Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-04-25
EARLY RAILROADS
In the Days When Making Rec
ord Was Quite an Event.

IN the Days When Makjnga Rec
ord Was Quite an Event.
&T% fSssp 5a~fsss4ssss tA& fat.1N4f57As r.
FIRST MILE 4 MINUTE TRAIN.
This heas.sNtss Claimed by Two
Rosds, the 0oston and Maine, With
the l~eessnstivsf Antsiops. and the
Mohawk I'D Hudson. With the Davy
creckstt.
The. tirst achievements Of American
milroading are. III the greater number
offcaseas.. lost ii vie obscurtty Of tradt-
tion.i and there has sprung up a host
Of interesting stories that 50 the
rounds like Homeric tales. The honor
Of having, created, a record or a custom
that II now commonplace has had
many claimants lin nearly every in
stapces 50
a. xukV Tue uSbt IJUlu ~ suu
minute. The Antelope. an engine on
the Boston -i aud Maine railroad, accord:
INK %. one 81 the most cherished Of
these legends. pulled the first train
that made this record, Her run was
between Boston and Lawrence. Il dis.
tanes Of twenty.six miles. and one
day In 1S4S shs8is said to have made
her last fourteen miles in thirteen min.
, utes. ,e5sf m.
But 1t is just o. earnestly upheld
that the Davy Crockett Of ti'e Mohawk
and Hudson railroad has this distinc-
tion. The Davy Crockett was the
pride Of the roadin, her day. II y said
that her engineer, David Matthew.
loved her better than he did his fam.
ily. But she sreAched the pinnacle OF
her. fame locally when In 1897. six.
teen years befoss the Antelops, was
heard of. according to this other story.
she covered = fourteen mile straight.
away level strefch 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. mife. q minptssi with her on several
occasions.
Running an, engine at u mile a min.
ute in those 5da!ytis' vas many times
more dangerous sthaR It Is now. Three:
quarters of n century ago the rails
were light strips OF from spiked down
to- oil sortssof ties. There were no tie
or Dish plates then. and in hot weather
especially the sleepers and the rails
would warp Ia the t6rrid sun md pull
apart. /
Not infrequent,ttlIy thy 'ttiuiidsl. 81 the light
rails would curve Upward from the
track. forming the much dreaded
SNAKE heads's:sswhic6 were the horror
Of engineers and passengers alike.
Many tales ars told 81 ''spake heuds"
springing up under the joiting train.
piercing the finlsy CIR doors and i'm.
paIlng passengers iii their seats. Until
a remedy was found Tor these snake
heads" BY using letter f~asteninys and
more seasoned ties u largs force ct
men was continually employed to walls
the tracks and nail them. down
Broken a wheels were another ever
present danger III those remote days.
The present STANDARD gaugejts said to
have been originally established ~
taking; the distance betwpen the
wheejs Of the carts used IN English
highways. SF0r tile ssaule tyasOn. up.
palrently, the first rolling stock was
equipped not with solid wheels, but
with cast iron models Of the wooden
wagon. wheel, though 0f smaller al.
ameter. These were not submitted to
the drop. test that IL now universal
aud were Of ~ dangerously light put:
term The result wns TINT often int.
rior defects In the casting would pass
unnoticed until the wheel broke n
the train was ditched. It took q DAD
accident. In which number: Of PEG
pie were killed. so runs the tradition.
to brinllg; about the testing Of cur
wheels by tapping them.
Real time saving In running trains
did notabegin until 1851. Charles MI
not. superintendent q the Erie railroad.
was one Of those given credit for IN.
augurating telegraph signals for the
handling Of trains.
He was in the cab OF q passenger
train one day. 80 the story goes. There
were no double track railroads IN those
days. and trains had to lie out on sid
tngs and wait for the train bound IN
the. opposite direction to come along.
However long the delay. the train on
the siding waited.
On this particular occasion Minors
train took. it, siding. The operator at
tho 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 b two Or three
hours before she. could patch up her
leaky dues and get power enough TO
climb the hill. 3af KIN
Minot was in a hurry, and he decided
to telegraph down the line that the
train be was on would not wait at the
sNr.EGEa.A.--. Go 80 ANNn