300317 - Topic: Railroad melodrama involving fire

For this episode of Empire Builders, I’ve gone with a simple topical description. I have not found clear evidence of a specific name applied to this program, although some sources refer to it as the “St. Patrick’s Day show.” Not surprisingly, the story involved some Irish members of the Great Northern family – stereotypes and all. In fact, without an official press release for this broadcast, the best I have to describe the story (for starters) is a brief synopsis printed in one of the GN’s Empire Builders program flyers.

 

This presentation is described as follows:

It has been claimed that Saint Patrick was an engineer. Be that as it may, an engineer is the hero of this St. Patrick’s Day story. A city in flames, help coming by train (and how!) and the hand on the throttle none other than that of the old engineer who had passed the age limit. The story is by the authors of “Butte,” “Thriller Films, Inc.” – recent Empire Builder broadcasts.    

As the above write-up reveals, this night’s presentation is one more of the stories written (or at least worked on substantially) by author Wyllis O. Cooper.

The broadcast began in the usual fashion, with the orchestra (well, the musical ensemble made up of pieces of an orchestra) playing the signature opening with the facsimile of a Great Northern train racing along the tracks.

10:30 – 11:00 P.M.                                         MARCH 17, 1930                             MONDAY

(MUSIC – USE WELL KNOWN IRISH AIRS THROUGHOUT)  (FADE FOR ANNOUNCEMENT)

ANNOUNCER:

You are listening to Empire Builders, a presentation of the Great Northern Railway.

(MUSIC UP WITH WHISTLER.   FADE OUT.   OLD FASHIONED WALL CLOCK TICKING)

Harmony whistler Bob MacGimsey was still with the Empire Builders, and once again was called upon to perform his remarkable whistling to help open the program.

The first scene in the story was the home of newly-retired GN locomotive engineer Patrick O’Mahony. He and his wife Kathleen were in their kitchen, with Pat bemoaning his sad state of having been forcibly retired due to age after working for the Great Northern Railway for 54 years. It was revealed that they lived in the small town of Osseo on the mainline of the GN, just a few miles west of Minneapolis. It was nearing 9pm, and Pat heard the siren song of the Empire Builder’s whistle as Train #2 was approaching the Twin Cities near the end of its long journey east from the coast. Just a day before, that might have been Pat O’Mahony’s own run, at the throttle of GN #2519, a 4-8-2 locomotive classified as a P-2 – one of the GN’s best for pulling the railroad’s premier passenger train. [In real life, the GN’s locomotive #2519 was delivered to the railroad by locomotive manufacturer Baldwin Locomotive Works on November 14, 1923, and served the railroad for over 30 years before being retired and scrapped in 1956]

 

 

 

I could not quickly locate a photo of #2519, but I'm sure there are one or two good ones out there somewhere. In the meantime, this is a pretty nice photo of #2514, delivered to the GN at just about the same time as #2519. I'm guessing only their mother could tell them apart.

Just as O’Mahony was trudging off to bed, the doorbell rang. Kathleen answered the door to find their friend the Old Timer had come by to see them.

KATHLEEN:          (slightly off)  Lord bless us an’ keep us!  (SOUND OF DOOR OPENING)  We heard ye was ‘way out west. An’ it’s glad to see ye we are, even if we didn’t expect ye. Come in! Pat,  (calls)  th’ Old Timer’s come!

O’MAHONY:       Glory be! Ould Timer! Sure, I thought ye was niver comin’ back our way! It’s good f’r sore eyes t’ see ye! Sit ye down!

PIONEER:            Well  (chuckle)  I’m just as glad to see you, Pat – an’ Kathleen, too! I just came in, an’ late as it is, I couldn’t resist the temptation to come out an’ see you. When you goin’ out again, Pat?

O’MAHONY:       (sadly)  I’ll … I’ll not be goin’ out ag’in, Ould Timer. They – they retired me yesterday. I’m done wit’ railroadin’ – ‘less they give me another chanst. I’d work a yard goat, even, ‘f I c’d only get back into a cab.

The Old Timer commiserated with his pal O’Mahony, and then dropped a piece of breaking news on the couple.

PIONEER:            Well, that’s too bad, by George! The Empire Builder won’t look the same without Pat at the throttle. Say, did you hear the news?

O’MAHONY:       No! What’s happened?

PIONEER:            Why, the whole town o’ Gopher Prairie’s on fire! Y’ can see the blaze for miles, an’  ----

Although the home of the O’Mahony’s – Osseo – is a real town, Gopher Prairie was fictional. In fact, it seems likely that the story’s author W.O. Cooper was familiar with Sinclair Lewis’s best-selling novel “Main Street” – set in the fictional town of Gopher Prairie, Minnesota.

The Gopher Prairie of “Main Street” (published in 1920) was said to have been based on Lewis’s hometown of Sauk Centre, Minnesota. Sauk Centre was also on the GN mainline, although the railroad spelled its station there “Sauk Center” until sometime in the mid-1930s. The GN’s February/March, 1930 public timetable used the spelling of Sauk Center, as did its various issues of the “Official List of Officers, Agents, and Stations” until 1938, when the spelling was adapted to Sauk Centre. But I digress.

So says the Old Timer: “Gopher Prairie’s on fire!” Pat and Kathleen are distraught at this news. It turns out their daughter may be in peril.

PIONEER:            Why, what’s the matter? Pat! Kathleen! What’s the matter?

KATHLEEN:          (sobs)  Eileen’s up there, Ould Timer! She’s teachin’ school there, an’ I know she’s kilt! Oh, Eileen, acushla! An’ you say the whole town’s afire? Oh, Howly Mother, preserve my girl!

PIONEER:            Now, now, Mrs. O’Mahony, I’m sure Eileen’s safe. Why, I’ve known that girl ever since she was so high! She’s all right. You can’t down an Irish girl – particularly one with such a mother and dad as she’s got!

(KATHLEEN SOBS. FADE INTO MUSIC LIKE “KATHLEEN MAVOURNEEN” GRADUALLY FADING INTO SHARPER TEMPO WHICH RISES AND FINALLY FADES INTO CRACKLING OF FLAMES, DISTANT SHOUTS, RUSH OF STREAMS OF WATER, HISS OF STEAM, FALLING WALLS, EXPLOSIONS, ETC.)

The action cut to the beleaguered town of Gopher Prairie, with flames, smoke, and shouting filling the air. It was all getting too much to handle for the limited resources of the town’s fire department.

MAN 1:                Chief the fire’s gaining on us. It’s jumped that row of buildings we dynamited. Looks as though it’s going to get into the Great Northern shops. There’s no more apparatus to fight it. I guess we’re licked.

CHIEF:                  Licked! We haven’t started to fight yet! Get a wire through to the fire chief at Minneapolis. Ask ‘em to send help. If we get a couple of those big pumpers up here, with three or four lengths of four-inch, we can lick any fire. Wait. Pavement’s too slippery to make the hundred mile drive… Shoot a wire to the Great Northern. Ask ‘em to send a special train and to run like blazes. Get a start, now – tell the operator to rush those wires through…

While the firefighters were desperately battling the blaze in Gopher Prairie, the folks back in Osseo were desperately battling their fears about Eileen. But in this brief 30-minute play, something (else) dramatic was just bound to happen . . .

(FIRE SOUNDS UP.  FADE INTO “FIRE” MUSIC WHICH FADES BACK INTO “KATHLEEN MAVOURNEEN” AND OUT)

KATHLEEN:          Oh, my poor baby!

PIONEER:            Come, come, Kathleen, don’t take on that way, Eileen’s all right. The luck o’ the Irish’ll protect her.

O’MAHONY:       Luck o’ the Irish, huh? ‘Tis naught but bad luck this Irish family’s had. First I’m retired, then Eileen’s burnt up in a fire, an’ then ---

(WAIL OF FIRE SIREN IS HEARD OFF)

KATHLEEN:          Oh! ‘Tis the banshee! Oh, wira wirra! The Banshee! There’s death in her keenin’! Oh, Pat, what shall I do?

PIONEER:            That was no banshee, Kathleen – ‘twas only a fire truck goin’ someplace.

(SOUND OF DOOR BELL – RAPID, EXCITEDLY)

KATHLEEN:          Oh, what’s that? Oh, it’s bad news, I know. I can’t go. Pat you go to the door. Go, quick, it may be news of Eileen. Oh, I know she’s dead!

Who do you suppose was at the door? Eileen, maybe? Or the Fire Chief from Gopher Prairie, hoping to fill his pail with water? Maybe it was Frank Bowman (Takashi Yamato) from our last story, looking for employment so he could save up enough money to buy passage back to Tokyo. If you suspected one of those characters, you would be wrong. It was a young boy employed by the Great Northern Railway.

CALL BOY:           Ye’re called extra, Mr. O’Mahony. Here’s the book.

O’MAHONY:       What?

CALL BOY:           Ye’re called extra. Here, sign the book.

O’MAHONY:       Called? Me? What’s up?

CALL BOY:           Don’t know, Mr. O’Mahony. They’re makin’ up a string o’ flats down in the yards, and loadin’ fire engines on ‘em. Hurry up an’ sign, will you, Mr. O’Mahony? I gotta go get Terrence Flannigan to fire fer ya. Half an hour. G’bye!

O’MAHONY:       Kathleen! I’m called! I’ll get to run again! They couldn’t do without ould Pat O’Mahony, at all at all. I’m back on the board. Hurroo! Where’s me overalls?

What they had here was a major emergency – it was all hands on deck. Pat O’Mahony found sudden energy, and the doldrums of facing an unwanted retirement were suddenly erased with a renewed zest of imminent importance. You could say he had a fire lit under him. But you won’t have to, I just did.

KATHLEEN:          They’re goin’ to send you up to Gopher Prairie, Patrick. I know they are. Oh, what’ll I do? First my girl, and now my man! Go on wid ye, Pat, why do ye wait? Git down there to the yards, and God Go Wid ye! An’ if it is to Gopher Prairie ye’re goin, do ye tellygraph me the minit ye get there and tell me is Eileen safe!

PIONEER:            Guess I’ll go along, Pat. I got ‘nough friends down there to fix that.

O’MAHONY:       Come on, thin. I’m on me way!

Half the fun of opening these time capsules and reading the old continuities, aside from realizing you might be the first human being to actually read this material in over 80 years, is seeing how they laid out the transitions between scenes. The music and the sound effects are described, and the performers are instructed to achieve a certain mood. We don’t have an audio recording of the broadcast to enjoy, and very few people are still living who tuned in the original broadcast. But by reading the continuity, we can at least imagine how the story was advanced.

(MUSIC UP “KATHLEEN MAVOURNEEN”. FADE TO “CASEY JONES” IN MORE SPIRITED TEMPO. FADE TO RAILROAD SOUNDS. TELEGRAPH INSTRUMENTS AS IN YARD OFFICE AND (OFF) PUFFING OF LOCOMOTIVES, DISTANT SHOUTS, CARS BUMPING TOGETHER. FIRE APPARATUS COMING UP FROM DISTANCE – SIRENS, BELLS, ETC. FADE TO BACKGROUND.)

O’Mahony, with the Old Timer right on his heels, hurriedly reported to the Great Northern yardmaster at Osseo.

YARDMASTER:    Hello, Pat. Say, Pat, there’s a job of work to be done –

O’MAHONY:       Yis, an’ who should ye call on but ould Pat O’Mahony, what’s been retired ‘cause he was too old to tell a water-tank from an order-board! Well, go on, Gilhooley, what’s to be done?

YARDMASTER:    They’ve suspended yer retirement f’r the night, so ye can do a job f’r us. You’re the fastest runner we’ve ever had on this division. Now, listen. The hull town o’ Gopher Prairie’s on fire –

It was the yardmaster’s job to give O’Mahony his assignment, and the erstwhile retiree was in for another small surprise – the locomotive he was to run was quite familiar to him.

O’MAHONY:       Yis, yis, I know about it – an’ me daughter Eileen’s up there teachin’ school, Howly Mother preserve her! An’ –

YARDMASTER:    God ha’ mercy, Pat!  (pause)  Well, ye’ve got to take yer ould ingine, 2519 an’ pull this trainload o’ fire-fightin’ apparatus up there t’ Gopher Prairie. An’ y’ gotta make time, too – th’ fire’s got inta th’ railway’s shops, an’ –

O’MAHONY:       Don’t ye be a-worryin’, Gilhooley, I’ll get ‘er there, firewagins and all, if I have to come in wit’ every brass blazin’ like the sword o’ Diarmidh the Golden. Gimme two rails an’ a fireboy that’s handy wid th’ scoop, an’ we’ll get there!

YARDMASTER:    Well, we’ve got you the rails. The dispatcher’s sending all trains over th’ double tracks t’other side o’ the river, an’ you got the single track t’ yerself ahl the way – one hundred ‘an six miles. An’ as f’r a fireboy here’s Terrence Flannigan, y’r ould runnin’ mate, wit’ his own pet number three shcoop!

A rail yard worker appeared and reported to the Yardmaster that #2519’s train was loaded with fire trucks and other equipment, and ready to highball to Gopher Prairie. The Yardmaster then challenged old Pat O’Mahony to cover the 106 miles in an hour and fifty minutes – an average of about 58 miles per hour. O’Mahony replied that he was up to the task. In fact, his exact words were: “An hour and fifty minutes – 106 miles … If I don’t git ‘er up there in less an’ that, Saint Patrick, me namesake was a Dutchman!”

The Old Timer came racing up to O’Mahony and his fireman, Terry Flannigan, and announced that he had obtained permission to ride along. The three leaped aboard #2519, the big P-2 locomotive, and opened up the throttle. Away the rescue train raced, steel wheel flanges squealing against the rails as the train rounded curves at high speed. All the block signals displayed green – clear to proceed! O’Mahony and Flannigan joined each other in celebrating their Irish heritage, and invoking the associated luck that must surely be theirs on this special day.

O’MAHONY:       She sh’d be clear ahl th’ way to Gopher Prairie, an’ that’s somethin’ over a hundred miles. I’m goin’ to bust all records t’ night! Begory! ‘Tis Saint Patrick’s day! Now I know I’m a-goin’ to have good luck! Saint Patrick himself was an engineer!

FLANNIGAN:       Sure he was! D’ye mind th’ ould song?  (SINGS RAUCOUSLY. IN WHICH O’MAHONY JOINS IN EQUALLY RAUCOUSLY)  St. Patrick was an engineer, he was, he was!

 

 

 

 

 

The Old Timer prattled on with Flannigan and O’Mahony about the fast locomotive, smooth roadbed, and heavy rails – all of which clearly set the Great Northern Railway apart from and superior to all other roads. Just then the Old Timer spotted a firefighter climbing across the top of the coal tender to talk with the locomotive crew.

PIONEER:            Hey look! Here’s one o’ the firemen crawlin’ over the coal to visit us. Careful there, boy! ‘f you fell off you’d bounce for twenty minutes!

The firefighter remarked on the incredible speed they were maintaining, and suggested his fire engine driver could learn a thing or two from this engineer. Then he got to the point (“Oh, by the way . . .”).

FIREMAN:            Say, what I came up to tell you was that the wheels on two o’ the cars are on fire.

FLANNIGAN:       The what’s on fire?

FIREMAN:            The wheels. They’re blazing like everthing.

O’MAHONY:       He means we got a couple o’ brasses burnin’ up. Say, are ye firemen, or are ye not? Get ye back there, an’ take yer little cans o’ chemicals or whatever, and have a man lean over the side and squirt the shtuff on the journal boxes. Careful of you hold his feet.

FLANNIGAN:       Pat, we’ll never make it. I can see half a dozen tongues o’ flame lickin’ alongside th’ flats. Ye’ll be skiddin’ them cars inta Gopher Prairie, ‘stead o’ rollin’ em!

One of the long-standing problems faced by railroaders was dealing with overheated journal boxes. They can cause an axle to fail, leading to a catastrophic derailment. This issue was greatly improved with the introduction of roller bearings. It’s a topic that I don’t really know anything about, so let’s drop it (unless you really are interested, in which case you can click this link to watch a roughly 8 ½ minute video that I think explains most of it). In any event, it seems that in addition to trying to cover 106 railroad miles in record time, to deliver badly needed firefighting equipment to a town that is reportedly ablaze, and oh-by-the-way-my-daughter-is-there-and-for-all-I-know-is-burned-to-a-crisp, O’Mahony also had a train that was itself “catching on fire.” This was, in a word, bad.

O’MAHONEY:     Then skid ‘em I will. Fireman, will ye go back th’ way ye come, an’ tell yer min t’ squirt thim blazes out? If I though ye could do it, I’d give ye some sticks o’ pin-grease an’ let ye re-pack th’ boxes whilst we’re a-goin’. Beforra, ye fellows might try it at that. Take this pin-grease back to the shack – that’s the brakeman. He’ll be game. You fellows’ll have to hang on to his legs. Maybe he can open up the boxes and shove in as much grease as they’ll take.

FLANNIGAN:       But pin-grease costs money, Pat, ‘n’ th’ operatin’ department’ll be on y’r neck!

O’MAHONY:       Oh, no, they won’t, Terry dear. ‘Tis the company’s property that’s a-blazin’, an’ a few sticks o’ pin-grease more or less won’t make a par-r-ticle o’ difference!

Brakemen, though – well, I suppose they’re a dime a dozen. Yikes. So now the train with all the firefighters and fire trucks and other equipment was blazing (sorry) down the tracks at top speed, and a distinct glow in the night sky ahead hailed their imminent arrival at the burning town of Gopher Prairie.

FLANNIGAN:       We’re a-gittin’ clost, Pat. Look’t the glare ag’in’ the sky.

PIONEER:            Say! She must be a-burnin’, Pat! Look at that!

O’MAHONY:       Glory be to God, she sure is! ‘f I could only give ‘er another notch! An’ Eileen’s there in all that blazin’ fire! Howly Mither, have mercy! Terrence, do you go back there an’ tell them there smoke-eaters to unlash them ramps so they kin unload quick. When I come into Gopher Prairie, I’m comin’ a-tootin’. Guess I’ll let ‘em know we’re on the way.  (LONG BLASTS OF WHISTLE)

The sound of the approaching train, with its whistle cutting through the chaos of the fires and the firefighting, gave a sense of hope and relief to the weary townspeople.

(LONG BLASTS OF LOCOMOTIVE WHISTLE, FADING INTO TRANSITION MUSIC – SAME MUSIC AS FIRST FIRE SEQUENCE – THEN TO FIRE SOUNDS AS BEFORE, BUT LOUDER).

VOICE:                 Listen, Chief!  (LOCOMOTIVE WHISTLE IN DISTANCE)  That’s a locomotive!

CHIEF:                  By George, I believe it was! Listen!  (PAUSE:  WHISTLE IS REPEATED)

VOICE:                 It’s Patrick O’Mahony! There isn’t another engineer on the road that’s got that whistle. It is.

EILEEN:                It’s old Pat O’Mahony, sure enough! But how in the world is he back on a train? He was retired yesterday for age!

(SHOUTS, OFF. TRAIN ROARS INTO STATION, SPOT TRAIN SOUNDS: AIR BRAKES, CLANK OF ENGINE AS IT PASSES PLATFORM STOP CHUGGING. SCREECHING BRAKES. CONFLAGRATION NOISES.)

Wow. It seems the sound effects guys were certainly earning their money on that night. The fresh arrivals from Osseo rounded up help to unload the four fire engines from the train, and amid continuing audio chaos, O’Mahony tried to find his daughter.

O’MAHONY:       Where’s me daughter? Eileen! Eileen! Hey, Chief, have you seen me girl Eileen? Have you seen her?

                              (ALL CONVERSATION TO REGISTER OVER NOISES)

CHIEF:                  And who might your daughter be, mister? I can’t keep track of all wanderin’ girls in Gopher Prairie!

O’Mahony was desperate for information about his daughter’s well-being. Despite the obvious chaos and urgency that the fire chief was attempting to manage, O’Mahony kept at him for an answer.

O’MAHONY:       My daughter, man!

CHIEF:                  Oh, your daughter! Why, she’s – she’s – she was in the schoolhouse when it caught on fire –

O’MAHONY:       Howly Mother o’ God! Is she dead, then? Was there a priest?

CHIEF:                  Yeah, she was in the schoolhouse when it caught on fire, an’ she got all the kids out okay, an’ then she discovered that one of ‘em – little Dolores Skowlund, it was, had got lost, an’ she went back in, an’ –

                              (SWELL CONFLAGRATION NOISES)

VOICE 2:              (OFF)  Okay up here, Chief, give us some water!

CHIEF:                  All right. Hey, start that pumper there! What was I sayin’?

                              (ROAR OF PUMPER MOTOR UP)

By this time O’Mahony was about fit to be tied. He was using up all the restraint he could muster, and that’s saying something for an Irishman who’s oozing at the seams with every Irish stereotype you can imagine, including a quick temper. But mercifully, he finally got his answer.

O’MAHONY:       You was tellin’ be about my daughter. Did they get ‘er out? Tell me, is she dead?

CHIEF:                  Well, you might ask her yourself. There she is – over there – serving coffee to the men!

O’MAHONY:       Eileen! Eileen acushla! Ye’re not dead! Ye’re not burned entirely at all!

EILEEN:                Dad! What in the world are you doing here? I knew it was you when I heard you whistle! Why Dad, what are you crying about?

O’MAHONY:       Oh daughter machree, we thought ye was burnt entirely in the fire! Tell me ye’re not dead! Oh, the Howly Mother be praised! Ye’re alive!

The Old Timer joined Pat and his daughter Eileen in a round of congratulatory toasts to the “Luck o’ the Irish.” At this point, a fellow ran up and asked for O’Mahony, the train engineer. He had a telegram for him. O’Mahony didn’t have his reading glasses, so Eileen read the message to him.

EILEEN:                (READS)  “Patrick O’Mahony, Engineer Extra 1, Gopher Prairie: Congratulations on splendid work. Your time of 1 hour 31 minutes breaks previous division records by 16 minutes. You are hereby reinstated from retirement as of March Seventeenth for period of one year. Signed C. McDonough, General Superintendent.” Oh, Dad, you’re reinstated, and now you’ll go back on the Empire Builder. Oh, and I hoped you’d be staying home with Mother and me…

O’Mahony seemed to get the reprieve from retirement that he was hoping for – despite Eileen’s protests that she and her mother would be disappointed. O’Mahony called out to the telegraph messenger and asked him to take down two telegrams to be sent out. The first was a reply to the General Superintendent.

O’MAHONY:       Here, fella, can you send a couple of telegrams for me?

VOICE 3:              Sure can. Want me to write ‘em down?

O’MAHONY:       Yep. Get this:  “C. McDonough, General Superintendent: I will not be reinstated at all at all. I have busted all yer records an’ I’m entitled to a good rest an’ I’m a-goin’ to take it. So yez can change yer books an’ I’ll come back ridin’ the cushions tomorrow.” And sign it “O’Mahony, Ex-engineer.”

Kind of sounds like a major league pitcher who retires after 20 years in the bigs with a couple of World Series rings and a Cy Young or two – might as well go out on top. Ah, but O’Mahony wasn’t done quite yet. There was still one more urgent wire that needed to be sent.

EILEEN:                Oh, dad! I’m so glad you’re coming home to stay! Mother!

O’MAHONY:       Hush, child. An’ now take this wan: “Mrs. Kathleen O’Mahony, Minneapolis: Th’ luck o’ th’ Irish still holds, thanks t’ Saint Patrick, that was an ingineer hisself wanst. I found Eileen an’ she’s all right, an’ I’m comin’ home to stay, an’ I busted a record ag’in, an’ I’m niver goin’ to railroad ag’in er – er – maybe.”  An’ sign that one “Pat.”

PIONEER:            Well, dog my cats, look at that! Look at that! They’re lickin’ the fire. Talk about the luck o’ the Irish! Can y’ beat it?

(MUSIC UP:  “ST. PATRICK WAS AN ENGINEER”, CHANGING TO A MERRY IRISH JIG, FADE OUT – FADE FOR ANNOUNCEMENT)

And that’s where our story (and my abbreviated copy of the program’s continuity) ends. There was no doubt a closing announcement by John S. Young to complete the broadcast, but unfortunately I did not find that with the remainder of the document. Perhaps one day it might turn up … I’ll just need the luck o’ the Irish.

 

 

 

Until next week, keep your dial tuned to Empire Builders!