Sunday, July 20, 2014

The Nerve of Foley and Other Railroad Stories - Frank Hamilton Spearman

Free US/UK Kindle Classic
I was actually looking for some railroad non-fiction which I read in the 1970's.  It was a collection of short accounts of railroad tragedies and tragedies averted by heroic children who flagged down trains.  That will have to wait for another day.

Today's offering by American writer Frank Hamilton Spearman is fiction, from 1900. (US Edition)  (UK Edition)

The Five-Nine skimmed across the meadows without a break, and pulled up a hundred feet from the burning bridge. It was an old Howe truss, and snapped like popcorn as the flames bit into the rotten shed.

Pat Francis and his brakeman ran forward. Across the river they could see half a dozen section-men chasing wildly about throwing impotent buckets of water on the burning truss.

"We're up against it, Georgie," cried Francis. "Not if we can get across before the bridge tumbles into the river," returned Sinclair.

"You don't mean you'd try it?"

"Would I? Wouldn't I? You know the orders. That bridge is good for an hour yet. Pat, if you're game, I'll run it."

This is a collection of short stories.

The author was a banker, but clearly new his railroads.  If you are looking for something lost to time, look no further than the steam train.

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