The Young Section-Hand

Some of the men braced themselves and held on to their bars, while others hastened to tamp some gravel solidly under the ties to keep them in place. The foreman, at leisure for...

“When I was a kid,” continued Welsh, reminiscently, after a moment, “I was foolish, like all other kids. I thought they wasn’t nothin’ in th’ world so much fun as railroadin’. I...

Jack Welsh, section-foreman, lived in a little frame house perched high on an embankment just back of the railroad yards. The bank had been left there when the yards had been le...

It was not until morning that Allan realized how unaccustomed he was to real labour. As he tried to spring from bed in answer to Jack’s call, he found every muscle in revolt. Ho...

As Allan dashed forward toward the child, he saw the engineer, his face livid, reverse his engine and jerk open the sand-box; the sand spurted forth under the drivers, whirling...

Engineer Lister had often been angry in his life, for, truth to tell, running an engine is not conducive to good nerves or even temper. It is a trying job, demanding constant al...

It was not until they were seated around the table that evening that Allan remembered that the next day was to occur the great inspection by the Irish Brigade, and he straighten...

His men were waiting for him, as he knew they would be, and the story was soon told. They had started out in the morning, according to his instructions, for a last run over the...

As time went on, it became more and more evident that the doctor’s prediction with regard to Reddy Magraw was to be fulfilled. He regained his strength, but the light seemed qui...

This reminder came that very afternoon while he was working at the bottom of the deep cut through the spur of the hill which marked the top of the long, stiff grade just west of...

Allan did his best to force himself to eat, but the strangeness of the hour and the excitement of the promised adventure took all desire for food from him. He managed, however,...

Allan laboured savagely with the others. One thought sang in his brain, keeping time to the steady rise and fall of the shovels: “The track must be cleared; the track must be cl...

There is a superstition among railroad men which, strangely enough, is seemingly warranted by experience, that when one wreck occurs, two more are certain to follow. And, sure e...

During all this time, Allan had been taking his trick of track-walking with the other men on Section Twenty-one. Jack had arranged it so that the boy’s trip over the road was ma...

Mr. Schofield filed his affidavit before the probate judge without delay, but, when the officer of the court went to look for Reddy, he was nowhere to be found. From his wife it...

Allan sat down by the table and picked up a book on telegraphy which he had secured from the public library of Wadsworth, and which he was studying faithfully in such odd hours...

But the storm was not to be dismissed so lightly as Allan had dismissed it. Among the houses of the town he was sheltered somewhat, but, as he strode on westward, out into the o...

That blow had all the weight of Allan’s muscular young body behind it, for he had realized that this was no moment to hold his hand, however he might wish to do so, and Reddy tu...

Bill Johnson, engineer of the 187, pulling the pay-car, stared out into the night, his hand on the throttle. The long gleam of the headlight shot out through the driving rain, a...

It was only a memory now, that gray, wet Christmas morning when Allan had been brought home pale and limp, on a stretcher. They had started from bed at the first tap on the door...