Commercial work I did not care for, nor did I
want to go back on the road as a night operator on a small salary. I
thought I had the making of a good despatcher in me, and determined to
try for that place. I knew it had to be attained by starting first at
the bottom, so I went up on the K. M. & O. and secured a position as
night operator at Vining. The K. M. & O. was a main trunk line running
out of Chaminade, and was the best road for business that I had as yet
struck. Vining was midway on the division, and was such a good old town
that I would have been content to have stayed there for some time, but
one day an engine pulling a through livestock express broke a driving
rod while running like lightning, and the result was a smash up of the
first water--engine in the ditch, cars piled all over her, livestock
mashed up, engineer killed, fireman badly hurt, and the road blocked for
twenty-four hours. The wreck occurred on a curve going down a rather
steep grade, so that it was impossible to build a temporary track around
it. A wrecking train was sent out from El Monte, and as I happened to be
off duty, I was picked up and taken along, to cut in the wrecking
office.
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