The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1913-10-28
RAILROADS
In the Days When Making a Rec
ORD Was Quite an Event.
FIRST MILE a MINUTE TRAIN.

The first achievements of American
railroading are, in the greater number
Of cases. lost in the obscurity of tradi- /,
ton. and there has sprung up host
of interesting stories that go the
rounds like Homeric tales The honor
of having created record or custom
that is now commonplace has had
many claimants in nearly every in
stance.
Take the first train to run mile
minute. The Antelope, an engine on
the Boston and Maine railroad, accord
ing to one of the most cherished Of
these legends. pulled the first train
that made this record. Her run was
between Boston and Lawrence, dis
lance of twenty-six miles. and one
day in 1S4S she is said to have made
her last fourteen miles in thirteen min
utes
But it is just as earnestly upheld
that the Davy Crockett of the Mohawk
and Hudson railroad has this diStinc-
ton. The Davy Crockett was the
pride Of the road in her day. 1t is said
that her engineer. David Matthew.
loved her better than he did his fam
lily But she reached the pinnacle Of
her fame locally when in 1882. six
teen years before the Antelope was
heard of. according to this other story.
she covered Il fourteen mile straight
away level stretch between Albany
and Schenectady in thirteen minutes
and made one stop for water besides.
4 letter written by Matthew in that
year mentions having done better than
a mile minute with her on several
occasions.
Running an engine at Il mile min
ute in those days was many times
more dangerous than it is now. Three
quarters of a century ago the rails
were light strips of iron spiked down
10 all sorts of ties There were no tie
or fish plates then, and in hot weather
especially the sleepers and the rails
, would warp in the torrid sun and pull
apart
Not infrequently the ends of the light
rails would curve upward from the
track forming the much dreaded
snake heads which were the horror
Of engineers and passengers alike.
Many tales are told of snake heads"
Sprin@ing up under the jOlting train
piercing the fi!mSy car floors and i'm
paIing passengers in their seats Until
Il remedy was found for these snake
heads by using better faStenin-s and
/ more seasoned ties large force OF
men was continually employed to walk
the tracks and nail them down
Broken car wheels were another ever
present danger i'll those remote days
The present standard gauge is said to
/ have been originally established by
taking the distance between the
wheels of the carts used on English
| highways. For the same reason, ap
Iarently. the first rolling stock was
! equipped not with solid wheels. but
/ with cast iron models Of the wooden
wagon wheel, though of smaller oil
ameter These were not submitted to
the drop test that is now universal
I and We're of a dangerously light pat
/ tern. The result was that often inte-
/ ri0r defects in the casting would pass
unnoticed until the wheel broke and
the train was ditched. 1t took bad
accident. III which Il number of PEG
I PIE were killed. so runs the tradition.
to bring about the testing of car
| wheels by tapping them.
Real time saving in running trains
did not begin until 1851. Charles Mi
Il "a tha Eric railroad
was one Of those given credit for in
augurating telegraph signals for the
handling of trains.
He was i'll the cab of passenger
train one day. so the story goes. There
We're no double track railroads in those
days. and trains had to lie out on sid
ing> and wait for the train bound IN
the opposite direction 10 come along.
However long the delay. the train on
the siding waited
| On this particular occasion Mlnot S
| train took its siding The operator at
the little country station strolled over
remarking that the train in the oppo-
/ site direction had got stalled on the
/ grade some fifty miles down the line
and that it would be two or three
hours before she could patch up her
leaky fues and get power enough TO
(. climb the hill
Minot was in hurry. and be decided
to telegraph down the line that the
train he was on would not wait at the
siding. but would proceed-for station
agents to watch out for the other train
and have it wait on the siding nearest
the spot where they would meet The
/ engineer refused point blank TO take
any such risk. saying that ii was
against all railroad law and custom,
| Minot finally discharged him. put him
of the engine and ran the train him
self to the end Of the division. keeping
posted by telegraph at each station.
| Everything worked out just as be had
planned and was 50 satisfactory thar
be at once inaucurated Il system Of