On advance of time by George Keyports Brady is a pulp-era railroad short story written in the early 20th century. It blends high-speed rail drama with a modest romance, focusing on an express run under an “advance of time” order, a jealous act of sabotage, and a brakeman’s courage. Elsie Macumber refuses a proposal from hostler Sam Dobinski, calling him neither tall nor brave. Stung and drunk with spite, Sam sets a free engine onto the main line in a dense fog, aiming to wreck the express her father is driving. Brakeman Patrick O’Hara spots the danger, leaps aboard the loose locomotive, and coaxes it forward just in time, while the express grinds down under full brakes and disaster is averted. Sam slips away unseen. Hailed as a hero, the bashful Patrick asks the engineer to put in a word with Elsie; soon after, her father ushers Patrick into the parlor, where the romance that courage has earned is ready to begin. (This is an automatically generated summary.)