Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-02-11
NATURAL GAS ON RAILROADS
To be Used as Fuel for Locomotives at a
Cost of About 20 Cents Day.

Within the past nine months more i'm
provements have been made in railroad
equipment than in any like period in the
history of the country. Perhaps the most
daring one now being ATTEMPTED is the
utilizing of natural gas as fuel for engines
and to furnish light and heat for the cars.
Several master mechanics in the country
hold that this product can be confined and
used at will, and the Master Mechanic of
the Fort Wayne, Cincinnati and Louis
vile Road has demonstrated his belief so
plainly that the officials of that line have
placed at his command all the money. men
and material necessary to a thorough test.
The route of that road is through the
heart of the immense gas regions of In
diana, many of the wells being of great
pressure, and flowing from 100000 to
100000 cubic feet every twentv-four
hours.
Several weeks ago the Master Mechanic
and Superintendent had constructed a
wrought-iron cylinder, eighteen feet long
and two feet in diameter, with heavy ends
screwed in. The cylinder was subjected to
the most critical and scientific tests. and
was provided with gauges to register the
pressure. 1t was placed on board car and
transported to Montpelier, Ind, where
there are located two strong gas wells.
The cylinder was attached to one of them.
which had rock pressure of $50 pounds
to the square inch. When the gas was
turned on the gauge showed that it was
full in less than one minute The tank
was then loaded on the cars and taken to
the shops at Fort Wayne. Here it was at
tached to the usual natural gas burning APP
paratus with regulator" that controlled
the enormous pressure of the gas so that it
flowed out in a steady regular current of
one and half ounces to the square inch.
the pressure at which natural gas is burned.
The gauge showed that the gas had lost
but little of its pressure, and it supplied
light in the burners in the shops for sew
eral hours, besides heating one large stove
and one forge.
So much of a success was the first test
that others have been made with larger
cylinders and the gas transported each
time distance Of thirty-eight miles. The
officials and experts are SO well satisfied
with the experiment that orders have
been issued to equip the road engines with
tanks and the workmen in the shops are
now making the necessary changes Large
steel tanks or cylinders somewhat after the
pattern Of the Standard Oil Companys
cars, are being made, and these will be at
tached to the engine in the rear of the
tender. They will have a capacity equal
to as many thousand cubic feet of gas as
will represent enough coal to make trip
over the road, which is about ITO miles in
length. The attachment to the fire-box of
the engine and the stoves in the cars will
be by means of pipe leading from the
tank, and will be regulated 10y hand
screw. The cost is exceedingly small. as
an engine can be supplied for about twenty
cents day.
The experiments made at Fort WAYNE
have been watched by expert mechanics
employed by the Erie and the Pennsyl-
vania Companies, and these systems will
also commence the construction of gas
tanks for the same purpose. In case the
tests made by these companies are success
full, it will be only short time until the
full problem on railways is solved.-Kan-
sas City Times.