New-York tribune., 1877-01-01
THE LAKE SHORE DISASTER.


become mOnotonous. The newspaper at drear-
ily frequent intervals is forced to tell the tale
of an enormous human slaughter, not upon
the battlefield, where it would be In man
ncr natural, but under the ordinary conditions
of safety. Something like discussion OF the
event at any rate, an expression OF pam ana
of sympathy is no more than d,cOrous. Ihls
at least we may offer in view of the additional
details of the Ashtabula catastrophe which are
printed this morning. But this simple express
sion must be all. We have no heart for pro-
longod elegy, no taste for dwelling upon the
simply dreadful and if we for moment con-
slider that narrowing scene, it is with rislng
feeling of indignation, and with something of
modification and Encouragement. That all
our discoveries, inventions, facilities for travel
which have put new face upon the earth
should come to this Why this very bridge
which went crashing down like rotten wood
was an improvement" upon The OLD trestle-
work. This very bridge, which sunk under no
very extraordinary weight, was considered
one of the safest of its kind III the
country. 1t had been put 10 thc
strictest tests and had not been found want
ing. 1t had been tried with the weight OF SIX
locomotives. Heavy trains had crossed both
its tracks simultaneously without causing any
important DETECTION. Engineers approved 1t,
travellers confdcd in it, the corporation, as we
are told, had done all that it could do to
make il safe, and there it lies in ruin, all Its
iron and masonry in chaotic confusion, with
one hundred human lives lost as the dire re-
suit of an nsufliciency which was suspected
by nobody! What is there to sayY what is
there to do7 The bridge, of course, is to be
rcbuilt, and in what way is it proposed so to
rebuiId it that travellers will not take their
yves in their hands when they cross ItY And
again comes up the question which cannot
easily be put down again, How are the public
to be assured that the new construction Is a
safe oncG And finally, How many other rail
way bridges are there in the country which
are no stronger than that at AShtabula, ana
which, under the same conditions, would tdll
rs that did!
1t is now self-pvidart that the bridge of the
Lake Shore road, while strong enough for the
test of wei:ht, at the time of its construction,
has since that time lost its strength. Ten
years ago the art Of buildinG that class OF iron
bridges was, compared with the present in its
infancy. The fatal defect may have been III
construction or in material or i'll both There
is a popular belief that iron or steel at low
tcmpcraturcs becomes brittle. Before the INTRO
duction of steel for rails, it will be remembered
that they were constantly breaking during the
cold season, sometimes with lamcntable re-
suits. Not many years ago the iron root OF a
railway station ut Troy gave way, involving "A
considerable loss Of life. 1t appears certain that
cast iron can never to any extent he used IN
the construction of railway bridges and that
any iron with constant Use and under daily
pressure will lose something of its strength.
On the other hand, many and very thorough
experiments by careful experts give no such
result. Iron and steel have been subjected to
the low temperatures which chemical mixtures
afford, far below anything possible in an Amer
lean Winter. and while in that condition have
been tested by every variety Of strain 1t - the
firm conviction of those who have made these
experiments that the metal ia not i'll the least
weakened by extreme cold, or even by fire.
duent and great changes of temperature
There is also a theory current that fire.
ducnt vibrations, such as are caused by
passing trains, change i'll time the mo-
lecular constitution of the iron, render
ing it more crystalline and brittle This
theory seems to be supported by the
practice of c0ndcmning and diScarding cannon
that have been fired Il certain number OF
times, though there ia then no external evil
dcnce of their growing weakness. But it is re-
piled to this that cannon are subjected to
strain which is far beyond the elasticity Of
metal, and it thus becomes permanently
stretched When the metal has been subjected
to millions of blows and strains, each one Of
which was within its capacity for separate en-
durance, the closest tests revealed no change
in its structure or strength. But here
is the terrible fact before us: the bridge at
Ashtabula gave way under a weight that was far
below it's nominal and tested breaking strains
That change has taken place during the ten or
eleven years it has been in use. Whatever the
laboratory experiments on the effects OF cold
or vibration may teach to the contrary, this
disaster ought to and will confirm the popular
belief, unless some different and more complete
exclamation can be offered. The bridge, as
now appears, could hardly have been safe for
very heavy trains under any circumstances. In
the weather of that bitter night 1t was no
better than trap.
The Brooklyn fire has led to n very strict
inspection of theaters, and the Lake Shore
accident ought to occasion a very severe in
spection of railway bridges. We wish we
could bs sure that it will, and that the COM
panies at any cost of money or Of convenience
will give their whole system of bridges a
thorough investigation. With the acknowl-
edged engineering ability of this country there
ought to be no difficulty in arriving at n
minimum of risk, whether we regard ronstruc-