The Grenada sentinel., 1889-06-08

expense Is INC repair OF locomotives,
and that every thing that tends to less
en- that expense and at the same time
insure good service is grasped by the
railroad companies as a man grasps
the hand OF his best friend. On the
Pacific system Of the Southern Pacific
Company, where $50 locomotives are
| now in use, the annual cost of repairs
| is nearly 81, 900. 900. In 1887 the South.
ern Pacific Company paid 1922, 1885
for repairs OF engines in California
alone. The Atlantic and Pacifics Cali
fornia directors also had nearly $50, 900
worth OF repair work done. Repairs
are more frequently required in some
| parts of California and Nevada, where
alkali water is used than anywhere else
| in the world. A thick incrustation is
formed in the boiler. which weakens it
in places rendering it liable to bursting
unless cared for at once. Ordinarily
| fireboX will last six to eight years, but
| on the Yuma desert with the alkali wa
ter it will not last longer than two
years
1T is not the running OF an engine
| that racks it SO much as the stopping
and starting" continued the railroader.
Take, for instance, the Central Pacific
| overland or the Portland express. Now,
the engine hauling those trains only
make three stops between San Fran
cisco and Sacramento. They get to the
end OF their trip in much better condi-
ton than an engine on the Oakland
local ran does at the end of its days
work with all It's stops and starts
"A good average run of a locomotive
is 100 miles per day. Some run much
farther and others much less, but an
engine will keep in better repair.if it
never exceeds the average. Locomo-
tive running is different in California
from that in the East in one great re-
spcct. Take freight train OF forty
five cars, for instance, going from Buff
falo to New York, on the New York
Central Line, Now, one cight-wheel
| locomotive, with 1924 inch cylinders,
will take that train through all right
and without assistance. For the same
distance on the Central Pacific, from
Sacramento to Truckee, it would re-
quire six engines of the same size.
while heavy engines are now re-
quired all around, | don't think the
tendency is toward colossal affairs like
our .El Gobernador,' which weighs 1o3
tons or 203, 900 pounds with the tender,
but rather to weight of about So, 600
to l20, 900 pounds. The average weight
of Central Pacific locomotives is SO, 900
pounds and the maximum 153, 40,
while the total length of the heaviest
engine, including tender, is sixty-fve
| feet and six inches. The maximum
weight of the Atlantic and Pacific loco
motives used in this State is III, 75O
pounds
The sixty and seventy-fve-mile-an-
hour average for regular trains is gen.
orally a myth. An average of forty
eight and three-tenths miles an hour
for ninety miles by the Pennsylvania
limited from Jersey City to Philadel-
phia is the fastest schedule time in the
United States The Flying Dutch
man" train is supposed 10 make the
fastest time in the world between Lon
don and Bristol, 1lS l-2 miles in less
than two hours. The average, though,
OF even this fast train is only fifty-nine
and One-eighth miles an hour The
fastest train in this State is the Mon
terey express, but it averages less than
forty miles an hour, although between
San Jose and Castroville it often gets
up speed OF fifty-fve miles an hour
for short distance on level track.
Locomotive statistics are very inter-
esting. By the increase in their num-
Der one can readily mark the growth of
many of the great railway systems of
the land. For instance in 1873, the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe had but
thirty-eight locomotives. Last year
the same company had over 800. The
Chicago and Northwestern ten years
ago had only about 400 locomotives;
now it has over 800. The Chicago,
Burlington and Quincy had only 4Sl
locomotives in 1881; now it has nearly
1000 In the East there is an average
of about % locomotives to every 100
miles of track, while on this coast there
are from 10 to -, although more loco
motives are required here for a certain
amount Of traffic, owing to heavy
grades.
One OF the most striking changes in
locomotives of late is the absence OF
polished brasses. A few years ago they
were resplendent with glitter and shine,
and half of the work of the driver and
fireman was to keep them bright. Now
there is next to nothing of this sort OF
thing. plainness being sought every
where. The responsibility of the man
in the locomotive cab has become SO
much greater of late by the use Of the
air brake that he has little time to de-
vote to polishing, and it is probably
just as we'll that the pretty brasses have
given way to dull-hued metal and
dark paint. Still to the eyes of most
persons the dingy, smoky affair of to-
day is possessed of little beauty COM
pared with the bright and glittering