Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1889-01-25
WORKOUT LOCOMOTIVES.
A Chicago Reporter Describes n Visit t.
the GOiC0tha of the Track.

| ~" fN0phS k@UfC ldSh u Wuus Et'
comes OF the railroad locomotive after i;
has passed its years of usefulness. Where
are they buried is often asked, and none
but the railroad man can answer. The
| great locomotive works of the country arc
busy day and night trying to supply the
demands made upon them, and yet they
are not equal to the task, SO rapidly arc
railroads being constructed in every State
In the Union. The time consumed in build
ing one of these iron monsters has been
reduced TO minimum, and some of the
works are able to turn out an engine com
plete In every particular every twentyiour
| hours. They must pass away rapidly, and
what becomes of them you ask. A re-
porter of the Chicago Times made tour
through the scrap-iron yard of the Illinois
Central railroad, and all about, bleaching
and falling away from the influences of tho
winds and storms of winter, were the bones
and carcasses of these mighty dead. This
was the burying-ground for the great To-
comotlves OF the country, the huge en-
gines that have served out their term of
life.
They have a history, though, these dead
and rusty masses of old iron, Take this
old carcass OF engine 1872. There Is nothing
left now but the boiler, and that is falling
apart with the action of rust--thc nero
skeleton of what was once q mighty force.
The woodwork Of the engineers cab has
long ago been torn out, the huge driving
wheel and the rods and bars, the brass and
steel trimmings, the bell and smoke-stack,
the truck-wheels and the all that went to
make the complete engine have been taken
n tho ohpuf h n n pf tbn hoilar IT.
self, and thus dismantlcd the remnant OF
old ''192' is left to its fate. 1t used to be
one of the best in use, and tho grzzled en-
ginecrs of the road cast fond glancos over
at the yard where it lies as they rush past
on q newer and finer locomotive, recalling
how that battered ruin was years ago the
champion of the track and enved Of all.
Here is engine l79 with portion of the
cab still chnging to the boiler, but that is
all that remains 10 show it's former use 1t
is recent arrival IN the graveyard of the
engines, yet tho sparrows find snug quar-
ters in the hooks aud crannies of the pipes,
and have built their nests in the place
where only q short time ago the roaring
furnace-ire and Kissing steam gave life
and speed to the hugo mass of metal. A
half-dozen other ruins, in the process OF
greater or less decay, lie about the place,
and the ground is strewn with tho odds and
ends Of many more. 1t Is the Golgotha OF
the track q sepulcher wncre time spreads
the pail of oblivion over mans handiWork
and makes it naught,
The life of a locomotive depends very
much on the workmanship put into its con-
structon and the class of WORK it performs
A first-class passenger engine should be
good for twenty-five years, but few now
turned out of the shops reach that age, be-
cause tho necessity for speed In manufact-
ure and the demand for engines do not al
low the time and care to be spent that
formerly went to make up the locomotive,
AS q matter of fact, the locomotives made
twenty years ago are still in service on
many a railroad where the engine pur-
chased dozen years ago is laid up or put
into scrap. This is due solely to the sup
erior workmanship and the material used.
Much depends, also, on the class of work
required Of an engine. The passenger loco
motive, which makes run of two hundred
miles per day, at an average speed OF
twenty-five or thirty miles an hour, does
not sustain nearly so much wear and tear
to its boiler and machinery as the engine
that pulls loadel freight train ut the COM
paratively slow rate of fifteen miles an
hour. The strain is ten times as much on
every part Of the freight engine us it is on
the passenger engine, and this is what tells
on the life of the machine Tho Illinois
Central has an engine in service built for il
in 1853, and some Of the old carcasses in the
graveyard can look back over only half
that number OF years. They were larger
and finer to see, and had lots OF modern
improvements, but the boiler was the vital
point, and gave out before tho little old
5Ser felt the pangs of age.
The company sold an engine the other
day that had better record even that this.
Engine No. % was built in 1857, and was
used continuously up to few weeks ago,
when it went to the grave-yard-not to be
buried, however. The company really had
sort OF sentimental affection for the faith
full old worker, and meant to keep it housed
rs q relic of the carly days and have a little
placard announcing some Of the interesting
events In its career, but q speculative junk.
man happened along and saw how he could
turn an honest penny with No. 90. He made
an offer for it, which was accepted, and so
one day the brave engine pulled out from
the yard where she had sojourned for thir-
ty-one years and went away down the IA
miliar road for the last time, and the old en-
gineers and the helpers and the Workmen
all raised their hats and chcered her as she
went along. What the junkman did with her
is not known, but it is moro than likely No.
90 is again hard at work at some coal or iron
mine pulling away with creasing and weary
joints at q heavy load. The engine is on the
books of the English Railroad Commission
as remarkable instance Of longevity in To-
comotiyes. Some years ago information
was asked from American railroads as to
the life Of the American engine, the pur.
pose being for comparison with English.
made engines, and it is on record that little
23 beat 'em all
In the early days Of tho road 1t was Gus.
tomary to name the locomotives instead of
numbering them, and such names as John
Rogers " and BETSY" were the cogno-
mems Of famous engines. Recollections of
"Betsy" arc still the basis of many q yarn
among the old engineers. Betsy hauled
the coach in which Abraham Lincoln first
paid visit to Chicago after his nom,na-
ton as President, and both John Rogers"
and "Betsy" afterward did service for the
government OF Lincoln by bringing up
from the South many rebel to Camp Doug.
las. Neither Of the engines is dead yet.
The wheels and rods and pistous may be
gone, but the boilers are still ut work
pumping up water at some Of the way sta
tons on tho rood.
J. wilkes Booths Grave,
Tha oroya - Il Wiikac Rooth 10 plyno,r,,