Year: 1870

l have been railroad man''
for a great many years-have.
as the expression goes, grown
grey in the service. lam GER
tain, however, in all my expert
ence, / never saw road that
was the equal of the Valley
Air Line, upon which I was, at
the time Of the incident about
to be related, a brakeman,


The Valley Air Line was one
of those roads that spring up
suddenly out of the imagina-
tons of few men. One can
not say that it sprung from their
purses, for if they had the seed
in them to grow anything, it
was never put in the Valley
There was, as nearly as [ can
now remember, a capital stock,
which was never paid up, a lit
tie town and village credit, and
a large amount Of preferred
stock, first and second mortga-
ges, etc. AS result the road
was built, in a manner, grades
were bad, road-bed was poor,
bridges and culverting were
thrown together in the worst
possible manner, because the
worst was the cheapest. The
iron was a light and frail mass,
manufactured in England es-
peeially for the American mar
ket, while the rolling stock had
been worn out in service on
other roads and sold to the Val
ley Air Line on credit and long
time.


The reader will see from this
truthful statement that the Val
ley was not the safest road for
travellers in the country. 1t
was not. Innumerable were
the accidents we had, and it is a
wonder to me that none of them
were serious. While we had
many narrow escapes, we still
managed through sheer good
luck, slow time, and great care,
to get on without breaking
bones but l positively assure
YOU that time did not accustom
us to the road, and we never
ran into the depot at night
without feeling thankful that
we were alive. When l say we,
I mean the conductor, engineer,
baggageman, fireman and my
self. How the passengers felt
| do not know, but I do
know they ought to have
felt as thankful as the road men
that their bones were in good
condition to allow them to walk
from the depot to their homes.
Ignorance may have been per-
feet bliss to them, however.


The engineer of our, train
the Lightning Express-was
one of the most sober, careful,
thoughtful and industrious men
that ever handled a THROTTLE
He possessed more than ordina-
ry share of thoughtful pru-
dence, of his class, and it was
owing to this fact that so great
a degree of good fortune came
to us.


A few moments before the
train was to start one morning,
Gardiner, the engineer, called
me TO his cab. He appeared
unusually downcast that morn
ING. though at the best. he was
by no means, a "gay" fellow,


Bob said Gardiner after a
few seconds talk about general
matters, eBob, / want you to be
very careful to-day. / know
you're good fellow and always
do your duty well ; but to-day
/ want you to do more. i want
YOU to stand by your brake ev-
ery second of the trip-not to
leave it for moment, and
when I signal 1 want you to set
them up as you never did be-
fore, and promptly too. | know
Won will do it for me, won't you,
Bob p


l was too astonished to speak
for a second, and then | asked
"Why. what under the sun is
the matter with you, Gardiner:
You know the brakes are sc
nearly worn out that it is I'M
possible to set them up, and you
know too"


II know it all, Bob, and that
is the reason why / want you to
be careful. / am going to try
and make the time table to-day.
lif it is possible, [ will do So
l feel just as though something
was going to happen, and an
more than half sorry that !
promised; but III do it though
Now promise me, Bob, and OH
r. $50 s.