B&O in 1903

[NW Mailing List]

[Not the N&W, but interesting nevertheless.]

THRILLING EXPERIENCE OF TRAIN BRAKEMAN
------
Dragged Sixty Car Lengths Holding on to a Revolving Car Axle
------
    W. A. Walker, a Baltimore & Ohio brakeman, had an experience that can be recorded as one of the most narrow escapes from death in the history of the road.  He was front brakeman on a coke train which was coming down a steep grade.  A brake chain broke as he was tightening it, and the shock threw him under the  train.  With remarkable presence of mind he grabbed hold of a revolving axle and was dragged along under the train.  While in this position his feet caught in passing over a frog, and the hold was broken, but he grabbed the next axle that came along, holding on while the rough, rusted iron tore and lacerated his hands.  He was dragged for sixty car lengths before his fellow workman could stop the train.

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
June 10, 1903

Gordon Hamilton
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20080112/914d428f/attachment.htm>