The Shadow Train
retold by S. E. Schlosser
A miner was on his way to Dos Cabezas, where here heard there was good
prospecting, when he found himself lost and alone in the flats just north
of the Dragoon Mountains. In the blistering sun of midday, his burro dropped
dead from heatstroke and the prospector knew that he would shortly follow
if he did not find shelter and something to drink. The landscape wobbled
before his eyes, and he staggered forward, determined not to drop. But
the heat of the desert flats seeped deep into his body and he found his
wits wandering. The last sensible thought that crossed his mind before
he collapsed was the sorrow his mother would feel when he did not return
home from his wanderings.
More...
http://www.americanfolklore.net/folktales/az4.html
The Steel Railroad Car
It is difficult to understand why that universal material of construction
- steel - should have made so late an entrance into the important field
of American railroad car construction. For a given weight, the steel car
is far stronger than one of wood; its period of useful life is much longer;
it lends itself more readily to a concentration of strength in those parts
of the car where it is most needed; it is incombustible; costs less for
up-keep and, most important of all, removes forever from railroad operation
those two frightful causes of death and injury in railroad wrecks -fire
and telescoping of the cars.
More...
http://home.mindspring.com/~railroadstories/sciam19110617/steel.htm
Runaway train: Minnesota's aging rails
by Conrad deFiebre
Twin Cities Daily Planetonline
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -Although few Minnesotans have noticed, the I-35W
freeway bridge in Minneapolis was not the only large span to collapse
in our state this year. At least two railroad trestles have tumbled into
waters below since March, bringing new urgency to a push for increased
safety inspections of aging railway infrastructure. Fortunately, no one
was injured in the failures of railroad bridges March 23 at Carver and
Aug. 20 at Minnesota City.
More...
http://www.ble.org/pr/news/headline.asp?id=20316
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