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150th birthday of Casey Jones to be celebrated
Not to deminish Casey’ s lore, but when all is said and done, Casey was just running too fast.
He may have acted foolhardy but appears to have proved himself worthy of “brave engineer” status. I’ve been to the Jackson museum and found it worth the visit. While I may be guilty of perpetuating the Jones “myth” (if that’s what it is) in “Rails Across Dixie: A History of Passenger Trains in the American South” (McFarland, 2011), from an epoch in which true heroes were popular, Jones seems to qualify as much as any.
I remember back in the late 50’s and early 60’s, there was a tv show about Casey Jones. Alan Hale, Jr. played Casey. For many years, nobody knew anything about the show. It wasn’t until my wife and I met a couple on the Canadian and the man had heard of the show. That show had a big effect on this 6 year old that I became a railfan. I even named an Amtrak teddy bear, Casey, the brave engineer bear. Happy birthday Casey!
Maybe engineers don’t have a sense of pride in their work today as Joseph said. Maybe that could be because the companies they work for would crucify them if they had an accident trying to make up time. I believe, though that most engineers as well as most everyone else on the railroad takes pride in their work. But they also use smarts.
The Fireman claimed from the night of the wreck until his death in 1957 that they saw no flares or heard no torpedos.
What finally happened to the track through Vaughn, Missiippi where the wreck took place. There was talk of A and K materials running off the business and taking the track up. Did that ever actually happen?
It wasn’t Casey’s speed trying to make up time but the stalled freight fouling the mainline that resulted in the accident.
This has been debated since the day Casey went to the Promised Land but locomotive engineers had a sense of pride in their job that has all but vanished from the industry today.
Good reads about the trials and tribulations of brave engineers can be found in the the Ralph on the Railroad series of books for boys published in the early 1900s and James McCague’s epic novel “The Big Ivy” pubished in 1955. All can be found and purchased from online book dealers.
I agree with Mr. Langley. While this will let some say I’m being a revisionist historian, if we looked at his train-running performance and heedless attitude to danger (even though Jones was following a grand informal railroading practice of “making up time” whenever possible) he was as incautious an engineer as a modern one yapping away on his cellphone, or playing games with his smartphone or texting while running through signals, etc.
In that light can we not someday celebrate the deliberate or casual operating rules-breaking that happens now and then today and causes terrible railroad accidents by establishing and promoting a museum and lore around such avoidable incidents?
I would sadly have to agree with Joseph Toth Jr. that people have lost there sense of pride in their job. But, it’s not just in the rail industry, but in alot of industries as well. If you take a look at the way people dress today. I’ve seen many bus drivers with their shirts untucked. People from all walks of life seem to have lost a sense of pride. What a shame.
Revisionist history, to me, is trying to fit today’s guidelines and principles into yesterday’s. Much as it appeals, it can’t be done. Casey was operating under the accepted practices of the day, make up time but don’t get caught. Sadly enough, if you read about his record, it was rather colorful and he did get caught and he was a risk-taker. Still. . .
Today’s engineers can’t do that, there are so many more ways to get caught and railroad and safety culture is nothing like it was all that time ago.