The Randall County news. (Canyon City, Tex.) 1908-1926, 1910-07-08
A BROKEN DRIVING ROD.
The Disaster Most Dreaded by the 10.
connective Engineer.

The Disaster Most Dreaded by the 10.
connective Engineer.
The close calls that whiten the engi.
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. 1t 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 fastenings will
break, and then every revolution of
the wheel to which the other end is at
tached will send the rod swinging like
a titan's fail. beating down 800 strokes
a minute. Nothing can withstand these
lwful 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 1t happens
when the engine is running at high
speed. When a driver breaks 1t is a
miracle If 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 fail 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 locomotive
broke while the train was running
more than sixty miles an hour down
the steep grades Of Pickerel mountain.
In an instant the whirling bar of steel
had smashed the cab and broken the
controlling mechanism, so that 1t was
impossible to bring the train to stop
by ordinary means. The great locomo-
tive lunged forward like 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 TO try TO reach some of the
controlling apparatus from the outside.
He was working himself astride along
the scorching boiler when suddenly the
engine struck a curve, which 1t took at
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 uninjured side of the
swaying locomotive to where he could
open one Of the principal steam valves.
A cloud of vapor rushed forth with a
tremendous roar. Although robbed of
its power, the locomotive did not slack
en- speed until 1t reached the bottom Of
the grade. Then little by little the
thrashing Of the great diving rod.
which was pounding the upper part OF
the engine to pieces. grew slower, and
finally 1t stopped No one was killed
or injured, and not passenger In the
long train knew until 1t was over of
the danger that had been avoided so
narrowly. Thaddeus S. Dayton In
Harper's Weekly.