Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-06-10
RAILROAD CURVES ARE USEFUL.
Why Train Can Not Travel on Straight
Line Down Grade.
New York Mail and Express.

| New York Mail and Express.
"You may live till the yellow dog fades
from history" said a conductor the other
night, as the train hummed along, but
you'll never see straight railroad down a
steep hill.'
The curious passenger with the wart on
his nose rolled up his eyes in astonish-
ment. "My dear fellow" he exclaimed
staring at the conductor, Il do not under
stand what is to prevent train from run
ming straighward dOwn-hill."
''Just this, continued the conductor;
| curves are necessary on very heavy
! grade. Passengers are sometimes struck
with the great number of curves on the
road while it is up among the hills. They
imagine the curves are merely necessary
because the road winds around the hills.
| This is only partly true. IF the railroad
were to cross directly at heavy grade it
would still be necessary to have the curves.
No train can go at high rate of speed down
heavy grade on a straight track with
safety. The explanation is simple. The
tendency of any heavy body like train
is to move in a straight line, and the
attraction of gravitatiOn is not sufficient
to overcome the tendency to shoot off
where great speed or momentum has been
obtained. Hence train flying down a
straight on the hillside, instead of keep
ing the track would shoot Off on a tangent
into space.
''The curve" continued the wise man in
the blue uniform, 'is one of the greatest
safeguards in mountain engineering.
This is particularly noticeable in the case
of freight track. 1t very frequently
happens that an engine, drawing a heavy
freight train, can not stick close enough
to the track, when going down a heavy
grade, to control her speed. An engine
going down hill is really more helpless
than the same engine going up hill. That
is, she can pull a greater weight up the
hill than she can hold back in going down
the hill. 1t is a very common experience
with engineers of freight engines to have
their trains literally push them down
heavy grades at high rate of speed. In
such instances every curve is so much
salvation at the right time. The curve
retards the speed and enables the wheels
of the flying train to get a firmer 'pur-
chase on the track. Railroading in the
hills would be very dangerous were it not
for the curves sprinkled along at frequent
intervals.
"On some railroads it is the custom to
when a passenger-train is descending a
heavy grade that extends for many miles.
The train is managed altogether by the
air brakes. Every curve acts as a brake
on the speed, and in this way the train
can swing along for hours without attain
ing a too reckless speed with the aid of
the air brakes"
Just then the train went around a curve
and the curious passenger was thrown to
| one side of the seat.
cts wonder to me-" he gasped, ':that
these measly express trains don't fly OFF
the track in going around these heavy
curves"
"Weu sir said the conduc tor I've been
railroading for twenty-five years and I
never yet knew or heard OF train jump
ing the track on curve. There isn't the
| slightest danger on q graded curve, and
| hardly any on a fiat curve."-