The Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, Ohio) 1853-1861, 1860-12-20
Iron Sienn Passenger Cars

The Massllon Times thus speaks ola trial
trip Of the steam iron passenger car built by
Davenport & Russell, at that place:
There was about dozen railroad men snd
machinists on board, and il was the universal
" expressed opinion of all Tint the enterprise
was grand success, and would eventually ef-
feet an entire revolution in the mode of tran
sporting passengers upon railroads. The
fears entertained by some, that the car, from
its comparative lightness, would rock to and
fro, and ride uneasy when put to rapid mo-
ton, and that from its great length, would BE-
unable to pass round the short curves, were
entirely dispelled, as had been predicted by
those who fully understood the principles upon
which the truss and truck was constructed.
ltis thought that the car will work more sat-
islactorily in regard to the two particulars than
the common car. The average running time
between here and Alliance (e7 mies) yester-
day, was at the rate of 80 miles per hour, al
though no particular effort was made, for rea-
sons obvious to engineers and machinists, to
get out the iull speed of the car.
The car is constructed upon two patents,
which we will mention hereafter. Its ex
trc me length in 70 teet-l5 Of VIII oh in front
are oocoped by the boiler, water tlnk, an
baggage room.-phis great length is obtained
by means of g patent Davenpor u Russell's)
truss, upon which the bottom of the car rests.
| The engine is built upon the forward trucks,
under The boiler with which it is connected
by u flexible pire having ball and socket.
Mossrs. More & Parrot have patent upon
this part of the car. We might add here that
! the engine Tor the car WAS made by Messrs.
Campbell, Whittier & Co, RoXbury, Mass,
under the supern endence of $ M. Cummings
The car is entirely Constructed of iron, ex-
cept the fl ior, doors, window sash and blinds.
The seats, which are mgd of iron, and very
nicely upholstered, weigh less thsn one half
common wooden seats aud in the aggregate
fifteen hundred pounds less. The sides of
the car being made of iron, are about three
inches thinner than the wooden cars, which
makes u gain of six inches on the inside width
1t is calculated to carry one hundred passen
gers-nearly equal TO the number that can bo
seated in two ordinary cars.
The advantages of this over the common
cars now in use for carrying passengers, are
many and obvious. In the first place, the
cost of cnr of this description is about So
900. The cost of train of cars Of equal ca
pacity, is: for locomotive. SO 900; two pas
HNhEti S'N'H, 9pO,bNc5 pdBGdgc Gar, y tsOpO'
total $4,000. Here, then is saving of about
ten thousand dollars in the FIRST case. Agsit
it will not take more than one fourth of the
/, amount of fuel and oil to run this car and
will only require two or three persons at the
farthest, to manage it, when five is the
least number that could be employed on the
other. The weight of this car is about seven
teen tons; whilst that OF a train the size We
have named is eighty-fve tons--and heuce
the wear and tear of the road in running,
! would be proporionalIy less. 1t is also safe,
because being SO much lighter can be stopped
! quicker, and even in case of collision the con,
cussion would not be so great, and the fl XII
bility of the iron would cause it to give, ami
thus partially break the violence of the 81 ock
These considerations. with others we might
= mention, are such as will eventually cause
r this car to supercado, for the most part those
now in use