Атлант расправил плечи
By our love
TheTaggartTunnel,aneight-milebore,cutthroughthesummitoftheRockyMountainsandregardedasanengineeringachievementnottobeequaledinourtime,wasbuiltbythegrandsonofNathanielTaggart,inthegreatageoftheclean,smokelessDiesel-electricengine.Thetunnel’sventilationsystemwasnotdesignedtoprovidefortheheavysmokeandfumesofcoal-burninglocomotives—anditwasknowntoeveryrailroademployeeinthedistrictthattosendatrainintothetunnelwithsuchalocomotivewouldmeandeathbysuffocationforeveryoneaboard.TheComet,nonetheless,wassoorderedtoproceed.AccordingtoFiremanBeal,theeffectsofthefumesbegantobefeltwhenthetrainwasaboutthreemilesinsidethetunnel.EngineerJosephScottthrewthethrottlewideopen,inadesperateattempttogainspeed,buttheold,wornenginewasinadequatefortheweightofthelongtrainandtherisinggradeofthetrack.Strugglingthroughthethickeningfumes,engineerandfiremanhadbarelymanagedtoforcetheleakingsteamboilersuptoaspeedoffortymilesperhour—whensomepassenger,promptedundoubtedlybythepanicofchoking,pulledtheemergencybrakecord.Thesuddenjoltofthestopapparentlybroketheengine’sairhose,forthetraincouldnotbestartedagain.Therewerescreamscomingfromthecars.Passengerswerebreakingwindows.EngineerScottstruggledfranticallytomaketheenginestart,butcollapsedatthethrottle,overcomebythefumes.
FiremanBealleapedfromtheengineandran.
