Tonopah daily bonanza. [volume] (Tonopah, Nev.) 1906-1929, 1911-07-24
THE BRIDGEPORT DISASTER

Copies Of eastern papers publishing views OF
the great wreck Of the Federal Express train
at Bridgeport Conn, are attracting the attention
of railroad operatives throughout the country
1t seems that the engineer of this train was
freight runner; he had never handled "a passen
ger train before, and was trying to make up
an hours loss of time. There are four tracks
on the New York 4 New Haven and on the
Bridgeport viaduct whore the disaster occurred,
the train was to take crOsS-over' from track
2 to track 4 The regulations prescribed the
speed for trains taking this cross-oyer, at not
over Is miles an hour-siX miles an hour would
have been fast enough.
Had the regular runner been at the throttle.
il is safe to say this accident would rot J.
occurred. But the green man at the helm took
chances" actually rushing his train over the
city viaduct at 60 miles hour This act of
itself is enough to make any conservative rail
road man stare and wonder if that runner could
have been in possession Of his senses. Why
didn I the fireman object? Couldn t the conduc-
tor with possibilities Of disaster in his mind at
such reckless running, have pulled the air and
lorced slowing up? None of these things APP
pear to have been done; and when the great To-
connective struck the cross-over, it shot right off
the rails like a rocket and went flying over the
side of the vaduct into heavy concrete abut-
ment which it broke to pieces, destroying itself
at the same time Thirteen people were killed
and many more injured the killing including
the runner and his fireman, who paid with their
lives the price Of this recklessness There were
nine ears on the train, six Of which were smash
ed and partly burned, of the dead passen-
gers being burned beyond recognition. If the
railroad company gets out of this scrape at less
than 100000 it will have occasion to felicitate
itself.
1t is only short time since San Pedro en-
CINE pulled freight out OF Salt Lake. west
~ Al,
CINE left the round house in excellent order. and
yet in the short distance Of IA miles out, she
exploded her crown sheet, killing both engineer
and fireman. Investigation showed that as the
water had been converted into steam in the
boiler, it had not been replenshed from the ten
der; but why this had not been done can never
be told because the only men who could tell
are dead. a shart Line engine exploded her
crown sheet up in Idaho not long ago, with
fatal results; and the local memory is fresh of
the explosion of a big hog" engine on Soldier
Summit when three were instantly killed,
the water having been allowed to fall in the
boiler.
such disasters only go to show that the run
ming of repeated risk with long periods of I'M
munity, callous men to sensibility Of danger.
This is by no means incident to raroading
is noticed in other callings involving danger
to life and limb A man will work around ma
chinery until his appreciation Of danger is dull
ed; he becomes careless of his safety and sud
denly he finds himself caught in the swiftly re-
volving shafting and life is quickly beaten out
Of him. Superintendent and managers may
make rules and regulations as long the moral
law, and use every possible precaution known
to human experience; but they can not elmin.
ate the personal equation.
Superiors must trust to subordinates, and
these subordinates must exercise reasonable, sea-
sOnable Judgment based on experience gained by
long application to special lines of work in which
they are engaged. The sudden placing of in
experienced persons in positions of responsibility
may at any time result in a bull and china shop
mixup, the extent of the disaster depending
on circumstances.
The superintendent Of the New York divi-
sion, or the local master mechanic to the gen
era mana cement of the New Haven road for
allowing a freight engineer entirely inexperi-
enced in passenger running to take such an i'm
portant train as the Federal express