The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1876-09-09
HARTWELL,

A WINDY LOCOMOTIVES Somebody
whose name is "F." (FlatulentO writes
a windy letter to the N. Y. Sun from
Kansas, in which he details novel plan
Oh railroad locomotion by means ofmast
ana sails to a car. After telling of some
wondrous exploits of Kansas boy In
killing birds by means of gun without
powder, this newspaper correspondent, i,
as he calls himself, proceeds to tell of
their running car without steam; say
| ing:
While was admiring the skill of this
ingenious chlld heard rattling on the
rails behind me, and turning L beheld-
what? Did my eyes deceive meP Was
IL actually an ice boat on wheels While
L was thus specializing the thug flashed
past me like lightning. However, the
two men on board beck0ned to me to join
them, and running up, soon found N.Y.
self on the deck Of q sail car. This one
is the only vehicle of the kind in the
world, and l am the first neWspape cor
respondent that has sailed upon it, That
is even better than ballooning.
This sail car Is six feet long, the width
being that of the ordinary hand car on a
broad gauge road. The mast is about
sixteen feet high, and is rigged with
triangular sail, of dark, snuif-colored
cotton, containing nine square Yards,
The sail is rugged latteen.wise. the
over spar being about ten feet long. A
red signal flag is fixed at the top of the
mast. The wheels are those in ordinary
use on railways. On each side OF the |
deck is fixed a bench two feet high, for |
crew and passengers. The whole |
machine probably weighs about one
thousand or one thousand two hundre d |
pounds.
The two men on board I shall call re-
spectiyely tue captain and pilot. The
former was, found, plumber, and had
charge of all the tanks in this division OF
the Kansas Pacific Railroad, This
he had devised about four years
ago to run up and down the road and
inspect the water supply of his division,
He said 1t could be run almost every day,
There is constantly gentle gale blow
ing over this beautiful plateau, which is
always at service to impel the machine.
The speed of the sail car depends of
course upon the nature OF the ground,
Where you are passing behind the swell
ng OF the pralres, or any obstruction-l
there are very few trees In Kansas =, the
speed slackens considerably; but out on ,
'nS OpSu plaluS VI dlOuS Tue IOp OF all en- ,
,ankment, the velocity becomes terrific,
Then to sWoop round curve or dash
Lcross a bridge makes one shudder, or
,rind one's teeth. The average rate.
he captain said, is about fifteen miles :
N hour. In passing over embellishments, :
is generally necessary to put on the q
rake. 1t is impossible to imagine any I
lethod OF locomotion more easv or de- !
lghtful. The machine skins along over
he smooth rails like huge bird. 1 was
of Milton's allusion to the =
swift Chlneses" flying in their "canoy ?
arrIages" over the plains of Tdrtary- n
ut l forget the precise quotation. i,
We reached Hays in ABOUT forty min. .
tes. From Hays the ride to Russell q
,as one of intense enjoyment. The +,
lalns here are open, ana the free winds r
ent us along at 1t rattlng pace. l am a
lcllned to believe that we occasionally "
cached speed OF forty miles an hour. "
'e reached Russell shortly after 8 u
clock, having performed the journey Of ~
rty-tWo miles In exactly two hours. q,
Perhaps the most surprising part of y,
is adventure is that we did not meet ~
~ locomotives OF trains on the track. tIee
le fact is, the traffic on the Kansas Pa -,
hc Railroad seems TO be confined, by h.
~, to one or two trains each way. At M
ght the trains are more frequent. 10
Altogether pronounce saiI.car riding | ~
le OF the most del gutiul experiences a -
'rson can taste. L wonder if the idea
uld not be utilized further east. Il.