The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1884-08-06
VETERANS OF THE RAD
CONCERNING OLD LOCOMOTIVES.
How and Where Big Railroad Motors are
Manufactured-The Life OF an En-
gine-Lilte Minerva Bern
Complete.
IN. Y. world.l

"of course 1t Is trouble to keep locomo.
tive clean, but then it Is trouble to shave
or for woman TO wear stays. Anywhere
endure little inconvenience. But this
engine can be kept in order with one-half
the work required on older machines"
"Why is thatp
"Oh, the tendencies Of modernn locomo-
tive building is toward fewer bright parts.
Twenty years ago an engineer spent half
his life polishing brasses; now half an
hour day will suffice to keep his engine
presentable. Some Of the newest locomo-
tives are made with no bright parts what
eyer, but this is carrying plainness to an
extreme. Superintendents say that such
an engine does not live as long as a more
ornamental one, and guess that is the
fact. You see an engineer must keep pol
ished surfaces clean, whereas plain ma
chine is allowed to rust and SO starts on
the road to the scrap-heap, the cemetery
Of dead rolling stock"
SHOW long can a locomotive keep out of
this cemeteryW
"I's average life is about fifteen years,
though there are motors on the Erie Road
that were put on in 1855 and 1856. These
arc little decrepit, but they do their
work yet almost as faithfully as they did
twenty-five years ago. Some engines
smoke more than others, and smoking in a
machine as in men uses up vitality very
fast. No, can't say that these old Erie
locomotives are so very old.fashioned. In
fact they are not. One of the most curious
things about the locomotive is that II was
born complete. No invention that can
recall has been the subject Of so few i'm.
provements. Why, sir, If George Stephen.
son, the inventor Of the first railway mo-
tor, were to step from his grave into this
cab he could run his train to Philadelphia
after five minutes study.
"Why have there been so few improve
ments? From an engineers point of view,
should say because the machine Is per.
feet. Seventy.two years ago, long before
the first engine was introduced in this
country, John Stevens, in applying to tho
New Jersey Legislature for permission to
run steam carriages, said: Il can see moth.
mg TO hinder a steam carriage from NOV.
! ing on rails at the rate Of 100 miles an
lour.' OF course he did moi accomplish all
O. at he claimed. The first engine was
brought here in 1920 by Horatio Allen, was
tried on the Dolaware and Hudson River
Road and proved too heavy. Then our
American artisans began work on loco
motive at West Point, N. Y, and turned
out the "Phnnix," the first built In this
country. This proved entirely too small
for work, so heavier ones were built, but
none ever entered practical service. But
in 1892 Governor De Witt Clinton superin.
tended the construction Of u successful To-
comotive named after him, which piled be-
tween Schenectady aud Albany on the
Mohawk and Hudson Road.
"1he Baldwin Locomotive Works Of
Philadelphia, claims TO have built the
fourth machine made here. This was used
on the Philadelphia and Germantown
Railroad in 1893. Four years later the
Rogers Works of Paterson, n. j., after two
years. labor, completed its first engine"
"And you say these were good motorsp
"Certainly. There have been few
minor improvements on them, not many.
They have added cab for us fellows and
pilot (cow.catcher), increased the driv.
ing wheels from one pair to four or six,
and In the internal economy added the
M ultitubular boiler and the chimney ex-
hausL Those are the principal improve
ments, and on the entire locomotive there
are very few patents. The old machines
made almost as good time as the present
average. As for the few patented improve
ments, builders say the engines can be
made almost as we'll without them. The
engine OF to-day is a marvel Of simplicity
and beauty"
"Have all attempts at improvement
proved futilep
"Most OF the money spent in radical
changes has been wasted. The Fontaine
engine, named after its inventor, which
was 10 make eighty miles an hour with one
pair OF driving wheels placed above the
other, has not, II is said, made good It's
claim, and the Holland naphtha.burning
machine, invented by Mr.. Conant and In
tended to burn naptha and water, is now
lying idle in the Erie yards at Paterson.
Several trials failed, IL Is claimed, to In.
duce the engine TO work satisfactorily. As
far as brass and nickeled work goes the
machine is glittering success.
"The economizing Of fuel has always
been aimed ut, and on the Reading Road
dirt-burning machines are used TO CON
sumo the mountains Of otherwise value.
less coal-dust that accumulate at the
mouths OF the mines. In cities where the
smoke is objected to, some companies have
been obliged to resort to using expensive
coke. There are at present sixteen loco.
motive works in the country, not includ
ing the shops owned by railway com.
panies. Pennsylvania has five Of these
New Jersey and Massachusetts, three each
New York two, Rhode Island, New Hamp
shire and Maine one each. These works
give employment TO $4,000 men and every
year add about 1900 locomotives 10. the
20,OOO now in daily use. At present five
men have TO work an entire year TO com
plete one OF these huge machines. The
year just past has been q somewhat dul
one for manufacturers and a majority o.
the shops are not now working full time
"Are all engineers as well informedf
think so 1t Is our business to know th,
history Of our engine, and we certainly
! have TO know how our locomotive 4
built. You will always find that goo'
mechanic makes good engineer" AM
the grimy driver disappeared under hi
engine and squirted half pint OF oil from
the elongated spout of a dinner.pail.look
ing oil-can into an invisible aperture,