GREASING THE RAILS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 271, 10 April 1873, Page 3

GREASING THE RAILS.

Some years ago, a widow living on the line of the Ohio and Mississippi railroad owned a young cow of which she was very proud. As the woman was not possessed of much of this world's goods, the cow was an important source of income to her, as she made butter for sale, and also sold some milk in the neighborhood. One day the express train came thundering along, and struck and killed the widow's cow as it stood ruminating on the track. The widow applied to the station agent for pay for the animal, and was told to send a bill to the general office of the Board. She did so, but received no reply, and concluding that the Board did not intend to make good her loss, swore vengeance. Little attention was paid to her threats until about a week after, when the morning passenger train came along. The station house at Flora is situated at the top of a gentle slope, about half a mile in length. The sun was just rising, and the engineer noticed what he supposed to be frost glistening on the rails. The speed at which the train was approaching carried it about half-way up to the rise, but the driving wheels of the locomotive sprung round on the rails without pulling an ounce. The train came to a dead stop, and then began to slide backward. The engineer whistled down breaks, and got off to inspect the rails. He found that they were covered with soft soap, and as he had some previous experience knew exactly what to do. He backed down the track about half a mile, and, putting on a full head of steam, charged at the rise with full speed. When he found his speed slackening he opened his sand valves and allowed the sand in the boxes to glide on the rails in front of the driving wheels. This to some effect counteracted the effect of the soap, and the train got nearly fifty yards further. It finally stopped again, and the engineer backed out and again charged the slope. The process was repeated several times, and would have finally been successful had not the sand given out. No sand could be procured anywhere, and finally the whole force of trainmen went to remove the soap. This they succeeded in doing after a half-hour's hard work, and nearly an hour behind time the train reached the station. A few days after a similar difficulty was experienced. But when the company appreciated the situation and paid the widow for her cow, the rails were allowed to remain unsoaped.