The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1890-07-12
AL ABOUT HOT BOyEs.
Tho Cause and the Ncinsdy-Ono OF tho
Evils Railroads Contend with,

... 81 49, . |
Yesterday afternoon, q long. heavy
freight train came down Sixteenth street
with one Of the car journals blazing away
at a lively ratio. It Is not IN uncommon
sight for those who live on that street,
but several persons, who evidently are
not about the railroad much, were very
much excited. and seemed alarmed Lest
the train might tako fro and burn IN
then and there.
Ono mar waved Ills umbrella frantic.
ally at q brakeman who stood compla.
Gently on top Of n car, while others at.
tempted IN various ways 10 attract his
attention. The brakeman seemed vii.
ling TO do tho Cassabianca act, and stood
on the burning deck despite the Efforts
81 the people on tho streets TO alarm
him. A reporter was standing on the
p~ostofice corner, when an old gentleman
with a fatherly air, remarked to him In
q cad tone: "BoyB will be boys, and
they will be bad boye, too" The re.
porter Raw that tho remark was intended
Tor his ears, and not seeing tho upplica.
ton, asked for a diagram. The old man
seemed daz.d by the reporters density,
and pointing to the blazing journal,
aaid: Don't you aee that lire there?
Now, some rat OF a boy has sneaked up
alongside Of that car when 1t was s,nnt.
Ing somewhere, and lit the oil, Just out
Of pure, innate cussednesa."
Tho reporter thought himself too good
ajutge Of human nature to oilor to tell
the old man something he did not know,
but his remark act the reporter to think.
ing about hot boxes and what caused
them, and he decided for his own salts.
faction to find out.
ue wandered down into tho B. & O,
yards, and finally came across n wheel.
Taper, who was Just finishing tho in.
spectlon OF q train, and 10 him put the
question: what makes oars have hot
journals" The Taper looked tho re.
porter over from head to foot, rs much
~ to say "Well, what BANKED fool
arc you, anyway" but at last he de.
cided to ancYer.
sometimes it's n thing and come.
times another, but generally 1t is the
devil. Car journals are like human be.
ines and hotaes: they have their moods,
and may run along nicely for weeks nj
a time without 60 much as n crooked
look, and then OF a sudden r whole
flock Of them will get Off at once, and
then the poor trainmen and inspectors
have q time of 1t. Sometimes d specli
OF eand will get into a bearing, and as It
runs Will veal OF psr,illes OF iron till a
rough place is formed, and the friction
is increased till the oil takes fire. Some.
times the brass bearings wear down til
they. do not 1T, and, changing their
bearing, cause friction. Sometimes,
SEen cars. gro run Oh bad curves, the
twist Of the wheels wears tho hyasses
crooked, and the rubbing on the llangcs
heats the axies and journals. FREQUENT.
u c.Fs are loaded improperly. Some.
times the LOAD Is too heavy, and just as
often too much is put iu one end o; the
e2r. This has . tendency to heat the
bearings."
hot box uT.
III the ear is not in a hurry, we often
let it stand till they cool of, and let her
go on again untouched. II boz is bad
and it appears that there is sand or dirt
in the beatin g, the rule is to take all
the oil and waste with which it is
packed out, and clean the whole thing
up nicely and regrease the Journal. No
car is allowed to 90 out OF q terminal
yard ghen It is not in good condition,
and the condition Of tho bearings is one
OF the most important things about The
whole car. for it may Gauge q serious
wreck. A car Journal is packed with
about five pounds OF waste and q half a
gallon Of oil. This amount, for most
kinds Of oil, is supposed to run the car
1000 miles, hut frequently they have to
be oiled between timeg.N
Are hot boxes as common on passen.
ger rs on freight cars?"
ia proportion TO the attention thew
receive they are just as numerous, 4
freight car may be thoroughly oiled and
packed and the next ioIr run in OF a
side.track ut some mill or other place
andleit there for a week, or it NAV run
several days without getting into n Ter.
minal yard to receive any attention,
Most passe1Ee. cera, too, have Rabbit
metal bearings, which 'hinders tncm
rom heating 80 quickly, because there
is less adhesion between it and iron than
between brass and iron. But even thesc
get hot sametimes, and frequently VIC
find the Rabbit Lletal melted ont OF a
journal bearing. Even the locomotive
bearings, which are the most carefully
constructed, get hot and have TO be sent
to %theshops to be repaired before i. can
be stopred.h
=. "How do you stop a box from heat-
ing?"
when in a hurry the whole opening
Is Tiled with u kind OF prepared white
grease, which is supposed to atop any,
thing but 9 CHRONIC burner. When va
have time, We clean out the old pacl,inp
and DO the job over again, and when
something is really wrong it goes to the
shop. Water in small quantities is come
times used when the journal is not TOO
hot but that ia alyays dangerous, be-
cause it may crack m axle or wheel aud
cause serious trouble while the train ia
in motion. I once saw an axle break
square in two while being cooled with
water"
"How often do you oil the bearincs?n
mo car, either passenger or freight, is
allowed to 60 out Of a terminal ward,
that is a yard at the end OF a division.
without being thoroughly inspected. i'll
1t needs oil 1t IL given, and if it needs
any other attention it receives it. Every
journ2l, every brake and beam and
every part that is likely to get ont OF
order is carefully examined
by the way, to return to hot boxes;
are there not q great many different in.
ventions 70 10 away with hot boxes?"
"Yea, there are; but they seem to
have but little superiority over each
0thsr. some Of them are marked to be-
reported when found hot, and others are
have only one kind OF oiliu them.
These boxes arc usually experiments
some new manager is trying, but
lhey all have about the same success.
4 journal will run hot for
several days, and il let alone it will ge,
all right without attention. Sometimes
they repair a journal that gets hot by
esnd into,it This may sound
like a contradiction after Ehet + said
,hout sand h~nnt;nu FIN horo m, L,,t H.,