John Luther "Casey" Jones (March 14, 1863  April 30, 1900) was an American railroad engineer from Jackson, Tennessee who worked for the Illinois Central Railroad (IC). On April 30, 1900 he alone was killed when his passenger train collided with a stopped freight train at Vaughan, Mississippi on a foggy and rainy night. His dramatic death trying to stop his train and save lives made him a railroad icon who became immortalized in a popular ballad sung by his friend Wallace Saunders, an African American engine wiperfor the IC. Due to the enduring popularity of this classic song, he has been the world's most famous railroad engineer for over a century.Casey performed well and was promoted to brakeman on the Columbus, Kentucky to Jackson, Tennessee route and then to fireman on the Jackson, Tennessee to Mobile, Alabama route.John Luther "Casey" Jones was born March 14, 1863 in southeast Missouri to country school teacher Frank Jones and his wife Anne. His exact place of birth is unknown. He was the first of five children. In 1876 his family moved to the small community of Cayce, Kentucky, which is how he eventually got his nickname. As a boy he developed a growing obsession with trains from hanging around the bustling train depot there. In 1878 at the age of 15, he went to work for the Mobile and Ohio Railroad as a telegrapher in nearby Columbus, Kentucky Casey grew to be quite tall for his day at 64 1/2" with dark hair, gray eyes, and a slim build. His size and strength made him a natural for the often brutal work of railroad life. In 1884 he moved to Jackson, Tennessee, still in the employ of the M&O but now as a flagman. There he stayed at a boarding house for railroad men run by the mother of his future wife who worked there as well.

In March 1888 he switched to the Illinois Central Railroad and was promoted to engineer, his lifelong goal, on February 23, 1891. Casey went on to reach the pinnacle of the railroad profession as a crack locomotive engineer for the I.C. Railroading was a natural talent, and Casey Jones was recognized by his peers as one of the best in the business. He was known for his insistence that he always "get her there on the advertised" that is, that he would never be found to be "falling down" (behind schedule) when he arrived at his destination. He was so punctual that it was said that people set their watches by him. His work in Jackson primarily involved freight service between Jackson and Water Valley Mississippi. Both locations were busy and important shops for the Illinois Central Railroad and he developed close ties with both between 1890 and 1900.

Casey was also famous for his peculiar skill with a locomotive whistle. His whistle was made of six thin tubes bound together, the shortest being half the length of the longest. Its unique sound involved a long-drawn-out note that began softly, rose and then died away to a whisper, a sound which became his trademark. The sound of it was variously described as "a sort of whippoorwill call" or "like the war cry of a Viking. People living along the Illinois Central right-of-way between Jackson, Tennessee and Water Valley, Mississippi, would turn over in their beds late at night upon hearing it and say �There goes Casey Jones as he roared by.

Casey strongly supported the principles of collective bargaining advanced by the young rail labor movement and his name first appears on the register book of the Brtherhood of Locomotive Engineers Division 99 at Water Valley, Mississippi, on March 10, 1891. He maintained membership in both the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen (a practice known as "doubleheading") which resulted in his widow collecting life insurance settlements from both groups when he died. Not only did the brotherhoods strive to improve the pay and working conditions of the men, but their moral conduct as well. Casey sat as Master Pro Tem one night in 1898 when a brother was tried before the lodge on the charge of alienating the affections of another brothers wife.

During the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago, Illinois, in 1893 the I.C. was charged with providing commuter service for the thousands of visitors to the fairground. A call was sent out for trainmen who wished to work there and Casey answered it, spending a pleasant summer there with his wife. He shuttled many people from Van Buren Street to Jackson Park during the exposition. It was his first experience of passenger service and he liked it.

It was at the fair (also called The Chicago World's Fair), that he became acquainted with No. 638, a big new freight engine the I.C. had on display there as the latest and greatest technological advancement in trains. It had eight drive wheels and two pilot wheels. At the closing of the fair No. 638 was due to be sent to Water Valley for service in the Jackson District. Casey asked for permission to run the engine back to Water Valley himself. His request was approved, and No. 638 ran its first 589 miles with Casey at the throttle all the way to Water Valley. Casey liked No. 638 and especially liked working in the Jackson District because his family was in Jackson. They had once moved to Water Valley but Jackson was really home to the Jones family. Casey drove the engine until he transferred to Memphis in February 1900. No. 638 stayed in Water Valley. That year he would drive the engine that became most closely associated with him through tragic circumstances. And he actually drove it only one time. That was Engine No. 382, known affectionately as "Ole 382." The engine Casey drove the night of his fateful last ride was a steam-driven Rogers Ten Wheeler with six drivers, each approximately six feet high. Bought new in 1898 from the Roger's Locomotive Works, it was a very powerful engine for the time. When a potential disaster arose, all of Casey's skill and its responsiveness would be put to the greatest test .

The Hero.....

On April 29, 1900 Casey was at Poplar Street Station in Memphis Tennessee, having driven the northbound No. 2 from Canton, when he agreed to take the southbound No. 1 because the scheduled engineer Sam Tate had called in sick with cramps. Tate apparently held the regular run of trains No. 1 (south) and No. 4 (north) with his assigned Engine No. 382. Train No.1 was known as "The New Orleans Special," later to become the famous "City of New Orleans." Headed north, No. 4 was called "The New Orleans Fast Mail." Odd numbered trains were southbound, and even numbered ones were northbound.

On this fateful night, Casey had returned with his assigned Engine No. 384 and was asked to �double back south on Tates run on No. 1 with Engine No. 382 to Canton. Had Tate not been sick, Casey would have made the run back the next day after a layover. But he loved challenges and once again was determined to "get her there on the advertised" no matter how difficult it looked.

A fast engine, a good fireman, and a light train were ideal for a record-setting run of the 188 miles from Memphis to Canton. And even though it was raining, steam trains operated best in damp conditions. But it was also quite foggy that night, which reduced visibility. And the run was well-known for its tricky curves, which could prove deadly.

With Fireman Sim Webb shoveling on coal and Casey pouring on steam they left Memphis with 6 cars at 12:50 am, 95 minutes behind schedule. The first section of the run would take Casey to Grenada, Mississippi, 102 miles south over a new section of light and shaky rails at speeds up to 80 mph. At Senatobia, Mississippi he passed through the scene of the deaths of a fellow engineer and fireman in an accident that occurred the previous November. Upon reaching Grenada he was only 40 minutes behind schedule and took on water. It was 23 miles from Grenada to Winona, Mississippi and Casey made up another 15 minutes. By the time he got to Durant, Mississippi, 55 miles south, he was almost on time. He was quite happy, saying at one point "Sim, the old girl's got her dancing slippers on tonight!" as he leaned on the Johnson bar. At Durant he received new orders to take to the siding at Goodman, Mississippi and wait for the No. 2 passenger train to pass, and then continue on to Vaughan.

Casey did as he was instructed and arrived at Goodman to take the siding. His orders also instructed him that he was to meet northbound passenger train No. 26 at Vaughan, but No. 26 was a local passenger train in two sections and would be in the siding so he would have priority over it. He pulled out of Goodman only five minutes behind. With 27 miles of fast track ahead Casey doubtless felt that he had a good chance to make it to Canton by 4:05 AM "on the advertised."

But the stage was being set for a tragic wreck at Vaughan, 15 miles away. The stopped double-header freight train No. 83 (located to the north and headed south) and the stopped long freight train No. 72 (located to the south and headed north) were both in the passing track to the east of the main line but there were more cars than the track could hold, forcing some of them to overlap onto the main line above the north end of the switch. The northbound local passenger train No. 26 had arrived from Canton earlier which had required a saw by in order for it to get to the house track west of the main line. The saw by maneuver for No. 26 required that No. 83 back up and allow No. 72 to move northward and pull its overlapping cars off the south end, allowing No. 26 to gain access to the house track. But this left four cars overlapping above the north end of the switch and on the main line right in Caseys Path. As a second saw by was being prepared to let Casey pass, an air hose broke on No. 72, locking its brakes and leaving the last four cars of No. 83 on the main line.

Meanwhile, Casey was travelling excessively fast, possibly up to 75 miles per hour toward Vaughan, unaware of the danger ahead as he was traveling through a 1.5-mile left-hand curve which blocked his view. Sim's view from the left side of the train was better and he was first to see the red lights of the caboose on the main line. "Oh my Lord, there's something on the main line!" he yelled to Casey. Casey quickly yelled back "Jump Sim, jump!" to Sim, who crouched down and jumped about 300 feet before impact and was knocked unconscious. The last thing Webb heard when he jumped was the long, piercing scream of the whistle as Casey apparently tried to warn anyone still in the stopped freight train looming ahead. Sadly, Casey was only two minutes behind schedule about this time.

Casey reversed the throttle and slammed the airbrakes into emergency stop, but "Ole 382" quickly plowed through a wooden caboose, a car load of hay, another of corn and half way through a car of timber before leaving the track. He had amazingly reduced his speed from about 75 miles per hour to about 35 miles per hour when he impacted with a deafening crunch of steel against steel and splintering wood. Because Casey stayed on board to slow the train, he doubtless saved the passengers from serious injury and death (Casey himself was the only fatality of the collision). His watch was found to be stopped at the time of impact which was 3:52 AM on April 30, 1900. Popular legend holds that when his body was pulled from the wreckage of his train near the twisted rail his hands still clutched the whistle cord and the brake. A stretcher was brought from the baggage car on No. 1 and crewmen of the other trains carried his body to the depot -mile away.

Acident report [External Link]

A brakeman is a trainboard rail transport worker in the U.S. Historically, the brakeman was the person who would walk the length of a train atop the cars while the train is in motion and turn the brake wheel on each car to apply the train's brakes. A brakeman's duties also included ensuring that the couplings between cars were properly set, lining switches and signalling to the train operators while performing switching operations.

As rail transport technology has improved, a brakeman's duties have been reduced and altered to match the updated technology, and the brakeman's job has become much safer than it was in the early days of railroading. Individually operated car brakes were replaced with automatic air brakes, eliminating the need for the brakeman to walk atop a moving train to set the brakes. Link and pin couplings were replaced with automatic couplings, and hand signals were replaced with two-way radio communication.

Duties

Freight and yard crews consisting of conductor, engineer and brakeman usually employ the brakeman in throwing hand operated track switches to line up for switching moves and assisting in cuts and hitches as cars are dropped off and picked up.

In passenger service, the brakeman (called trainman or assistant conductor) collects revenue, may operate door "through switches" for specific platforming needs, makes announcements and operates trainline door open and close controls when required to assist the conductor. A passenger service trainman is often required to qualify as a conductor after 1 to 2 years experience. The rear end trainman signals to the conductor when all the train's doors are safely closed, then boards and closes his/her door.

References