Runaway Caboose on TV show

jeffmorris

Active member
I was watching "Little House on the Prairie" TV show where a boy "accidentally" uncoupled the caboose from a train that was stopped at a station. The boy and two girls got into the caboose that started to roll away from the train. Telephones were not yet invented in 1870s-1880s. The tower tried to contact other towers using telegraphs but one man was washing his clothing and I think that the line was dead in other tower. Two men raced to other towers. One man came to the tower. The switch stand was locked and it couldn't be unlocked before the caboose ran through the switch. The other man came to other tower and found out that a special train already left the station. The man stole a horse and raced to the train. He fought with the train crew until they saw the caboose. They stopped the train and ran it in reverse. The caboose almost crashed into the train.
 
I vaguely remember this episode from decades ago.

The telephone was invented in the 1870s.

History of the telephone - Wikipedia

Bell received his patent in 1876 and one of the early exchanges was built in Lowell, MA in 1878.

The telephone not being widely available might be a better way to think of it for the time.
 
I watched another episode of the TV show. The wife cut her leg on a piece of wire while getting off the wagon. The family except the wife went on a trip. She was baking pies for a church bazaar. The doctor came to the house and asked the wife if her husband was home and she told him that her husband went on the trip. The doctor noticed that the wife was sweating but a man came to the house and told the doctor that his son got hurt. The man and doctor left the house. There was a thunderstorm and the wife tried to bring the cow into the barn but she fell down and the cow went to another farm. The wife woke up and went back to the house and locked the door. The next day, the minister and a woman came to the house to pick up the pies. They knocked on the door but the wife couldn't open the door. They picked up the pies that were left just outside the door and left. The wife threw a rolling pin at a window but they didn't hear it. Next day, the family came back from the trip. The husband found out that the cow went to another farm and found out that the minister thought that the wife went on the trip. The husband raced to the house and found his wife on the floor. The doctor came and took care of the wife.
 
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