THE IRON HORSE AND AXLE GREASE |
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If you stand on the FEC railroad tracks at Atlantic Blvd, and look South.You will see the tracks have a gradual downhill decline and it goes South almost to the Cypress Creek bridge. Not steep by any means, but enough to be noticeable, and to cause this story to be told. It was about midnight on a Halloween sometime in the year of 1939 or 1940. I lived in the railroad section house on 8th St and Flagler Ave with my family. My Dad was the section forman on the railroad at that time. We were awakened by a knock and at the door stood the Chief of Police and a Train Conductor. The Conductor told my Dad that there was a problem with a North-Bound fieight train that was stopped North of the Cypress Creek bridge and it couldn't move. My Dad, the conductor and I jumped into our car and headed down to where the train was standing. We had to park along Old Dixie Highway, walk through the bushes and wade a small ditch that contained about a foot of water, getting our shoes wet before climbing up the bank to where the engine sat. This was a period of time before there were Diesel Locomotives. These were steam engines. They were big heavy engines and their driving wheels were very large (five feet high) and there were six of them linked together and not having any differential action they would slip and spin at the least provocation. Each engine had a "sand box" that channeled a small stream of sand in front of the "Drivers" whenever the need arose for additional traction and it had already been used-up. There sat this huge engine, steam spewing out of the safety "pop-off valves" clanking and hissing and looking like something out of "Dantes Inferno," and to me, an 11 year old kid, it seemed to be saying , "hurry up you guys, lets get going." The engineer climbed down out of the cab and after a short conversation with Dad and the Conductor (Who is the boss of the train,) got back aboard, gave a short blast on the whistle, opened the throttle and that's when those huge wheels began to spin, screech and howl. With the steam adding to the noise. The train never moved. The engineer closed his throttle and he had to apply the brakes to the engine to stop those wheels fiom turning. The Brakeman had his lantern and they walked back down the track looking under the train and finally they found the cause of this mystery. There on the tracks were large amounts of axle grease spread on both tracks and when that heavy engine with those large wheels went through the grease it coated them and they lost traction and finally came to a stop. Further examination of the tracks ahead of the engine showed that there was grease periodically on the track all the way to where Atlantic Blvd is today. There was just no way any train could have made it up that grade with all that grease. Dad called the dispatcher in St.Augustine Fl, and told him of the problem. It was a good thing he did as there was a train already leaving Miami heading North. If there had not been a warning this could have become a real tragedy. The fact that the FEC had dual tracks back then it was no great problem routing trains around . My dad called-out his crew and they spent the rest of the night cleaning the axle-grease off the tracks. One of the biggest problems was finding enough rags to do the job. The railroad detectives descended upon Pompano the next day, they never did catch whoever it was that was responsible for this prank, and to this day only they know who they are. What could have been the reasoning behind this prank? What would it prove other than a train cannot run on a greased track. Whatever the reason, it did stop the train. There you have it. This story has lain quietly for all these many years and now it has been told. I recall some of the older boys in town who would sing the song "OH YOU NASTYMAN." as they rode up and down OLD DIXIE HIGHWAY in the "rumble seat" of their sporty roadsters I don't think they were like that, they just liked a good time. And it was "HALLOWEEN IN OLD POMPANO. " |