Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1888-02-24
NATURAL GAS ON RAILROADS.
From the Kansas City Times.l

From the Kansas City Tines
Within the past nine months more inn
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 en-
gines 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 Louisville 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 re-
gions of Indiana, many of the wells be-
ing of great pressure, and flowing from
100000 to 100000 cubic feet every
twenty-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 sub
iected to the most critical and scientific
tests, and was provided with guages to
register the pressure. 1t was placed on
board car and transported to Montpe-
lier, Ind, where there are located two
strong gas wells. The cylinder was at
tached to one of them which had rock
pressure Of $50 pounds to the square inch.
When the gas was turned on the guage
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 attached to the
usual natural gas burning apparatus with
a regulator that controlled the enor-
nous pressure of the gas so that it flowed
out in a steady regular current of one and
a half ounces to the square inch, the pres
sure at which natural gas is burned. The
guage showed that the gas had lost but
little of it's pressure, and it supplied light
in the burners in the shops for several
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 Stand
ard Oil company's cars are being made,
and these will be attached 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
of coal to make a trip over the road,
which is about / 10 miles in length. The
attachment to the fire box of the engine
and stoves in the cars will be by means
of pipe leading from the tank and will
be regulated by 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 Pennsylvania
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 successful,
. it will be only short time until the full
problem on railways is solved.