A Ride on the “Empire State Express”

A RIDE ON THE LOCOMOTIVE OF THE ^^EMPIRE STATE EXPRESS/^

BY GEORGE E. HILL.

Congress having adjourned for the holiday season, I betook myself to the great city of New York, both for the purpose of "seeing the sights," and visiting relatives. I landed in the Metrop- olis on the day before Christmas, and spent nearly all of the fore- , part of the week visiting the points of interest in and about the city, whose names are legion.

The most exciting and interesting feature of my stay in the ''big" town was a ride on the engine which pulls the "Empire State Express" from Albany, the State Capital, to New York City, a distance of one hundred and forty-three miles, over the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, without a stop. I fully realized what the coal dust and other inconveniences attendant upon such an undertaking would be, still, I decided to accept the invitation to ride. This road extends north from New York to Albany and Buffalo, and is recognized as the best equipped rail- road in the East. The trains depart from the Grand Central Passenger Station, the only one in the city, and which is centrally located on Forty-second Street, and Fourth Avenue. It has recently been rebuilt, and is now one of the largest and finest

passenger stations in the world. All the trains of the above named company arrive and depart from this depot. There are on an average, three hundred and twenty regular passenger trains arriv- ing and departing from this station each business day of the year, and during the busy season many of these trains are in two sec- tions. During the past year, there were nearly fourteen million

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passengers in and out of thisdepot— an average of more than An idea of the through train ser- thirty-eight thousand per day. vice of the New York Central to the North and West may be obtained from the fact that there are twelve trains per day to Buffalo, nine to Niagara Falls, eight to Chicago, six to Cleveland, five to Detroit, two to Indianapolis and St. Louis, three to Cincinnatti,

two to Toronto, four to Montreal, three to the Thousand Islands, two to Adirondack Mountains, eight to Saratoga, and, in addition, numerous express trains to local points on the line. All this in addition to the freight traffic. At 10:30 o'clock on the morning of December 30, 1899, we boarded engine No. 872 which has drive wheels six feet six inches in diameter, with cylinder stroke of two feet. At a given signal, we began to speed northward. On leaving the passenger station, the road, which is four-tracked, tunnels under the city for two miles, and is then built upon an elevated structure for several miles further before reaching the outskirts of the city. From the depot to the city limits, on the north, the distance is fourteen miles. In traversing this space, the ringing of the locomotive bell and the blowing of the whistle, are forbidden by city ordi- nance. The use of coal is forbidden in any of the engines while traveling over this distance, as the emission of black smoke is

prohibited within the city limits; coke is used instead of coal to generate steam. The road runs close alongside the bank of the broad and beautiful Hudson River all the way from New York to

Albany. This river is four miles across at its widest point, and, during the boating season, literally swarms with all kinds of water craft; but at this time of year it is frozen over. To get off Manhattan Island, on which New York City is situated, this road passes over the Harlem-River draw bridge, the largest swinging bridge in the world. Among the points of interest along the west shore of the Hudson are the following: the Highlands; the Palisades; West Point Military Academy; Newburg; Washington's headquarters during the Revolutionary war, where the building he occupied is still standing with its contents the same as used by Lafayette and

Washington; the Pokeepsie bridge across the Hudson, two miles long and two hundred feet above the water; and the Catskill mountains, the summer resort for New Yorkers; and a number of

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towns and cities. On the east bank, we passed through Yonkers, about thirty-five thousand population; Tarry town, twenty thousand; Sing Sing, where the State penitentiary is located, containing between twelve and fourteen hundred prisoners, the town having about twelve thousand inhabitants; Peekskill, twenty thousand; Cold Springs, five thousand; Fishkill, twelve thousand; Rhinebeck, eight thousand; and Albany city of Hudson, thirty-five thousand; about fifty thousand.The large and magnificent summer residences of the Rockefellers, Helen Gould, Vanderbilts, et al, New York's millionaires are also situated along the bluffs forming the east banks of this noted river. The most noted residence is that of Washington Irving, built in 1656, which is still intact. About one-half of the distance from New York to Albany the road consists of four tracks, and the balance of the way there are only two. We made the run going up, in less than four and a half hours, arriving at the State Capital at 2:25 p.m. The ''Empire State Express" is not due in Albany from the West till 7 p.m., which necessitated our stopping over there four hours, and during this time, I visited the State Capitol building, which is an elaborate structure, having cost several millions of dollars. Awaiting the time of departure, number 872 was run into the roundhouse, examined and cleaned, making it ready for the unparalleled trip down again. Promptly at 7 p.m., the engine was attached to the "fastest train in the world," and we pulled out upon the (to me) thrilling and eventful trip. As soon as we were across the bridge spanning the Hudson, and out of the yards, the throttle was thrown open, and we began to bound forward, faster and faster by every turn of the ponderous wheels, until it seemed to me that we were not gliding along over the earth, but were flying through space. Buildings and other objects swept by us in an almost unrecognizable mass. If a derailment should occur, there would be absolutely no hope for the human beings thus being hurled along at such tremendous speed. A "slow-down" was made three times during the run, in order to scoop water, and once in passing through a town, which were the. only restrictions placed upon the regular momentum maintained through the journey. In doing this, of course several minutes each time were lost, which made necessary an extra effort to regain lost time. During^

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some of these spurts, a speed of a mile in forty-five seconds was *

made, which is fast running, especially for a 'tender-foot" on an engine. We fairly flew through the towns and cities named above —through the railroad yards, over switches, and between cars and buildings, around curves, and through tunnels, (of which there are some twelve along the route), making no allowances whatever for such things, the great desire being to reach the Metropolis by 10 o'clock, schedule time. This nerve-trying speed was kept up the whole distance, and we rolled into the Grand Central Station one minute ahead of time. The train consists of about seven coaches, and is the pride and boast of New York. No other railroad in the world operates a train this distance without stopping, and especially at the speed of the "Empire State Express." The average speed maintained throughout the trip was about forty-eight miles per hour. This continued between Salt Lake City and New York would enable one to make the jour- — ney in about fifty-three hours a trifle over two days. This, however, will not be accomplished untilfwestern railroading is more perfect than at present. This leads to a description of the system employed on the New York Central. As before stated, the road is a double-tracked one. Trains going north keep on the right track, and those coming down, run on the left, an arrangement similar to that adopted on the double-tracked street car service in our city. Telegraphing is not used inmanaging the running of the trains; but in lieu thereof v/hat is known as the "block system" is in vogue. This consists of small towers erected along the side of the tracks at convenient distances — about every mile and a half apart. ^ watchman is

placed in the top of each one of these block houses, and by means of levers he controls an arm which projects out from a pole set alongside the railroad. These cross-arms are of different colors, each of which has a significant meaning to the engineer. If the blue is up, the train going under it must slow down and be under full control before the next signal post is reached, and if the red arm signal is here up, the train cannot pass this point until it drops— denoting that the train ahead had passed the next signal up the track. This method prevents the trains from getting any nearer together than a mile or mile and a half, and thus obviates

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collisions —rear-end which only can occur on these collisions,

roads. At night the same system is successfully operated by different colored lights, and hence, as the only obstructions on the track can come from trains running in the same direction ahead, an engineer, can by noticing the signals, always tell if the road is clear to a certain point. With the "Empire State Express" everything must be out of the way fifteen minutes before it is due. This system avoids the possibility of misinterpreting telegraphic orders and the like, which usually causes the most disastrous wrecks, resulting in great loss of life and property. As stated, we slowed up three times to scoop water. This is

accomplished by a tank some twelve hundred feet long and about twenty inches wide, it being situated in the centre of the track and filled with water. When water is needed, and while the engine is passing over one of these troughs, a scoop, slanting in the direction the train is going, is lowered from the tender, and the speed of the train forces the water up this scoop-pipe and drops it over into the tank. From three thousand five hundred to four thousand gallons are thus taken up in about one-half of a minute, and the train speeds on its way. The tender once loaded with coal lasts the entire trip down with the "Empire Express," and in making the round trip, about three hundred miles in all, seven tons of coal are used. The fireman is kept busy feeding the furnace which eats up the large lumps of coal as if they were of some immaterial substance. The same engine makes the trip every day — that is, the company gets about a three-hundred-mile trip each day out of their engines; but there are two sets of engineers and firemen, who take turn about every other day. On coming down, as going up, the bell must not be rung, nor the whistle blown, while traversing the distance of fifteen or twenty miles in entering New York, thereby not disturbing the nerves of the citizens living along the line.

In conclusion, I will say that there is perhaps nothing more exciting and thrilling than a ride on a real, live (?), bounding, struggling, snorting locomotive, and especially the one that pulls the fastest and most famous train in all the world — "The Empire State Express.''