The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1913-05-09
AvERTED A WRECK
Thrilling Railroad Experience on
Horseshoe Curve.
SAVED BY A WEIRD WARNING
The Remarkable Signal Light That
summarly Stopped Two Trains That
We're Rushing on to Certain Destruc-
ton In a Head on Collision.

summariIy Stopped Two Trains That
Were Rushing on to Certain Destruo-
tion In Head on Collision.
Once upon a time il any man had
asked me If two locomotives rushing
toward one another head on and with
no human agency between could avoid
a collision l would have replied, Not
by any earthly power" Since | have
had my fling at railroading as a Grand
Trunk brakeman In Canada, however,
/ do not feel so cocksure about impos-
sibilihes. | venture to say that any
man who passed through that affair at
Sandy curve, in western Ontario, find
ing himself as suddenly rescued as he
was suddenly in peril, would not be
too glib in future regarding what can
sld what cannot happen.
on one section Of my run lay what
WAS probably one of the most danger
Ous curves on any railroad route In
America outside the Rocky mountains.
They called it by many names-Sandy
curve, the Horseshoe, the Devils ell
bow and the Switchback-but of all
descriptions none fitted it so well as
the Horseshoe, for the track formed
exactly that shape In order to save
the cost of tunnel the construction
engineers had taken the road around
the head Of mountainous cliff that
Jutted out into the lake and then back
100 yards to the mainland. Between
the points Of the curve loomed an ugly
wall Of granite 800 feet in height,
barrier absolutely impenetrable TO
light and sound. The curved roadbeds
forming the two sides OF this curious
piece of pioneer construction had their
point OF contact, OF course, at the toe
Of the shoe, beneath which lay the
gnstening waters of the lake. The
Horseshoe curve was notorious for a
long series Of nasty accidents.
1t was the 7th Of November and mis-
erably dark and foggy Five miles
from the curve ! was passing across
an open platform between two coaches
when | heard our whistle shrieking.
In tho forest Of spruces and those ugly
galleries OF granite the sound echoed
and throbbed until it fell to murmur
AT that moment it seemed to me that
| caught the blare OF another whistle,
q trife louder than our last echo. A
shudder ran down my spine, and
leaned far ont on the steps. but moth
ing could be seen. and the sound was
not repeated mentioned the Incl
dent to the conductor, but he only
laughed at me- That did not make
me forget the blast / had heard sitting
out Of the spruce trees. and | knew in
my heart that it did not come from
our locomotive.
To keep my mind or my fears ] went
forward to the baggage ear and chatted
with the "newsy' Then l fell asleep
on a bench.
Crunch, click and then a final Sc
ries of crunches.
knew that meant the air brakes,
and jumped on to the limit In an In
stant l was up and, grabbing my Ian
tern, tumbled through the door after
the news agent The long train was
swinging far out on the Horseshoe
curve. The lurching and grinding OF
the brakes were like the torture of a
nightmare. With last painful grit
ting of the buffers the train came to
standstiil Passengers, conductor
and train crew were coming forward
in great alarm, but before we could
reach the locomotive the engineer
loomed out of the darkness, his face
glowing with fearful excitement.
"Did you see%' he cried vaguely, and
| never saw a railroad man more over
come Look yonderT'
We all stared where he pointed. Above
the dismal lake. about hundred yards
from shore, there hung suspended q
ball of brilliant, snow white fire, as IL
the moon had lost her bearings and
had tumbl~d toward the earth. We
were deathly silent at the sight No
one volunteered an explanation.
Don't yon understandY yelled the
engineer Don't you people under
stand? There Is a train on the oppo-
site side Of the Horseshoe, and it was
coming up to meet us at twenty miles
I'LL IOuI w e LilSSS0 ShGu OLhSA ny I'LL
act of Godw
Then l saw what he meant That
strange ball of light suspended out
there In the darkness was the focus of
the two headlights, and both engineers
had seen it In the nick Of time.
We stood there like statues. l know
my heart was beating like hammer,
and my comrades were pale faced and
open mouthed with gonder.
When we had in some measure re-
covered ourselves we all marched for
ward to shake hands with the fellows
on the other train. An inquiry? OF
course there was, and our conductor
was fired" for disobeying instructions.
The fact Is we should never have ap~
preached the curve until the other train
had passed us on switch several
miles this side of it.-Wide World Mag
azine
II