Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 506

Redlight Ralph, the Prince of the Road by J.C. Cowdrick is a railroad adventure serial. This installment opens with a dispatcher's crisis: two express trains, No. 9 and No. 6, are rushing toward head-on collision on a single track between Cranston and Greenwood. The operator at Cranston failed to stop Train No. 9 due to a faulty signal. The railroad president and directors are waiting to depart aboard a special train hauled by Ralph Raymond, the 20-year-old "Boy Engineer," known for a prior daring rescue. Ralph seizes the moment, detaches his engine alone, and races toward Haddington Junction to intercept the danger, confounding his superintendent and colleagues with his unexplained plan. Simultaneously, a reckless stock-train crew ignores orders to wait at Watson's and speeds toward Mansfield, creating a second collision threat for Ralph's engine. The narrative alternates between the dispatcher's office, paralyzed with helplessness, and the converging trains hurtling toward disaster.