The Curse of Engine 671
Northern Pacific railroad workers avoid a locomotive they believe is possessed by evil spirits.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Northern Pacific locomotive No. 671 is looked upon by all conductors, engineers and brakemen on the road as a hoodoo. She has spent most of her three-year history on this division in the repair shops. After multiple wrecks, including a collision at Eagle Gorge that killed Engineer Young and Fireman Cooper, workers tell dark stories of the engine. Some claim a goblin perches on the pilot, or that the hose spurts blood when water is drawn from the tank. An old railroad employee told a reporter that every man on the division fears 671 and would rest easier if she were sent to the junk shop.
“There isn’t a railroad man on this division but what fears 671, and they will all rest easier when she finds her way to the junk shop.”
This reflects the real-world danger of 19th-century rail labor, where 'accidents' were frequent and terrifying. Attributing these failures to a 'demon locomotive' was a coping mechanism for workers in an era before modern safety regulations.
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