St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1885-10-03

cause they have no projecting plaC1otn
at the ends, no overhanging roof or
hood, but are buckled close up to each
other, and their contact controlled by
small metal buffers, the springs OF
which allow, play of from eighteen
inches to two feet and half between
car and car. The Miller platform the
Janney coupler, the link and pln-ot all
the familiar devices of the United States.
there is not one to be seen. The brakes:
None visible. Nor, for the matter o.
that, brakeman. This influential ana
numerous person has no existence IN
England There is not even rudlmen.
tary type of him. That you DO not
find him is the first stern intimationy You
receive that in English railroading there
are no autocrats. The wheels are fitted
with brakes, however, and the trained
eve notes a rubber hose connection be-
tween the carriages, quite different IN
it's application to that known at home,
but which nevertheless betokens the ar
brake. He takes account of the dis
tinctions of class, and reflects upon his
country's yelled progress in that regard
in the matter of parlor cars and limited
express trains. Then he finds that
there is no baggage-master to wait the
volatile Saratoga to its doom, as his
own newspaper would express it. There
is perhaps a luggage van or two, or there
are in the carriages themselves luggage
compartments according to tho way in
which the train is made up, the length
OF Journey it is to take, or the custom OF
the particular line under observation.
His final contemplation is perhaps de-
voted to the engine, and if he has ever
given anyof his attention to the Ameri5
can locomotive, it fills him with a deep
concern. Herecalls the imposing splen-
dor of the latter, its comfortable and
lofty cab of oiled and polished wood. its
gray brass bell, the soul-stirring whistle,
thenoble headlight and the destroy
ing pilot, the great cinder-consuming
smoke-stack (unless it be a hard-c0al
| burner, in which case that feature
shrinks to moderate propor6ons), the
powerful drivers and compact cylinders,
| the eccentric connecting rods and COM
pact cylinders, the connecting and
all its parts radiant with the glitter of
polished steel or FURNISHED brass, or
decked with appropriated vermillion or
emerald green. In all these matters
the English locomotive compares with
it much as lawn-mower does with a
/ New York fire7engine. It is a humble,
/ awkward green or monochromatic ma
chine. 1t has neither polish OF decora-
ton about it. There is no cab, The en-
oineer and his fireman-that is to say,
4 enoine-driver and his stoker, as they arc
styled in England perform their duties
i with only such shelter as is afforded by
d board screen in front of them, pierced
by two round apertures filled with stout
| glass, technically known as "specta-
cles.' The smoke-stack is short and
thick; there is an unsightly green hump
on the back of the boiler; the cylinder;
are under the front of the latter instead
of on each side before the drivers; the
wheels are all large, and the body O.
the engine is perched high up above
them and looks top-heavy and danger
Gus. The whole thing is rigid and stiff
looking, and to the observer who ha
had to do with the external aspects of 10
comotives it is unprepossessing and I'm
lovely. The practical American engi
neer whistles thoughtlessly as he sur
yeys it, and wonders 10 himself how Ion!
it would be before he would ditch hi
train if he had to run on new Western
railroad with such an engine. Wher
would he be on sharp cure, or hov
would such running gear adapt itself t
an unevenly ballasted track? The lo1
center of gravity of the American loco
motive, the weight distributed well dow
] between the wheels, the play of tn
small broad fianges under the pilo
truck, and the external gearing of tn
driving-wheels, all give the America
engine an appearance of sta9ility whic
impresses not merely the layman, bu
also the expert. Harper Magazine.