen in the
way of the hind driving wheel as soon
as the engine started to go around the
next curve. That this did not happen was
duo to the accident of the train being
tagged The engine ran along all right
until the train was tagged. but one
stopped. the engine was completely dead
| and had to be hauicd to the end Of the
| division.
One night long freight train broke in
two as it was coming around a sharr
curve on the Erie road between Buffalo
and Corning. y. Y. The engineer put or
full speed and ran away from the HIND
section in order to give the conductor ano
brakemen on the rear end a chance tc
stop their section. This they succeeded
in doing in a quarter Of mile or so, an(
then the engineer backed the forward
|
and proceeded to Corning, the end Of thu
division.
The conductor who was to take III,
train over the next division discovered il
looking over his train that he had a way
ill for car which was not among thos,
delivered to him Tho other conduc,o
was certain that he had the car whel
he started for Corning. and showed it
number checked off In his report.
No solution Of the mystery came for
long time. Then some boys came acros
, the missing car Mt the bottom of ravin
below the curve on which the freigh
train had broken in two.
, 1t is supposed that when the rear soc
ton of the broken train started to roun
the curve this car had jumped the rails
E broken the coupling holding it TO the ca
, behind, then cleared twenty or thirty fee
: down the bank before striking tn
ground, which at this point was covere
, with underbrush, and that this under
/ growth. after the car had rolled pass
, had righted itself ard given no indicatio
= of having beeen disturbed.
, Almost the same kind of accident har
pened on the New Haven road som
years ago, when two freight cars iumr
cd from the rails ana rolled down a ban
from the front end OF parted train, an
their loss was not discovered until I'll
new conductor Mt the next division poir
took an inventory of the cars But in thi
instance the truant cars We're located i
n a few hours, being In full view.
An odd accident took place on the Je,
scy Central road that was full of pos
sibilitics in the way of n wreck A
empty locomotive was going towar
4 Jersey city running backward Whe
running thus an engine is particular
likely to be thrown from the track f.
| the light tender wheels usually mour
Il the slightest obstruction. The engine ra
into an old crosstie that had been place
suuarely across the rails by some wouit
. be train wrecker. Instead Of climbing Il
= tie and jumping the rails, the wheels
the tender sank deep into the wood. coa:
! ed to revolve ana slid the tie along tn
rails in front Of them,
i IT was afterWard calculated that IT,
crosstic was pushed along in this MAJ
ncr for fully five miles before the CT
sineer found out the state of affairs. an
n even then no only learned that som,
thing was wrong by smelling the smoE
from the crosstle which began to bur
a from the friction
< Engineer Dellert Of the New Have
had another peculiar thing happen hi
y while hauling a freight train into Ne
Haven one night over the Air Lii