February 2008

Old Days

on the RW&O Railroad

compiled by

Richard Palmer

Railroad Magazine, July, 1940, P. 128

Who remembers the old Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg (now a part of the New York Central)? I spent the winter of 1880 at the RW&O station in Mexico, N.Y., mar Oswego, and I'd like to hear from readers who were acquainted with this 400-mile pike.

The RW&O was rather primitive. With the exception of a stretch of four miles, iron rails were still in use in 1880. These rails. which had been brought over from Wales, were of the 56-pound type. No fishplates were used on them, the joint coming on a tie. A chair, made of boiler iron, about six inches square, with a lug turned up on the two opposite sides to keep the "chair" in place, was used to prevent low joints The ends of these rails often became battered and a low joint was almost inevitable. In such a case "shims," or broad, flat wedges of wood, were used to correct the low spots.

Bridges, usually of wood, were often too frail to support two engines at once. In case of a double-header, the leading engine was cut off before the train crossed. In 1880 the RW&O had about fifty serviceable engines. A dozen or more of them were ancient and very light.

Not an engine on the line was equipped with air, while very few had injectors. i vividly recall a time when one of the injectorless engines was stalled in a long deep cut, behind a snowplow. Before the gang could shovel her out, the water was low. To meet this emergency, they set men filling the tank with snow, jacked her free from the rails and let her drivers spin, thus keeping her alive.

Of the other engines, I remember two of the inside connected vintage. Steam chests, cylinder, guides and crossheads, etc., were under the boiler and back of the smoke arch. Main rods connected with cranks in the driving shaft instead of with a crank-pin in the driver, as at present. Perhaps a dozen of the locomotives were wood-burners, with balloon stacks. Firemen became very expert in handling the blocks of wood, often standing well back of the tender, hurling the blocks end-over-end and seldom missing the firebox door. Long woodsheds were not rare along the line, but the majority of the engines were soft-coal burners, with diamond stacks. It was at about this time that straight stacks with red-banded tops began to make an appearance.

Our train orders were anything but simple. There was no such thing as a "standard" order. Semaphores were unknown on the line. In most cases, operators used a flag, stuck in a crack on the platform, or wedged against the rails. The simplest orders were entangled in endless red tape, a change of meeting-place between two trains requiring as many as nine separate and distinct messages, answers, verifications and okays.

In spite of all this, or possibly because of it, timetables had often not the faintest connection with actual running schedules. An extra train, called a wildcat, was enough to throw the line into a frenzy of orders and counter orders. to illustrate: An original order would be sent out,"Welch and Welch (conductor and engineer). Wildcat, London to Liverpool, this day."

At this point, the dispatcher stepped in with orders. he first designated a meeting-point, ignoring the timetable. The operator at the designated point was then given the following order, "Flag and hold Train One until Train Two arrives, this day." The operator was required to repeat this order and receive an okay before the next step could be taken. The next order went to the wildcat, "Run to M (the point designated) regardless of Train One."

Next, Train One (assuming there had been no mixup in this storm of orders) was held at the designated point. This state of affairs was reported by the operator to the dispatcher. The dispatcher then okayed the statement. The op returned to Train One with the okayed statement and his order book. Conductor and engineer were then required to okay this already okayed statement and the whole thing was once more relayed to the dispatcher. When, or if, the second train arrived at the meeting-point, the whole procedure was gone through once more.

An additional complication was that separate copies of each order had to be given to conductors and engineers involved and carbon paper was not used.

In January, 1881, I was given a position as operator with the Lackawanna in the freight and coal yards at Syracuse. This line was far more modern than the RW&O.

The two divisions of the Lackawanna reaching Syracuse were both laid with steel rail. For some years, the Northern Division had operated a clumsy and costly system of trackage. It consisted of standard and broad gauge on the same ties. This made a specially designed drawhead necessary, Couplings had to be made at an angle, and links of an unusual shape were carried on the tank of every engine. "Foreign" cars sometimes proved puzzles. Just when the third rail was taken up, I don't know, but I well remember that the marks were still on the ties.

At that time most of the engines on the roads I saw, in contrast to the Rome line, were equipped with air for train use, but had no power brakes on drivers and trucks. A hand-brake on the tank and the reverse lever had to serve the purpose when the engine ran light. I believe injectors were in universal use on these lines.

Vast quantities of anthracite were carried, not only for home consumption but also for shipment by water to Canada, through the port of Oswego. Most coal was handled in jimmies, four-wheeled, boxlike affairs, each carrying about six tons. The jimmy was equipped with a bib hook for drawhead, a three-link coupling and a cruel dead-block. This type of coupling left some inches of slack between any two cars and what happened to the caboose riders when the engine took up the slack, I leave to the reader's imagination. The brake on these jimmies consisted of a long lever and rachet, operated from the running board side of the car. All boxcars, flats, gondolas, and jimmies were equipped with the bloody dead-block.

As far as I can learn, not another man of ll those who were working on the line from 1880 to 1884 is now living. If, however, I'm wrong and any of the number read this letter, I would be most happy to hear from him.

L.S. Boyd, Geneva, N.Y.

© 2008, Richard Palmer

Index to articles by Richard F. Palmer

CLR Blog | Site Map | Contact CLR