ON A COLD NIGHT IN FEBRUARY 1871, the New York Central Railroad’s Pacific Express rounded a bend seven miles south of Poughkeepsie, New York. All of a sudden the engineer, Doc Simmons, saw with horror the wreckage of a freight train sprawled across a drawbridge dead ahead. He blew the “down brakes” whistle, and trainmen between the cars jumped to turn their brake wheels. But it was already far too late.
Westinghouse, George
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Winter 1997 | Volume 12, Issue 3
ON A COLD NIGHT IN FEBRUARY 1871, the New York Central Railroad’s Pacific Express rounded a bend seven miles south of Poughkeepsie, New York. All of a sudden the engineer, Doc Simmons, saw with horror the wreckage of a freight train sprawled across a drawbridge dead ahead. He blew the “down…