Well, it's Saturday so here's another one.
"My first experience with track motorcars was in 1913 when I got into the Maintenance-of-way Department. They were just beginning to displace the handcar and three-wheel or velocipede, and they were not very reliable. The car was known as a 2-J. The body of the car was carried above one rail by two wheels and there were two wheels which ran on the other rail and were attached to the car by wooden struts. These cars were easily derailed and they were "iffy" when it came to whether or not they would run.
I was not involved in a serious accident with one in more than 100,000 miles of traveling on them. I ascribe this, however, more to good luck than to anything else. For example, I was on a morning trip east of La Junta and had stopped just west of Caddoa to talk with the section foreman. There was no place to set the car off so I left it sitting on the track. After we had talked a few minutes, he said,"How late is Number 4?"
Surprised by the question, I looked at my watch and said,"He's on time, as far as I know. I haven't got anything on him." Then I looked at my watch again, saw the second hand wasn't moving, and raced for the track. I jerked the car off the track, and a few minutes later Number 4 tore by going about seventy-five miles an hour. My watch had stopped after I had left La Junta."
From - From Cab to Caboose-Fifty Years of Railroading – Noble
