Watertown Daily Times, Sept. 2, 1903
The name "Hojack" was the name given in derision at one time to the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg Division of the New York Central. It was applied in the yards at Suspension Bridge. When the Oswego train over the R.W. & O. road was about to leave each day one of the employees would stand on the platform and call out to the man in the roundhouse whose name was Jack Donohue, "hojack," and the Oswego crew made its appearance simultaneously and the road was thus christened, "Hojack."
And it was a sure enough hojack road in those days, too. The power was light and the cars small. One of the old type of engines if seen today would make a railroad man feel like putting it in a shawl strap and carrying it off. There have been many improvements since the line was first known ad the Hojack, but thee are many more necessary, including a better roadbed and two tracks the entire length of the pike.
Showing posts with label Rome. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rome. Show all posts
Friday, October 27, 2017
Thursday, October 26, 2017
The Work of Villains
Rome Sentinel Nov. 14, 1876
Thursday evening ties were stuck up endwise through a culvert about three miles out of town, on the R.W.& O.R.R., and ties were piled on the track, together with a stone weighing about 1,000 pounds. The locomotive drawing the 8:15 passenger train, south, struck the pile, scattering it and breaking the ties in the culvert. The pilot and head-light of the locomotive were shattered. The following note was found in a stick by the side of the track at the culvert: “R.W.& O.R.R. This will be a lesson to you to pay your employees of the road more wages 90 cents per day and $1.00 is’t enouf we will have reasonable pay for our labor or we will run every train from the track take our advise. – Mrsrss.”
Saturday night an attempt, exactly similar, was made to wreck a passenger train on the Black River road at Deer River. A note of the same import as the above, directed to the Black River Railroad authorities, was found by the side of the culvert in which the obstructions were placed at Deer River. It is thought both attempts were made by tramps, probably by the same persons, for purposes of plunder. On the Richfield Springs branch of the D.L.& W.R.R., an attempt was made to wreck a passenger train only a few evenings since, by placing a huge rock on the track. The engineer discovered the obstruction in time to avoid a collision with it.
Thursday evening ties were stuck up endwise through a culvert about three miles out of town, on the R.W.& O.R.R., and ties were piled on the track, together with a stone weighing about 1,000 pounds. The locomotive drawing the 8:15 passenger train, south, struck the pile, scattering it and breaking the ties in the culvert. The pilot and head-light of the locomotive were shattered. The following note was found in a stick by the side of the track at the culvert: “R.W.& O.R.R. This will be a lesson to you to pay your employees of the road more wages 90 cents per day and $1.00 is’t enouf we will have reasonable pay for our labor or we will run every train from the track take our advise. – Mrsrss.”
Saturday night an attempt, exactly similar, was made to wreck a passenger train on the Black River road at Deer River. A note of the same import as the above, directed to the Black River Railroad authorities, was found by the side of the culvert in which the obstructions were placed at Deer River. It is thought both attempts were made by tramps, probably by the same persons, for purposes of plunder. On the Richfield Springs branch of the D.L.& W.R.R., an attempt was made to wreck a passenger train only a few evenings since, by placing a huge rock on the track. The engineer discovered the obstruction in time to avoid a collision with it.
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