Steve Broady said to his black greasy
fireman
"Just shovel on a little more coal, And when we cross that White Oak
Mountain You can watch Old 97 roll!"
-The Wreck of the Old 97
When hand-stoked coal drove Old 97 down that mighty rough road from Lynchburg to Danville, the brawny fireman was as essential as the engineer himself. Sweatily, he swung the heavy scoop between the clanking tender and the hellish firebox, pausing only rarely to rest his arm on the ledge of the left-hand window. But Old 97 and almost all...
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