The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1910-07-27
A BROKEN DRIVING ROD.
The Disaster Most Dreaded by the Lo
connective Engineer.

conceive Engineer
The close calls that whiten the engl-
neer's hair are mostly due to some one
else's error or oversight which he can
not. foresee or prevent. That many Of
these close calls do not result fatally is
due to the engineers swift and skillful
meeting of the emergency.
The great driving wheels on which
most of the enormous weight on the To-
connective rests are connected by mas
sive jointed bars Of forged steel. The
ends of these are attached to the
wheels about halfway between the
axis and circumference. II Is through
these bars. called driving rods. that
the wheels receive their impulse from
the imprisoned steam These rods
weigh thousands of pounds each. Oc-
casionally one OF their fastenlngs will
break. and then every revolution Of
the wheel TO which the other end is at
tached will send the rod swinging like
n titan's fail. beating down 800 strokes
a minute. Nothing can withstand these
awful blows. They tear up the track
below and shatter the engine above.
especially the cab where rides the en-
gineer. No disaster comes so unex-
pectedly and is so much dreaded as
this. Almost invariably II happens
when the engine is running at high
speed. when a driver breaks II is
miracle II the men in the cab escape
with their lives. II they do survive
and by their heroism succeed in stop
ping the train and avoiding a wreck
despite the rain OF blows from this
huge aail Of steel their act brings forth
a greater measure OF praise than al
most any other form Of bravery that
the railroad knows.
Only the other day one Of the driv-
ing rods OF fast passenger locomotiv
broke while the train was running
more than sixty miles an hour down
the steep grades OF Pickerel mountain.
In an instant the whlrling bar Of steel
had smashed the cab and broken the
controlling mechanism. so that II was
impossible TO bring the train 10 a stop
by ordinary means. The great locomO-
tive lunged forward like a runaway
horse that had thrown its rider In
some way. however, Lutz. the engineer.
had escaped Injury. He crept TO the
opposite side OF the cab and climbed
out through the little window upon
the boiler 10 try 10 reach some Of the
controlling apparatus from the outside.
He was working himself astride along
the scorching boiler when suddenly the
engine struck curve. which Il took nc
terrific speed The shock half threw
the engineer from his perilous position.
but he saved himself by grasping the
bell rope Then he worked himself
down along the unlnjured side OF the
swaying locomotive 10 where he could
open one OF the principal steam valves.
4 cloud OF vapor rushed forth with a
tremendous roar. Although robbed OF
It's power. the locomotive did not slack
en- speed until Il reached the bottom OF
the grade. Then little by little the
ihrashlng OF the great diving rod.
which was pounding the upper part Of
the engine TO pieces. grew slower, and
finally Il stopped. No one was killed
or injured. and nor a passenger In the
long train knew until Il was over OF
the danger that had been avoided 80
narrowly. rhaddeus S. Dayton In
Harpers Weekly.