Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-06-11
THE RAILROADS.
Particulars of the s. P.'s
Motive Power.
TIE CATALINA EXCURSION
Heavy Trains Yesterday 20 santa
Monica and Long Beach.

Two large locomotives Of the new ex-
tended front and small smokestack style
have arrived from the East for the South
ern Pacific Company. Theseare the frat
comers Of batch Of 100 engines, for
which orders were given months ago.
at Is very difficult, " said Mr.. y. II.
Foster auditor Of motive power OF the
Soul Pacific Company, TO a Iepor.
tor, to got orders for locomotives filed
in the East at pre- enc Although our de-
mauds ior motive have been most press
ing, and we have tried IN eye'y way to
hurry up the Eastern engine-makers, we
have been Obliged 10 wait until such time
as We could ge; them, taking our turn in
the great rush Of orders from all lhe rail
road companies Of the United States. a
rush that the manufacturers say is with
out precedent. 1t was understood when
these orders for 100 locomotives Were
sent out that there would be trouble in
getting them filed promptly, and for
that reason the orders were scattered
about among several Of the leading
works, among them those at Patterson
n j., Schenectady, n. Y, and Provi
dence, II. l."
How many locomotives are now run
ming on the Southern Pacific Companvs
system ?' was asked.
Altogether 450 We could use over
500 i we had them, and will be pretty well
supplied when We get the 100 recently
ordered. We should have received ali
of these last month, but they will proba-
bly, not be here before the end of the
present month. To make up the delic-
iency in motive power we have been
leasing all of the locomotives that could
be secured in that way to accommodate
the rapidly increasing traffic OF the sys-
tenn. II has been hard work, however,
10 get engines from other lines as they
have nearly all been in the same fix that
W have been in. Some OF our leased
engines have been from the Union Pa
cific, the Oregon and California, the
Virginia and Iruckee and the Houston
and Texas Central. About twenty-five
have been secured in this way"
Is the Central Pacific Company max
ing many engines at it's Sacramento
shops?"
Yes, a good many; and thev are all
Of the new extended front and small
stack style, There are about fifty of this
pattern now running on the line, but
none OF them run into Oakland at pre-
sent. There are few on the northern
division and several on the Salt Lake
division, while others run to Tucson
Yes, the locomotives now made for the
Southern Pacific Company are OF much
heavier pattern than in former years,
taking the average. You might say that
the weight was almost doubled. Here is
what We call consolidated engine,
number OF which have lately been intro
duced on the line" said the gentleman.
showing the reporter a Photograph of a
small-etack, extends d-front locomotive OF
the ten-wheel pattern. at weighs Ill
$50 pounds. Formerly an engine OF 50,-
0J0 to 10000 pounds was considered
heavy enough, and few of those built
long ago and now running on the branch
lines Of the system are OF even less
weight, the one used on the West Berk-
ley track, for instance which weighs
AZ 600 pounds. This doubling OF weight
Of locomotives is simply q part OF the
general tendency in every line OF rolling
stock and trackage for heavier equipment.
Formerly tifteen-ton box cars were OF
sufficient capacity, but now this company
orders only ytwenty-five-ton cars. Fifteen
hundred freight cars have been put on
the lines OF this company in the last few
months, of which 1000 were box and 500
were fiat cars, each Of twenty-five tons
capacity. You might says that the in
crease in capacity Of cars is fully 60 per
cent. over the old style. Our box cars
aye now made thirty-four leet long, while
formerly they were only twenty.eight to
thirty. There is great economy in this
Increased capacity, as the cost of the
large cars is not much greater than that
oil the smaller ones. Passenger cars are
also much larger than those OF former
years. The old coach weighed about |
% 900 pounds, whila the modern Pull |
man weighs 75,0 600 10 so 900 pounds. So |
You see that the coast railway train Of |
to-day is a much heavier affair than that
OF ten or fifteen years ago One Of the |
reasons for building such large locomu-
tiYes is that it is sought to prevent |
the running OF trains in two or more sec
tons. Freight traiEs hauled by the new |
and powerful locomotives now being pat |
on the road can be OF almost any length, |
the limit OF the hauling power being very
ligh. For passenger service, however, |
!; IS a different thing, as only twelve to |
ioU,teen cars can be run with safety and
convenience even with very heavy
engine. Yes" added MIR. Foster, "the
Increased weight Of the rolling stock calls
for heavier rails and stronger bridges, as
a natural result This company is now
laying nothing lighter than sixty pound
steel-that is, sixty pounds to tie yard
Formerly ffty-pound steel Was consid-
cred heavy enough"
Mr. Foster explained that the giant
passenger engines now pulling the over
land trains, and which tower above the
smaller engines as il the latter were so
many pygmies, were not OF much greater
weight than many others, the body Of
the locomotive being set up on a higher
frame than that ordinarily used.