Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1908-01-23
First Charter In Country Obtained
In I877-Sails Attached to
Engines.
ACCIDENTS WERE VERY COMMON
Barrier Cars as a Remedy-Dim.
Guilty in Getting Wood and
Water.

In 1922, the first charter was oh
tained for a railroad In the United
States. 1t was for line from Phila,
delphia to point on the Susquehanna
river, but was never built. On the an
nouncement Of the project some one
asked one Of the Baltimore newspa-
pers, What Is a railroad anyhow"
The editor was forced to reply that
he did not know, but that perhaps
some other correspondent can tell"
Seven years later on the little wood
en- track along the Lackawanna creek
the first locomotive had it's trial The
experiment was far from successful,
and for 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-
tion 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 horse and one Of the
pioneer locomotives, which did not re-
suit in favor Of the locomotive, the race
was on the B. & o., the locomotive
being one built by Peter Cooper, who
also acted as engineer.
The 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 a
mile ahead Mr.. Cooper succeeded In
getting up enough steam to pass the
horse amid terrific applause.
At that moment band slipped from
a pulley and though Mr.. Cooper lacer-
ated his hands trying to replace 1t. the
engine stopped the horse passed 1t and
came in the winner.
AS 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 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 loud
kissing noise. On the New Castle and
| FrenchtOwn 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 all
their might while the agent stuck n
piece of wood through a wheel
/ There were 80 many collisions and
explosions that some Southern rail
roads introduced what they called a
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 1t was claimed
it would safeguard the passengers in
two ways-it would protect them from
the blowing up Of the locomotive and
would form a soft cushion upon which
the passengers could land in the event
of a collision. There Is no record Of
how this experiment worked out.
Horatio Allen states that when the
South Carolina railroad was complet-
ed, with Its 100 miles Of track, opera
ton over such an extensive line was
then unprecedented. In making ar
rangements for this unusual undertak-
Ing one of the first things that occurred
to him was that the locomotives would
have to run at night as well as day,
and In the absence Of headlight he
built on an open platform car stationed
In front Of the locomotive fire of pine
knots surrounded with sand, which
furnished the requisite illumination Of
the route traversed.
On most Of the other lines no substi-
tues for headlights were used. The
trains Travelled slowly through the
dark Night trips, however, were
avoided as much as possible. The first
headlight on a locomotive was used by
the Boston and Worcester in 1910.
The original American locomotives
were nearly all wood burners, and dur
ing a protracted period, before the in
vention Of spark arresters, the flying
sparks caused a great amount Of dam
age and annoyance. interviewer with
this difficulty was necessity for using
smokestacks many times larger than
those now In use-too high indeed to
pass under overhead bridges or the
roofs of covered wooden bridges
To overcome this difficulty the
smokestacks Of many of the locomo-
tives were jolnted or hinged 50 that
they could be lowered when trains were
proceeding over or under bridges. This
naturally greatly increased the danger
of setting fire to the wooden bridges,
and II was customary for a Waterman
70 follow every train over or under the
bridges, carrying a bucket Of water
for the purpose of extlnguishing fires.
Notwithstanding this precautfon the
burning of bridges was common oc-
eurrence.
On most Of the early railroads the