Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-04-26
AvERTED A WRECK
Thrilling Railroad Experience on
Horseshoe Curve.
SAVED By A WEIRD WARNING.

SUo VeU1aINd0'S 0'S'a' @'S"N '"~>
Summary Stopped Two Trains That
Were Rushing on to Certain Destruc.
ton In a head-on Collision.
Once upon a time If any man had
asked me If two locomotives rushing
toward one another head on and with
no human agency between could avoid
a collision | would have replied, Not
by any earthly power" Since | have
had my ding at railroading as a Grand
Trunk brakeman in Canada. however.
| do not feel 50 cOcksure about impos.
sibilities. | venture to say that any
man who passed through that affair ut
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
and what cannot happen.
On one section of my run lay what
was probably one of the most danger
Gus curves on any railroad route in
America outside the Rocky mountains.
They called it by many UNNECESSARILY
curve. the Horseshoe. the Devils el-
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 a tunnel the construction
engineers had taken the road around
the head Of Il 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 gr.ainite 800 feet in height. II
barrier absolutely %'inlpenetrable to
light AHA ?ssouhid:A 'The curved roadbeds
forming theotwo' Sides Of this curious
piece of pioneer construction had their
point of contact. Of course, ut the toe
Of the shoe. beneath which lay the
glistening waters Of the lake. The
Horseshoe curve was notorious for a
long series of nasty accidents.
1t was the It'll 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 the forest Of spruces and those ugly
galleries of granite the sound echoed
and throbbed until it fell to a murmur.
At that moment it seemed TO me that
I caught the blare of another whistle.
4 ttrife louder than our last echo. A
shudder ran down my spine. and l
leaned far out 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 l had heard sitting
out Of the spruce trees. and knew in
my heart that it did not come from
our locomotive. 90
TO keep my mind off my fears ! went
forward to the baggage car and chattei
with the "newsy." Then | fell asleep
on Il bench.
Crunch, click" and then a final Sc
ries of c%runches.
l knew that meant the air brakes.
and jumped on to the limit. In an in
slant 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 4
nightmare. With Il last painful grit
ting Of the buffers the train came to
a standstill. Passengers. conductor
and train crew We're coming forward
in great alarm. but before we could
reach the locomotive the engineer
doomed out of the darkness. his face
glowing with II fearful excitement
Ibid you see?" he cried vaguely. and
! never saw a railroad man more over
come. "Look" yyohder:!'o'
We air. stared where he pointed. Above
the dismal lake. about d hundred yards
from shore. there hing suspended a
ball Of briliiait. Show white fire. as if
the moon had lost her bearings and
had tumbled toward the earth. We
were deathly silent at the sight. NO
one volunteered an explanation.
Don't you understands" yelled the
engineer. Don't you people under
stand? There is a train on the oppo-
| site side Of the Horseshoe. and 1t was
coming up to meet us at twenty miles
an hour. We missed each other by an
act of God"
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. | know
my heart was beating like Il hammer.
and my comrades were pale faced and
open mouthed with wonder.
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 conducto!
was fired for disobeying instructions.
! The fact is we should have ap.
preached the curve until the other train
had passed us on a switch several
miles this side Of it.-Wide World Mag.
aZine.
A Hint Taken.
"These opera glasses were given to
me a year ago." she said sweetly.