The Livingston enterprise. [volume] (Livingston, Mont.) 1883-1914, 1888-01-28
Railroad Notes.

The San Francisco Chronicle predicts
that the fast train over the Union Pacific,
known as the ssovcrland flyer will shortly
be abandoned.
The Montana Central has received a new
mail car from the east and another one is
on the way. The company now has a
government contract to carry the mall be-
tween Helena and Great Falls.
The Northern Pacific announces that
the Mlssoula & Bitter Root Valley branch
will, until further notice, be operated by
the construction department. This line
runs south from Missoula into the Bitter
Root mountains, and is completed Il dis
tance of 40 miles.
Pioneer Press: 1t is stated here that
Vice President Potter will resign and sever
| bis connections with the Union Pacific on
April Is, or at the end of his first years
management. His doctors have ordered
absolute rest and retirement from active
participation IN railway affairs. Overwork
and mental strain have brought on heart
troubles, and he is threa. ened with COM
plete breakdown.
It would seem that the two rotary snow
plows in use on the Cascade branch have
not been so successfully handled rs the
one recently used in Dakota. The Ellens-
burg Localizer says: The two rotary
snowplows have been lying at the depot
this week, undergoing repairs. There
were eight locomotives there on Wednes-
day. One of the plows and its water tank
were in the round-house. The bumpers of
the tank were jambed and the wood work
knocked into splinters. The locomotives
and plows are covered with ice, which
shows that they have been used where the
weather was very cold when they were
used last. They will doubtless remain idle
until the weather gets warmer, if that takes
all winter.
Inter- Mountain: The freight depart
mcnt of the Northern Pacific road, during
the cold snap, was at a standstlll, and not
freight train could he moved between st
Paul and Wallula. In Butte the smelling
men were crying loudly for coke. Clark s
Colusa, in particular, was short. Several
hundred men were Indirectly dependen1
upon its operation. This fact was tele
7 graphed to st. Paul and the result was
: that cars loaded with coke were attached
, to the regular passenger trains and rushed
} through whenever it was possible at thu
rate of thirty miles an hour. The smelte1
: was kept going and other smelters were
< also supplied Very few railroads in thu
t country would have done what the North
: ern Pacific did in the emergency. Ant
: that company should receive due credi
). and the thanks of the people for its cour
tcsy.
Railway officials pronounce the rotary
$ snow pillow the best possible means eve
devised to get rid of snow blockade
That of the Northern Pacific weighs fift.
tons without its coal and water supply ant
J. cost $15, 1000, or just twice as much as tw
J good locomotives. 1t is square in form
n and contains powerful machinery to NOV
Il the steel blades that cut and shovel tn
u snow and ice. The steel blades are al
: ranged much like the propeller of stear
l. vessel, and are worked at speed of 20
y revolutions a minute. The plow itself
/ however, is moved by locomotive til
same as the ordinary pillow, but more tha
d one locomotive is hardly ever required
d The capacity of these plows for removin
J. snow from road is said to excel that {
N any number of men who might be crowf
: ed along any gwen piece of track An
g it not only removes the snow from tn
L. track, but throws it up aud through a plI
at or funnel away off from the road bed.
n IS calculated that the rotary plow ca
K clear railroad track of any impedir
r snow and ice Of an average depth OF g
gs feet while being pushed along by loo
ss motive running from twelve to fiftet
miles an hour.