The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1871-07-06
aarrox Gauge Ha.!roads.

We are asked the question how can
hree-3oot gauge railroad be constructed
for 81, 600 per mile to build four-foot
ten inch gauge track on the best located
routes. The cost Of building and equip
ping . railroad Of narrow gauge is in
the proportion Of its cube root to that
of wide gauge. The cube of three feet
is twenty-sevcn- The cube OF four feet
eight and half inches, which is the nar-
rowcst of existing gauges, equals one
hundred and four, aad in this proportion
docs The cost Of the building and equip
ping roads of these tracks differ. s2.1CO
will bniId rs much three foot road as TO-
400 will construct of four feet eight and
a half inch track.
To illustratc this principle: a man
twice the height Of a boy will weigh eight
times as much. If the boy is three feet
and weighs, say four and half pounds,
a man FIVE feet eight and a half inches
built in the same proportion, will weigh
one hundred and fifty-six pounds, al
though he is only two feet eight and
half inches taller than the boy. a COM
mon freight cars weighs eight or ten tons
and carries burden Of ten tons. A
: freight locomotive weighs about thirty
tons. On 4 three foot track it has been
found that iron made freight cars need
weigh but fifteen hundred pounds and
arc amply strong enough to carry three
tons of freight. j., this case the car can
carry four times It's own weight where
rs on the wide track it it can bear Il load
OF only, or slightly, exceeding its own
weight. Twelve narrow gaugeG iron
cars only weig, as much as an ordinary
wood and iron freight truck, but they
viii convey thirty-siX tons q: freight,
whereas the big truck can safely move
Under only one fourth is much freight.
An cmpty freight train Of one locomotive
tender, and twenty trucks will weigh
over two hundred tons, and, when fully
loaded, rs much more, or four hundred
tons. One half Of :hc power of the loco
motive is, therefore, consumed in NOV
ing dead weight, and the other half IN
moving burden. A locomotive, rs ye
said, weighs thirty tons its tender, with
coal and water, weighs seventeen tons (;
and the two togethe.' forty-scven tons,
so. that the dead weight Of the engine
and tender is twcnty-four per cent. on
the empty train, CT eleven per cent. o..
the laden train. The weight Oh each
driving wheel Of the locomotive is be
twcca five and six tons. The in ury
sustained by the track, under this enor-
mons pressure on single point Of the
rail, mus, DC Obvious at :. glance. One To-
connective, cxertiaga pressure otsix tons
on each of lis driving wheels, will de the
rail more harm than = hundred locomo-
tivcs Running a; the same speed whose
wheels press the rail with but one ton
and u half of pressure. IL the one case
the iron is pressed beyond It's resisting
power; lis fibre is strained and crushed
and the rails soon wear out under such
excessive weight. Bnt to obtain the
necessary adhesive power 10 move the
train and its load UP grades, locomotives
must be built enormously heavy, which
speedily dctcrioratcs and destroys the
rails, and there is no help for it on a wide
track except by the use of steel rails, and
they are liable to snap like pipe stems
under the enfucnce Of frost and the
weight OF the locomotive.
On the narrow gauge track the loco
motive may be tank engine, and carry
its own coal and water and dispense with
the tender. 1t need not weigh but six or
eight tons with its supply of coal and
water. The pressure of its wheels will,
therefore, be but one and half or two
tons each. A pony locomotive weighing
six tons, with a ton and a half pressure
on the rail from each wheel, will draw
at the same speed more than one quar-
Ter as much load as n thirty-ton locomo-
tive, because a part of the weight of the
latter has to he thrown on the guiding
wheels, which subtracis rather than adds
TO the power Of the machine. Four such
pony engines will do the work of !, big
one with ease. Togo Their they will
weigh, with their fuel and water. about
thirty tons.