New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-09-09

= Said turfman of wide experience and broad views
fo,me day or two ago: d" DO you know there is
ahing1more exciting than horse racel 1t is a race
Between trains a double track railroad. Why?
Because the people interested in 1t not simply
tators They part and parcel of the contest They
are as much interested If they Jockeys every
oneof them, riding for their lives. Why have seen
a little squirt between trains on the Brighton Beach
and Manhattan Beach railroads, Sheepshead Bay
cause moro excitement than could a match between
The Bard and Firenzi Now it occurs 10 me that we
ou ght 10 establish society for the improvement of the
locomotive, Just we have established the turf for
the improvement of the thoroughbred. In general
effectiveness our locomotives Of to-day little better
nh an the engines of George Stephenson
a mean SO far the transmission of energy IS con-
cerned. They are beautiful to look at. and. so far
as an adjustment OF parts is concerned, are perfect
mechanisms. But they ought to be able to do great
deal more than they do do. They ought 10 run faster
and pull heavier loads less COAL less water and
4heyefore less steam. The waste Of energy in a
locomotive is enormous. 1t is time to stop 1t. The
sVay to do 1t is by experiment have been talking
M certain rich railroad magnaes with the purpose
Oft Inducing them to build grand race course for
locomotives My idea is TO buy enough land on Long
Lssand or In New-Jersey TO lay four tracks side by
IA, for distance of twenty miles They should be
!p,teoy stra ght though not necessarily on level
S.an engine like horse better where there are
nm and down grades-provlded thy are not
TOO steep. Liberal purses would attract entries
nom manufacturers all over the world
Fpua6erS would vie with each other In constructing
,,oacbnes and we should learn very soon which style
ss the most useful. Some would turn out spr1nters
allie only TO haul light trains short distances at light
lining speed Others would produce racers with great
action power prepared 20 carry any weight ana say
ALI day There would be no end TO the variety.
IOf course we should have handicaps. They would
he the hast test of merit Cars would be used for the
uurpose Compared with the turf schedule, one car
might represent a pound. Let the naked engine be
khe bottom weight, say ninety pounds. Ten cars
would be 100 pounds; twenty, ITO pounds; thirty
400 and so on OF course, the cars would be filled
with people. That is where tho fun would come m
Think Of four trains abreast going 100 miles an hour
aell you no sport in the world could approach IT."
sCould you count the engineers being always out
Tor tho dust?n meekly inquired
sHeavensl No! DO we always count on Jockeys
eefng out for the dust? OF course there would DO
oufing iust as there is on the turf But there's such
a thing as bribng person TO be honest and
our fees for winning mounts would be so large that
engineers could resist the temptation TO ride and
drive TO win"
swould all your be twenty miles. the full
length Of the course?'
sBy no means. There would be the opening
scramble, at, say, two miles. Then for sprnters we
should have dashes Of three four and five miles. Our
our most important handicaps at twenty
~would there be betungl'
SHow conld prsvent I'll Why should we pre-