Railroad Legends

John Henry: John Henry was born a slave, but freed after the Civil War. He was a "steel-driving" man who's job was to hammer steel spikes into the ground to make holes so dynamite could be dropped into them. This allowed the railroads to be built through tunnels, and over rocky areas. While working for the Big Bend Mountain tunnel for the C&O railroad, another man boasted that his steam-driven machine could outdo John Henry. John Henry took up the challenge, and beat the machine, but he worked so hard that he died afterwards.
Casey Jones: Casey Jones was an engineer who drove a train. He was a very good engineer, and was widely known for the special way he used his train's whistle. One night, while he was driving a train in Mississippi very fast to make up for lost time, he wrecked into another train. Just before the wreck, he yelled at his helpers to jump off the train and save themselves, and then used one hand for the train's brake and the other for the whistle. Casey died in the crash, but his body was found still holding both the whistle and the brake, a tribute to the hero an engineer can be.