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And I am afraid I belonged to a class of ignorant, short-sighted, bull-headed engineers who didn't believe that a railroad had any right to buy anything but fifteen by twenty-two eight-wheelers the smaller they were the more men they would want. I got over that a long time ago; but, at the time I write of, I was cranky about it.
But in the dash to overtake and pass the general manager's one-car special, the belief was shaken almost to its reversal. He knew the Pacific Southwestern locomotives and something of the men who ran them. The 1016 was one of the fast eight-wheelers; and Olson, the engineer, who had once pulled passenger on the Plug Mountain, was loyal and efficient.
The first four engines, which had hauled the train as far as Erie, were of what is known as the American type eight-wheelers, comparatively light, but built for fast speeds. These locomotives weighed only 52 tons, with 17 by 24-inch cylinders and 72-inch driving-wheels.