The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1908-01-09
First Charter in Country Obtained
in I8zz-SaiIs Attached to
Engines.
ACCIDENTS WERE VERY COMMON
Barrier Cars as Remedy-Dih-
Guilty in Getting Wood and
Water.

1Skeu one OF the Baltimore HeNSpd-
pers. What is q railroad, anyhow"
The editor was forced to reply that
nc did not know, but that perhaps
some other correspondent can tell"
Seven. years later on the little wood
IN track along the Lackawanna creek
the first locomotive had its trial. The
experiment. was far from successful.
and for a number of years afterward
the train on most of the railroads con-
tinued to be drawn by horses.
The first locomotive on the Baltimore
and Ohio had sails attached. So did
the cars. These sails were hoisted
when the wind was in the right direc
ton so as to help the locomotive.
The rivalry between the railroads
using locomotives and those using
horses was very bitter. In August,
1880. an actual trial of speed was
held between a horse and one of the
pioneer locomotives, which did not re-
suit in favor of the locomotive, the race
was on the b. e o., the locomotive
being one built by Peter Cooper, who
also acted as engineer.
TNhe horse. a gallant gray. was in the
habit of pulling car on track par
allel to that used by the locomotive.
At first the gray had the better of the
race but when he was a quarter of n
mile ahead Mr.. Cooper succeeded in
getting up enough steam to pass the
horse amid terrific applause
At that moment a band slipped from
pulley and though Mr.. Cooper LAGER
ated his hands trying to replace il. the
engine stopped. the horse passed it and
came in the winner.
~, there were no brakes on the
early trains, they used to stop and
start with jolts which threw the pas
sengers across the car. The coupling
was with chains having two or three
feet of slack which the engine in start
ing took up with a series OF fierce
jerks. The shock on stopping was even
worse and never failed to send the
passenger flying
There were no whistles in the old
days. Signals were given by pushing
up the valve on the dome by hand and
letting the steam escape with a loud
kissing noise On the New Castle and
Erenchtown railroad when the signal
Was heard the slaves around the sta
ton would rush to the arriving train
seize hold Of it and pull back with al
their might while the agent stuck =
piece of wood through a wheel.
There were SO many collisions and
explosions that some Southern rail
roads introduced what they called O
barrier car between the locomotive and
the passenger coaches of the train
This barrier car consisted of a plat
form on wheels upon which were piled
six bales of cotton, and it was claimed
it would. safeguard the passengers il
two ways-it would protect them from
the blowing up of the locomotive anC
would form soft cushion upon which
the passengers could land in the even
of collision. There Is no record OF
llON NOIkcu OUT.
Horatio Allen states that when tn,
South Carolina railroad was complet
ed. with its 100 miles of track. opera
ton over such an extensive line wa,
then unprecedented. In making ar
fragments for this unusual undertake
ing one Of the first things that occurred
to him was that the locomotives woul,
have to run at night as well as day
and in the absence of n headlight III
built on an open platform car statione,
| in front of the locomotive, fire of pin
knots surrounded with sand, which
| furnished the requisite illumination O
the route traversed.
On most of the other lines no substi
tues for headlights were used. Tn
trains Travelled slowly through tn
dark. Night trips, however, wer
avoided as much as possible. The frs
headlight on locomotive was used b,
the Boston and Worcester in 1910.
The original American locomotive
were nearly all wood burners, and dur
ing protracted period, before the I'm
vention of spark arresters, the flynn
| sparks caused a great amount of dam
| age and annoyance. interviewer wit
| this difficulty was a necessity for usin
smokestacks many times larger thai
| those now in use-too high indeed L
pass un3er overhead bridges or tin
roofs of covered wooden bridges.
To overcome this difficulty TIN
| smokestacks of many of the locomo
| tives were jointed or hinged so tina
they could be lowered when trains wer
proceeding over or under bridges. Thi
naturally greatly increased the DANCE
| of setting fire to the wooden bridges
and it was customary for a watchmal
10 follow every train over or under tn
bridges, carrying bucket of waite
for the purpose of extinguishing fires
| Notwithstanding this precaution tin
| burning of bridges was a common oc
currence.
On most of the early railroads tn
cars were at first entirely uncovered
being in fact merely platform ear
| with a row of seats along each sid,
The passengers were entirely unprC
tected from the sui, rain, smoke o
| cinders. \ passenger who took tri
over the Mohawk Valley railroad whe
this company had opened its line be
| tween Albany and Schenectady thu
| describes his experience:
Il
They used dry pitch pine for fue
and there being 10 smoke or spar
catcher to the chimney or smOkestac
the volume of black smoke strongly in
pregnated with sparks, coal and cir
ders, came pouriIss back the Who'll
length of the train. Each of the pas
sengers who had an umbrella raised
rs a protection against the smoke an
fire.
''They were found to be but me
mentary protection. for l think in I'll
first mile the last one went overheard
all having had their covers burnt OF
by the flames, when a general mele