Casey Jones
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hose of us who are
of a Certain Age will remember the American television series ‘Casey Jones’,
about the adventures of the railroad engineer (in English: engine driver), his
son, Casey Junior, and the rest of his crew. I found it always to be something
of a disappointment as the action centred on the rather tiresome Casey Junior
and his predictable antics, not the locomotive or the railroad. Instead of
being an instructional film of USA rural railroad practices and a practical
illustration of driving a classic USA 4-4-0 on the Illinois Central Railroad,
the series tended to show criminals being thwarted and accidents being avoided
thanks to Casey Junior and, perhaps, his dog....although I may be mixing it up
with Lassie on this point. Nevertheless, there was the occasional glimpse of
the footplate and the sight of the locomotives underway was always a stirring
sight.
Recently it occurred to me
that this series and the vaguely remembered songs about Casey Jones must have a
basis in fact, so I went to where all superficial searchers after knowledge go
– Wikipedia. There is a wonderful article there –
which gives you all
the detail you could wish for. For the present, this is a much shortened
version.
Casey’s
name was given to him when he was in lodgings with other railroad men. When
asked where he was from, he replied that he was from the town of Cayce, so he
was referred to afterwards as Casey Jones. He showed unusual skill and
diligence and made it to being engineer relatively quickly, when he made a name
for himself as a demon for keeping to time. He had a particular way of sounding
a locomotive whistle that always identified him as the driver – a feature that
is highlighted in some of the songs about him.
His
final trip ended in a collision with another train that was too long for the
loop it was in. Jones was driving very fast indeed, as much as 75 mph, as he
had been trying to make up 95 minutes which had been lost earlier. As he came
round the curve he saw the rear lights of the caboose of the train blocking his
way, and told his fireman to jump. He pulled back the johnson bar (reversing
lever), reversed the engine and applied the air brakes. His action saved the
passengers, but cost him his life as he stayed with the locomotive until the
end.
This
is an early recording (on wax cylinder) commemorating his bravery, and the
somewhat ambivalent attitude of his wife, in the final verse, where she
comforts the children that “they’ve got another papa on the Salt Lake Line”!
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