The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-05-08
Miscellaneous Notes.


The Iowa roacs have decided not to contribute
to the Pacific Mail subsidy. and if the payments
are resumed the Pacific roads will have to stand
the entire amonnt
1t Is now thought that the foreclosure sale of
the East Tennessee Virginia q Georgia road
which was ordered to take place on May ", will
be postponed and the whole case reopened.
After all the unfavorable report sent out re-
garding the earnings of the New York Central
the report of the first quarter of this year will
show net earnings of II per cent on the stock
after paying all charges, including $500, 200 for
the quarters interest on West Shore bonds.
It is required by law that every accident on a
railroad which is attended with personal injury
shall be reported to. the Connecticut Railroad
Commissioners within twenty four hours. The
Commissioners are now looking into fiftyseven
cases in which accidents have been mentioned
by the newspapers. but not reported to the Com
missioners
The Railway World says the laws of Illinois,
like the laws of many other States. bristle with
provisions against attempts Of strikers or any
other person to obstruct the free movement OF
railway trains, but they were q dead letter In
the presence Of local policemen the sheriff of
Cook county and the Governor of Illinois.
A device for weighing trains when in molten
Is being tested In New Jersey. By this inven-
ton electricity is made to record the weights in
dicated upon scales or steelyards, the applica-
tioH UetDS Speclally designed tOr the W0iSuluR Ol
freight-cars while in motion. It is said that
with this device properly applied to the scales
an accurate account can be kept Of the weight
OF every car passing over them, even at full
speed.
The New York. Lake Erie Il Western contem-
plates making important changes i'm its meth
DDS of doing work in the division shops The
new policy is to concentrate work in the larger
shops more than has hitherto been the custom.
In pursuance of this policy. it Is the intention to
make material reductions in the staff OF work
men employed at out-stations, and do the work
where better facilities are provided. 1t is said
that Salamanca will lose about one hundred
men under the change, and that no car building
will be done there. Other small shops will be
reduced in like proportion.
+. Seven hundred different patterns of locomo-
tives are built in this country. A locomotive
builder says: There is an erroneous impression
prevalent abroad that American locomotive
builders build one design of locomotives and
then merely duplicate it indefinitely But the
truth is. there is such strong tendency among
American railway companies to adopt particu-
lar standard of their own suited to their individ
ual requirements, that very considerable Pro-
portion of the orders we receive require that the
locomotives be built exactly in accordance with
the company's drawings and specifications"
A saw without teeth, that will cut steel rail
in two minutes. is in operation at the Central
Hudson" shops, in Greenbush, N. Y. The saw
Is run by ninety horsepower engine-more
power than Is required to run all the other ma
chinery in the shops-and is thirty eight inches
in diameter, and thres-eighths of an inch thick
at the edge. The disk is made of Bessemer steel,
and runs at a very high rate of speed. While In
operation a band of fire encircles the saw, and
the many sparks flying from the revolving disk
resemble display of pyrotechnics to keep the
saw cool and prevent it from cracking, tank of
water is placed above the machine. from which
a small stream runs down and drops on the saw
while in motion.
There are not many locomotive works in the
country. The Baldwin works, of Philadelphia;
the Reading company's works, at Reading the
Altoona works of the Pennsylvania Railroad Com
pany; the Dickson Manufacturing Company of
Scranton; H. K Porter & Co., and the Pittsburg
locomotive works. both at Pittsburg, make up
the list for Pennsylvania In New Jersey the
Rogers works, the Cooke and the Grant works,
all at Paterson constitute the list of three for that
State. In New York there are three private
works. the Brooks at Dunkirk, the Schenectady,
and the New York works at Rome There are
only three in New England the Taunton and
the Mason Machine Company, both of Taunton,
Mass, and the Rhode Island locomotive works
at Providence. There scarcely dozen in all
building locomotives of the regular railway sizes