University of Oregon monthly., May 01, 1908, Image 18

U niversity
of
O regon M onthly
21
“Engine, 907, nine hundred seven, will meet train. No, 55, fifty'
4ye? ,a t tBliss. # \
H
BIS
7 -J
F . 11-14-07, 12 M.” .
-A. half an houj- later, having “got the,board,” No. 907 running
light in ch arg e. of engineer Donnelly,)',.slid out of. Glenn’s Ferry,
After clearing the switches, Donnelly set the reverse lever up a few
.notches, o-pençd the tijtQttle wide and watched his engine go.i(iHe
passed a J/^slpw.-boardyop za .reverse curve that said “2 ^ /miles per
hour,” a t,a 60 mile pápe, and when he approached the Snake Tryer
htidge, across whiçh the speed limit yeas 15 miles per hour, with the
mile "posts keeping, tinie with the minute hand of his watch,, he just
steadied his engine with a little air, but never shut off the steam.
Donnelly didn’t take what he considered unnecessary precautions,
when he had no. train fbehind him to be responsible for. Ten min­
utes more and they were headirig into the passing trâck' at Bliss,
■ where they were to meet the west-bound passenger/No. 5,. and .also
the through freight,,Ñ p .,;5,5. .
.
. "
The .passenger was late-and engine No. 907 lay on the side-track
fully for5ty minutes, before.a trail of smoke on the horizon announced
its, approach. In the,„meantime Donnelly got another 731” order
on..No. 55. The freight had,“fallen down” on his schedule and hence
thef.meeting pohjt was c h a n g e d .T h e order read as follows:
“Train No. 55, fifty-five will wait at Kimaina until 3 :40 P . for
light engine N p; 9Q7, nine hundred seven.”
,/; ■
, It, was forty miles tp,Kimaina and the grade at. King Hill*must
be climbed, but an engine running light coúld cover the distance
in as many minutes, | But Donnélly was in no hurry this time. He
had scorched the rails, between, Glenn’s Ferry and Bliss only* to
be held up, forty minutes at the,.latter place. He expected the order
to be reversed and tó be “laid, out’/ at K ing Hill, the- only telegraph
office, between Bliss and Kimaina. So No. 907 rolled lei surely,along
while .the engineer anathematized the Ó. S E R. R. officials from the
superintendent who had hired him, down to the round-house .fore­
man who had ordered, the engine into the shops.
B u t contrary to his expectations, when D onnelly. signalled, the
operator a t K ing Hill, he got the “board.” Domyelly saw he had. tip
tim e to lose. H e had orders to clear No,..5 5 -a t Kimaina a t 3 :40
P. M., and failing to do this he would be. forced'to head into, a blind
siding..until the- freight went by. B ut engineers w ho-have..“fallen
down” , on their, time, try to . g e t as near the meeting point as pos-