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Here We Go:

Many years ago, during the age of steam, a freight train pulling 78 cars loaded with coal left the coal fields in Wyoming headed east for the Taconite mills in Minnesota.
There is nothing odd about this train, it being a standard at the time to use oil fired steam engines. The engineer was a Norwegian fellow, very serious about his job, and attentive to details.

At the same time, on the same set of tracks a passenger train, carrying 255 passengers left Duluth, Minnesota headed for Fargo, Bismarck, and points west.
There also was nothing odd about this locomotive, except to note that the engineer was a known drunkard and had only been tapped to do this job because of the unavailability of any other qualified engineer.

As the hours wore on, the trains, traveling at 58mph and 69mph respectively, hurtled toward each other.
Being that there was a severe snow storm going on, and the telephone and telegraph lines were down, there was no way to call ahead and shunt either train onto a siding in time to prevent a terrible crash.

Now remember that the speed of the two locomotives was 58 mph and 69 mph, which would give a combined speed of 127 mph, and that there was no way for the trains to be diverted from their chosen paths.

As time went on, the trains came closer and closer together until finally they were less than a mile apart when both engineers saw the oncoming lights of the approaching trains.

Both engineers applied every bit of the brakes available to them, but by the time the brakes had actuated, the trains were only 500 feet apart. As they came closer and closer together, the speed dropped very slowly, not nearly enough to avoid a crash and subsequent loss of lives.

Finally, the engines were only 50 feet apart when a huge gust of wind blew a cloud of frozen ice crystals (as opposed to hot ice crystals), between the two locomotives, obscuring the vision of both engineers.

When the temporary whiteout cleared, neither train was damaged, and the west bound train was safely past the east bound train, with both trains proceeding in their chosen directions.

Question:
Why didn't the two locomotives crash into each other?