Racing With a Locomotive — The Day a Horse Beat a Train

1899

Racing with a Locomotive

At the time when England was ridiculing its early efforts at railroad travel America was laughing over a race between a horse and a locomotive, in which horse-power won.

In those early days Peter Cooper built the locomotive "Tom Thumb" for the Baltimore road, and ran a race with the gallant gray horse owned by the stage proprietors, Messrs. Stockton & Stokes. The horse was attached to a car on the second track. The race is thus described in "Forty Years on the Rail" by Mr. George:

Away went horse and engine, the snort of the one keeping time with the puff of the other. The gray had the best of it at first, getting a quarter of a mile ahead while the engine was getting up steam. The blower whistled, the steam blew off in vapory clouds, the pace increased, the passengers shouted, the engine gained on the horse, and the race was neck-and-neck, nose-to-nose. Then the engine passed the horse, and a great hurrah hailed the victory.

But just at that moment, when the gray's master was about giving up, the band which turned the pulley that moved the blower slipped from the drum. The safety valve ceased to scream, and the engine, for want of breath, began to wheeze and pant.

In vain Mr. Cooper, who was his own engineer and fireman, lacerated his hands in attempting to replace the band on the wheel. The horse gained on the machine and passed it, to his great chagrin. Although the band was presently replaced and steam again did its best, the horse was too far ahead to be overtaken, and came in winner of the race. — Youth's Companion.

What It Takes to Build a Railroad: A Lot!

1916

What It Means When the Contractors Begin Operation

With the right of way established, a great army of men enter into the field. The company does not build its own road. It is turned over to contractors and is usually let in sections of from 200 to 300 miles.

The contractor must live up to certain specifications, just as though he were building a house, and he furnishes everything — men, teams, machinery, food and material. Few people realize what this means. A contractor must be very near to a king.

For instance, there is the Hazelton section in the mountains. It is less than 200 miles in length. Before a single shovel or pick was engaged in the building of this section the contractors had to equip themselves with a fleet of steamboats at a cost of $200,000. They had to build scores of camps at from $2,000 to $4,000 a camp. Each of these centers had to be stocked with provisions, supplies and materials almost before a builder was brought in. Before these contractors moved a shovelful of earth or fired a single blast they had spent over $6,000,000.

Each contractor's camp is like a small city, with its stores, hospital, scores of sleeping shacks, kitchens, dining rooms, warehouses and barns.— James Oliver Gurwood in Leslie's.

—Stevens Point Daily Journal, Stevens Point, Wisconsin, July 29, 1916, page 7.