The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1884-09-01
Engines of To-Day

DO | take pride in keeping my en-
CINE bright said a veteran engineer OR
the New York Central road yesterday
well, l should say l did You might as
reasonably ask good housekeeper if she
delights in keeping her house clean.
Why, You may not believe what | say, but
| should ACTUALLY just as soon eat from a
dirty plate as 10 ride on an engine whose
brass was not polished and which was not
bright and clean in other respects. Of
course it is some trouble to keep an en-
CINE presentable, but this one can be
kept in order with one half the work re-
Quired in older machines and for this rea
son: The modern locomotive is built with
but few bright parts. Years ago it took
an engineer nearly half day to polish
the brasses, but now the same work is
done in half an hour. The latest locomo,
tives are almost totally void of bright
parts, but this is carrying plainnesS to
extrem. The modernengine is not in fla
vor with the railroad managers, for they
claim, and think with good reason, that
it does not live as long as more orna-
mental one You see plain machine is
soon hurried to the cemetery the scrap
heap"
What is the average life of locomo-
tive?' queried the reporter.
"Well that depends on how the ma
chine is used" replied the engineer.
Fifteen years is considered a ripe old
age for locomotive, although there are
moters on the Erie which were put in use
thirty years ago. They are beginning to
show signs of senility, though they yet
render fair service. Some engines smoke
greatly and smoking is as injurious to
them as it is to men
Have there been many improvements
in locomotives
The truth of the matter is, the first
engine brought to this country in 1929 by
Horatio Allen was nearly as perfect as the
engine OF today The only fault with
Aliens was that it was altogether too
cumbersome. Subsequently the Phoenix
was built but did not give satisfaction, as
it was too light. In 1888 Gov. Witt Gin
ton superintendent the construction of 8
| locomotive which was named after him
and which ran between Schenectady and
Albany. These and others built soon af
ter were excellent moters. There have
been a few minor improvements on them
but not many. They have added cal
| for us and a COW catcher, increased the
number of driving wheels, and added tho
chimney exhaust, but the old machine:
made nearly as good time as the modern
ones Large sums of money have beer
spent in trying to effect radical improve
ments, but these attempts have not beer
successful. One Fontain thought HI
could make eighty miles an hour with on,
pair of driving wheels placed above thu
other but his idea could not be pract!C'
ally carried out Then Mr.. Conant ina
gined he had fortune in his HOLLAND
naphtha burning machine, which was tt
consume naphtha and water. He als(
failed, and his machine is resting in TIT
Erie yards at Paterson. There are a
present sixteen locomotive works in TIN
country. exclusive of the shops owned b,
the railroads. They are distributed a
follows: Five in Pennsylvania, three il
New Jersey and the same nun Der il
Massachusetts; two in New York an2 on
each in Rhode Island, New Hampshir
and Maine About $4,000 men are EN-
ployed, who turn out 1900 locomotive
yearly There are about 10000 locomo
tives in daily use in the country. 1t take
five men an entire year to build locomo
tive. But concluded the driver, lit
high time should start on my Easter
trip. Call again some day, and | shall b
pleased to talk further with you on
subject to which have devoted my lif
in studying" Three minutes later tn
engineer had pulled the throttle and tn
immense locomotive had started towar
} the rising sun Buffalo Courier.