Railroads · Whiting
The two fish that stopped a freight train
Contemporary source summarized
Two fish about five inches long blocked a locomotive’s water feed at Whiting, leaving a Jersey Central freight train without enough power to continue.
The mechanical problem
The Thursday train stopped after its engine began losing steam. The crew drew the fires and inspected the boiler, finding no obstruction at that end of the feed pipe. Opening the tender end revealed the two dead fish flattened over the intake. Once removed, the train resumed its trip. The clipping names no crew member, train number, origin, destination, or delay length.
Source note
The surviving newspaper crop does not show a reliable masthead, complete issue date, or page number. Names and damaged words are identified as uncertain in the text; researchers should verify them against a full newspaper image before citation.