Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-03-16
NARROWING TIE GAUGE.
BUSY SCENES INTaE RAILROAD
OAR SHOPS.

How Locomotives and Cars are Changed
10 suit the Narrow Gauge TrAck
which win be Adopted ia Iay-Ihe
sIachinery That IA Used-M any In4-
provsmeut Being made.
The machine shops OF an the southern
railroads are busy at WORK getting ready
for the change Of gauge TO be made Nav
81 and June ]. The Savannah. Florida
and Western Railway Company aud Tue
Central Of Georgia are as busy as any
Away down to tie southeast Of the pas
senger depot OF the Savannah, flofda
and Western is a mound Of car Nlee.s
which from the urper end % ihe !'.us
looks like a miniature mountain. IAe
Certral's yards around the machine
shops are fun OF axles and wheels.
Nav and June are not t1e busiest
months railroads have 5y amy means, ana
a large proportion oi tleir rolling stock
usuauy lice Idle Curinr those months. II
possible the gauge u every car and
locomotive that eau be spared VIII
~ changed before tine tracks
are changed. 10 is intended 70 move
the rails three inches nearer together IN
TWO DAYS. The roads running east aud
west will change Tie first day and the
change the second day. To turn down
the car axles though and slip the tires Of
the locomotives viii take good many
weeks. For year most Of tse roads
have turned the shoulders down one aud
sne-half on all the car axles that vent in-
o the shops.
The rims on the locomotive wheels are
lhree-quarters OF an inch wider than the
tires. This permits the tires TO be slipped
In on the rims, but steel tire ITS loco
motive wheel a great deal tighter than
bark does a tree. Ineway the WCrkmen
get the tires loose before pushing them
over on the rim is au interesting process.
The machine shops OF butn tue roads run
aing out OF Savannah use tde same method,
and IL is said 10 be the one IN genera al uss.
Tue plan was explained over at the Gen.
raj shops yesterday afternoon. Put IN
the west side Of the round house il "A SIM
pie ARRANGEMENT consisting Of an air force
pump, several feet OfruUbGr nose ana sew
eral more feet OF 2-iuch iron pipe bent IN
ring so that it would just about nj around
the tire Of a locomotives big driving
wheels. There were other rings Of pipe
10 fit the smaller wheels. after raising
the carriage OF a locomotive 10y jacks the
trucks are slipped out aud into cOnyen-
lent position, with the aXles raised, so that
the wheels do not rest upon track. The
iron pipe is slipped around the
tire and gas is turned on IN the
pipe. The under side Of the pipe
is punched full Of small holes, and the
gas pOurs out OF these places Ike II does
out OF gas-jet. When the gas is first
lighted it does not make a very intense
heat, but when air is forced in at strong
pressure by the pump, the gas burns
hercely and the wheel seems to have
tire OF fire at white heat. In a few min
utes, as the tire gets hot, il expands, and
with clamps the tires are deXtrously
pushed ever p Of an inch. When that is
done to both wheels on an axle the
gauge is u inches smaller. That is only
half enough, however, and some turning
has 10 be done on tie locomotive aXles
after all. by immense hydraulic pres
sure to the hubs the wheels can be pushed
up on the axles until the gauge is reduced
TO feet inches--within half an inch of
the standard gauge.
All this changing is costing the rail-
road companies heavily, but a great deal
OF the outlay in machinery, ETC., now
reckoned in the narrow gauge account,
will be serviceable hereafter, or as rail-
road man put it yesterday, will come in
handy afterwards"
AS the alterations in the cars and en-
gines are made, number of improve
ments are also made. For instance, the
passenger cars on the Central Railroad
are being provided with Miller platforms
and cOuplers, larger wheels in some in-
stances, and the lettering Central Rail-
road" Is being discarded and Central Of
Georgia. substituted. In the case OF the
engines. many Of them are being provided
with new steel tires, and are receiving
other needed repairs. Altogether, when
the change Of gauge is completed, the
rolling stock of the road VIII be IN the
very best condition. Besides the improve
ments in rolling stock already owned by
the road, several handsome passenger
carshave besn built, and about thirty new
engines will be purchased.