Erie Railroad Biography - Allen B. Bissell

ALLEN B. BISSELL, Cleveland. Ohio
Allen B. Bissell was a member of Company K, 12th Regiment, Vermont volunteers, and during the year he served as a soldier in the War of the Rebellion he was on duty, but did not participate in any prominent battles. He was born in Rutland, Vt., August 4, 1841, and worked on a farm summers and attended school winters until he was 19 years of age. Two years later he enlisted as a soldier, and when his regiment was mustered out in 1863, he returned to farming and followed that avocation till 1865, when he went to work as a section hand on the "Big Four." He held this position but three weeks, having secured a position as fireman on the Atlantic & Great Western. In May, 1865, he began his career as a fireman under Fred Ford, Master Mechanic of the Mahoning Division, and after one year on freight and two on passenger he was promoted to engineer, October 16, 1868. He ran a yard engine for a week and then took the pusher on Randall Hill for six months, when he was advanced to road work in the freight service, at which he worked for twelve years. In 1881 he was advanced to passenger work and since that time he has gradually been promoted in the importance of his runs until, for the past eight years, he has been running trains Nos. 21 and 20. Mr. Bissell has the distinction of being one of the best engineers on the Mahoning Division, and his face is familiar to every frequent traveler between Cleveland and Youngstown. There are but four older men on the Division, and he is highly respected by his superiors, while from his associates nothing is heard save praise and good words.

Mr. Bissell has had a decidedly eventful career in the cab, and some of his escapes in accidents have been nothing short of miraculous. While firing an engine known as the "Governor Todd," he went to the roundhouse, and after getting the engine ready was about to take it out to hitch to the train when word was brought him that his wife was suddenly taken seriously ill. Mr. Bissell went home and another fireman took his place, and six miles out of the city, at Newburg, the engine blew up, killing both engineer and fireman. At another time, when he laid off from his regular run, the engine ran off a switch at Mantua and turned bottom side up in the river. The engineer jumped and escaped injury, while the fireman went down with the engine and was seriously hurt. At Geauga Lake, on February 22, 1869, while pulling freight, he ran into a broken down train that was not protected by flags. The engine struck the rear of the train and turned over in the ditch. Mr. Bissell jumped and escaped with slight injuries. While running passenger he struck a freight train which had taken the siding at Niles and was not in the clear. Mr. Bissell saw the danger, but it was too late to keep the momentum of his train from driving the engine against the protruding car, and although the engine was badly used up he stuck to his post and happily escaped all injury, being nearly buried in shelled corn from the wrecked freight cars, and which perhaps helped save him. In July, 1897, he "sidewiped" a freight train at Warren, tearing the cab of his engine to pieces. His fireman jumped, but Mr. Bissell remained at the throttle and again escaped injury. It is a pleasure to state that none of these accidents were the result of carelessness or lack of judgment on the part of Mr. Bissell, and he has never been called up for explanation on any score or censured by the officials. He is a member of Devereaux Lodge No. 167, B. of L. E., and has been for twenty-nine years, always taking a great interest in everything that pertains to the order.

He was married January 26, 1863, to Miss Loretta Waterhouse of Rutland, Vt., and three children have been born to them. Their only son has been dead a number of years, while both daughters are married and living in Cleveland. Mr. and Mrs. Bissell reside in a very pleasant home on Brevier street, and are highly esteemed by their neighbors and friends.

Excerpted from: "American Locomotive Engineers, Erie Railway Edition," H.R. Romans Editor; Crawford-Adsit Company Publishers, Chicago, IL 1899.

From the May, 1908 issue of Erie Railroad Magazine (Cleveland Shops news):
After a long siege of illness engineer A.B. Bissell died at his home in this city on April 20 (1908). Mr. Bissell began firing an engine in 1865, at the age of 24, and in 1868 he was promoted to the post of engineer, in which he served faithfully and efficiently until the fall of 1906, taking orders from ten master mechanics and nine different superintendents during that time. Some 40 years ago he was nicknamed "Shorty" by one of the train dispatchers, a name that stuck to him to the end of his service. Mr. Bissell was, with one exception, the oldest engineer in continuous service on the Mahoning Division of the Erie. He was a native of Rutland, VT where he was born Aug. 4, 1841.

That Mr. Bissell was a good engineer was shown by an incident that came under the writer's notice in the spring of 1874, when Bissell was running old train 3 with engine 241, then called "J.H. Devereaux," and when J.M. Ferris was superintendent. The train, which had a number of Lake Shore passengers, westbound, was 40 minutes late as she pulled into Leavittsburg. Supt. Ferris was in the Dispatcher's Office when "Shorty" came in for orders, and had just received a dispatch notifying him that Lake Shore train 32 would be held at Cleveland 30 minutes for the connection. "Can you make up some of the lost time, Bissell?" asked JMF. "I don't know, Mr. Ferris, but I will pull her wide open and trust in God," came the reply without an instant's hesitation. Bissell pulled into the CS station fifteen minutes late, having made up 25 minutes in the run of 49 miles, a performance that won for him warmest congratulations from both the passengers and officials of the road. It was a sample of the good sort of work that "Shorty" was always doing. He was certainly one of the most conscientious and upright men that ever handled a throttle, cool-headed in danger and with good judgement in critical times and when emergencies called for quick and sure action. He was also an ideal family man, and there is no one who knew him but sincerely mourns his loss from the ranks of Erie veterans, now thinning out so very rapidly.

From the June, 1908 issue of the Railroad Engineers' Journal (BLE):
Brother A.B. Bissell of Div. 167, Cleveland, died April 20, 1908 of heart Disease. He was 67 years old. He entered the Brotherhood on June 9, 1870, and held a $3,000 BLE insurance policy payable to his wife.

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