The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1886-01-07
MIDGET LOCOMOTIVES.
Little Jo1ting Steam-Tugs that Do Mules
Work on Plantations.

Lutte JoItlng Steam-Tugs that Do Mulesf
! Work on Plantations
sit does Jolt Bit" said a man who
was riding in a cross-town bobtail car
Saturday, when the car bumped and
sWayed over the tracks of an avenue
road; "bnt if you want to have some
1un IN this line that exceeds the sport
OF riding on a log-wagon over a cordu-
roy road you should get job as en-
glneer on plantation locomotive"
wv here had L better apply?" we
asked.
down on some of the southern
! plantations for the genuine article, but
you can find counterparts in PennsyI-
yanla and Michigan aud northwestern
ONO. You don't need anv skill! ieyond
that required to hang on when she
wobbles. l suppose that very few
people have any idea of the number of
small locomotives in use in This coun-
try. They are driving the mule out of
business entirely. The regular planta-
ton locomotive is midget beside an
elevated railway motor. The elevated
motors weigh from Is to % tons, while
the midget weighs 3, and it is used on
rails that weigh II pounds TO the ward.
1he cylinders are only 10 inches long.
and the diameter is a trifle greater
than the breadth of my hand. Verv
frequently these locomotives are run
over wooden rails. There is 4-mile
road at Summerville, s. c., that uses
tlmbers inches square instead of iron.
People generally suppose that the old
fashion iron strap laid on a stringer
went out of fashion years ago, but a
lumber road near Savannah, 81 miles
hng hot Il
modern road, too.
'ln laying wood railroad the ties
are notched so that the rail sets down
about two inches into the tie. The
inner side of the notch is perpepdicu-
lar, and the outer edge slants away so
thatthe notch is wider at the bottom
than at the top. Then when the rail is
laid wedges are driven in beside it and
under the edge of the notch, thus keep
ing the rails from turning over or
spreading. Sugar maple with the
heart up makes the best rails. Some
times two-inch strips of maple are laid
ON soft-wood stringers. These roads
are uscu for grtufug OUT lumber anu
logs chiefly. Very little grading is
done. Cribs of logs are laid up in
stead of trestles, and the ordinary
Irregularities of common level land are
overcome by blocking up the ends of
ties with all sorts of logs and stumps.
know of one road that runs across a
low bit of ground on the stumps of
trees that were sawed off at the right
height The ground under these roads
becomes soft mud when it rains, and
the way these little locomotives snake
a train of logs through the clearing
with the mud slashing over everything
within ten rods of the track is eau
ton. On the foot-board of such a ma
chine Is where you can see jolting.
'.As fast as the available timber is
cut on one tract of land the road is
shifted to a new one. The engine on
the road at Summerville runs from ten
to twenty times over its four-mile road
every day, burns l cords of wood in
doing 1T, and haulS out 1000 feet of
logs of from tifty-five to sixty tons.
1t took the place of twenty mules, and
IS said to pay for itself every year.
Some of the little engines burn less
fuel than that. There is a road 81
miles long at Pensacola, Fla, on which
the engine burns only one-third OF a
cord of wood in its daily service of
thirty miles. There are no curves on
this road.
NASoN AANSAO dIO uOI
to wood Tor fuel. As lumbermen, thew
burn wood because the wood costs
little or nothing. As genuine planta-
ton engines, used for transporting cot
ton or sugar or supplies across the
country, they frequently burn refuse
suppressed sugar-cane. In different
form, but with the same diminutive
cylinders, they are used in coal-mines
for hauling cars, and burn either soft
or hard coal or coke. In their smallest
sizes they are only ten feet long over
all For use in mines they are some
times only II feet high and feet wide.
a few bushels of coal and few pals
of water keep them running all day.
One of these moles in 4 coal mine at
Brookfield, o., pulls twenty cars,
weighing nearly three-quarters of
ton each, up grade 1850 yards long.
that rises at the rate of 105 feet to the
mile. And yet any good athletic
schoolboy could jump over the engine
without drawing q second breath.
Curiously enough, these little locomo-
tives, that completely fill the tunnels
through which they run, serve as ven-
tilators, forcing the air ahead of them
and drawing it in after them, the same
% - PuhA PIuuSSE uIdNS "dloI luIO d
pump and forces it out again.
sin the mines, of course, iron or
steel rails are used. Iron is really
cheaper than wood in any locality.
The wood rail needs constant care.
When it is wet the locomotive can not
draw half load, and in the north it is
hard to keep clear of ice"
''What does ii cost to buy and run
one of these midget locomotives?r
1.-The first cost of the outfit depends
on the kind of a road and
the kind of service required. There is
one road down south where the engine
cost $1,000. The wooden road cost
$3.50 4 mile for the timber delivered
along the line. To lay and grade it
cost nearly as much more. The oil
and repairs to the engine have cost $50
Il year. The cost of cutting the wood
for fuel was 800 year. The engineer
got $3.50 year for running the ma
chine, and the boy who worked the
switches, coupled the cars, and made
himself generally useful got $3.50.
Allowing per cent. interest on the in
vestment the cost of that engine was
less than ZOO a year. The lumber
man found that it cost him 80 cents
per one thousand feet to deliver his
lumber alongside the dock ready to
ship. The ten mules and their drivers
that did the work before the locomotive
was purchased cost over 50. .00Oa year"
lone would think that with such
rough usage as a twelve-shilling en-
gineer and a wooden railroad would
give locomotive, a new one would be
necessary every six months"
"The fact is, sucl locomotives are
built proportionately strong, and are
well balanced. A man of good COM
mon. sense can be had in some parts of
the country for Sl.5O day, and that is
all that is required of an engineer.
The work is easy after one gets used to
the motion. The locomotives do not
wear out under twenty or twenty-five
years. Their economy is not found
alone in operating expenses, however,
for when markets are dull, or trade
slow, they cost nothing but little tai
to