The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1913-06-12
AvERTED A WRECK
Thrilling Railroad Experience on
Horseshoe Curve.
SAVED BY A WEIRD WARNING.
The Remarkable Signal Light That
Summarily Stopped Two Trains That
Were Rushing on to Certain Destruo-
ton In Head on Collision.

Summarily Stopped Two Trains That
Were Rushing on to Certain Destruc-
ton In a Head on Collision.
Once upon time If any man had
asked me If two locomotives rushing
towarC one another head on and with
no human agency between could avoid
collision would have replied. Not
by any earthly power" Since have
had my fling at rairoading as a Grand
Trunk brakeman in Canada, however
| do not feel so cocksure about impos
sibilities. venture to say that any
man who passed through that affair AT
Sandy curve. in western Ontario. find
ing himself MS 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
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 a 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 300 feet in beight, a
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
gistening waters of the lake The
Horseshoe curve was rotorious for a
long series of nasty accidents
1t was the 7th Of November and mis-
erably dark and foggy. Five miles
from the cnrTS ! was passing across
an open platform between two coaches
when | heard our whistle shrieking.
In tue forest of spruces and those ugly
galleries of granite the sound echoed
aud throbbed until 1t fell to murmur.
Al that moment it seemed to me that
I caught the blare of another whistle.
trihe louder than our last echo. A
shudder ran down my spine. and ]
leaned far out on the steps. hut 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 1t did not come from
our locomotive.
To keep my mind off my fears went
forward to the baggage ear and chatted
with the "newsy." Then fell asleep
on bench.
Crunch. click and then final Sc
ries of crunches.
/ knew that meant the air brakes.
and jumped on to the limit. In an in
slant 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 II
nightmare With last painful grit
ting of the buffers the train came tn
a standstil 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 railroad man more over
come. "LOok yonderr'
We all stared where he pointed. Above
the dismal lake. about hundred yards
from shore. there hung suspended a
ball of brilliant. snow 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 understand" 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
an hour. We missed each other by an
act of GodI'
Then | 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 ia the nick of time.
We stood there like statues. know
my heart was beating like a 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 conductor
was "Ared' for disobeying instructions
The fact is we should never have ap
preached the curve until the other train