On Saturday morning last as [Erie Railroad] train 5 was running near Ewing crossing, some two miles south of this place [Randolph, NY], one of the small wheels under the front of the engine broke and flew into an innumerable number of pieces. The engineer immediately applied the air brake, but the train ran some distance before it could be stopped, when it was found that the rim and spoke of the wheel were done entirely, and that the hub alone remained. This had kept the rail, and an accident fortunately averted. The engine, by running about as fast as a man can walk, pulled the train into this station, and a freight engine took it along on its journey. The disabled locomotive took a side-track and was visited by many during the day, and the great wonder with all was how it managed to keep the track under such speed. A machinist was sent on from Meadville, and the broken wheel mended as a new one. The engine was No. 27, D. C. Coleman, engineer.
Source: Weekly Courant. Randolph, New York. February 3, 1881