Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1888-02-08
RAILWAY RUMBLE.

FAST locomotives between New York and
Philadelphia do q mile in fifty secopds.
They have 6-foot S-inch wheel, 1S-inch cylin-
ders and 24inch stroke.
A SAVINGS fund is to be started by the
Pennsylvania railroad for its employees.
Four per cent interest will be allowed on
all deposits of five dollars and upwards.
THE Southern Pacific Company is build
ing railroad in the Colorado desert on q
bed of rock salt. Blocks Of salt crystals are
used in grading the road for over a thou
sand feet.
A NEW invention for use on trains in case
of emergency is an anchor brake. This APP
pliance is dropped from the rear end of q
train and catches on the ties. This appa-
ratus is provided with spring to provide
against shock.
The Electrical Car Company, of London,
Eng, are about to introduce their system
of automatic propulsion on one of the metro
politan tram lines, and are to build a large
electrical locomotive for drawing trains on
the underground railway. Under this sys-
tenn the vehicle contains the batteries,
which are charged at night and worked in
the day.
A SERIES of air-brake tests were lately
witnessed by nearly thousand prominent
railroad men near Philadelphia. Fifty
heavy freight cars were used. Going at %
miles per hour, they were stopped in l41S
seconds, running over 264 feet. At 80 miles
per hour they were stopped in 1o111 seconds.
1t took five brakemen 20 seconds to stop it
| from speed of Is miles per hour.
| IT is thought impossible to set limit to
the possibilities of railways in this country
| Investments in railroads are more profit
able than ever before, and nowhere Is the
construction of roads progressing so rap
idly as in the United States. We have over
two-ffths of the railroad mileage of the
earth. In the State of Georgia alone there
are several hundred more miles of railroads
than there are in the German Empire.
! AN Eastern railway company has had q
thousand tabular iron platform cars built,
and these have proven such a success that
three thousand more have been ordered
These cars, constructed wholly of iron,
weigh Is 800 pounds, and carry 5000 pounds
or over. The other day one run into Jersey
| City with 10000 pounds. This is an immense
saving to the railroads, as the old wooden
cars weigh $1,000 to 10000 pounds, and do
not carry over twice their weight.
A RECENT paper on the business of the
! London & Northwestern railroad, of En-
| gland, gives the following facts The cor
poration has a capital of $3.50, ,000, 900, and
the annual revenue is s5O,OOO,OOO. 1t has
| 10000 employees and carries 6O,O00,OO0 pas
sengers and 80, 100000 tons of freight The
1900 engines of the company together
make a journey in four hours equivalent to
| going around the world. So great is the
wear and tear that one new engine is called
| into use each week.
A PRACTICABLE invention is that of a car
| fire-eXtinguisher, in case of derailment or
collision. 1t consists of a tank of water
above the stove, with large pipe extending
from it to the inside of the stove, just above
the fire; trap in the bottom of the tank is
connected by levers with a series of arms
at the bottom of the car, one of these arms
extending under each corner of each plat
form, while another extends down toward
the track. In case, therefore, of collision,
one of the arms under the platform must be
struck first, thus moving the lever, opening
the trap and instantly deluging the fire with
water, or, in case of derailment, one of the
arms hanging down toward the track is
struck and operates the lever.