Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1890-01-03

March sth. 1859. Whereas BY opsRatios
Of lAv, said statute vas not b tAks efsc
ill thirty days AFTER the adjournment Of shs
Legislasare. which did not take place till thu
18th day Of March. the board did not deeu
10 wise or necsssasy at that season Of ths
year, 70 taks action relative to the methods
Of heatins. During the month Of June
the board desiring 70 Be- informed - 70 shs
methods in NE for heating passenger, mail
and baggage cars in this State. caused d
Be- sent to the several railroad cofporationl
operating railroads in the State. circular
asking for infof nation - the methods In
use for heating. In ansver to said cifcu'
lar, returns we're received from all said
railroad corporations. From Q summary
Of returns received, the following facts sp
pesred:
That Of $50 passenger cars reported In
uss in this State. lS were heated BY steam
from the locomotive; that Of ls7 mail and
baggage cars. ~ were heated in like mar
ner, Is by what 10 known - the Baker
Johns0n's (hos vater) Heaters. and four BY
the Spear hot aiP) Heater. All Of the cars
in use were heated by what might be termed
| common wood and coal stove"
| The board upon investigation. found that
the statutes. similar to the one enacted in
this State. had been in force in the State Of
Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, and
that the Railroad Commissioners Of these
States had approved Of all methods Of
heating cars, other than by what might be
called common stove" Az the railroad
systsm of this State 10 % connected with
those Of Massachusetts and New Hamp-
shire, and ~ passenger. mail and baggage
cars are daily being exchanged. it did not
| seem TO this board to be wise and expediept
to adopt rule or regulation. - to approx
ais, differing from that adopted In those
other StAtes. acting under like or similsr
statutes. The board, therefore. feeling
that. - the methods Of heating cars vas
necessafily In q transitional and experiment
tai state, and that the best methods Of
heating may not yet have been devised,
determined to temporarily approve all
methods " hich had been approved by the
Commissioner Of the above named States,
and such other heaters - railroad corpora-
tons might desire to use. other than com.
mon stove. Accordingly notice Of meet
ing Of the board. to be held At their once
In Augusta on the 2sth and 29ih Of Ausu.t.
WAS given the railroad mansgsrs ard all
other persons interested in said subject.
At said meeting hearing vas given to
inventors and all other persons and parties
interested who desired to be heard =, l.tive
to same After the hearing, = circular vas
sent by order Of the board, to the several
pailpnat rnr one et i,,, ,hi. S,.,.
as follows:
OSrick OF X. X. CohNIasioxERs,
Augusta, August. 20. lss9
To the General Maaaqsrs and Snperis-
tenden.s OF Rdtiroads IL The State #
Maine:
GENTLEMEN Section ! Of Chapter 275.
Public Laws Of 1889. provides ~ follows:
mo passenger. mail or bag rage car. on
any railroad in this State. shall be heated
by any method Of heating. or bv any fur
mace or heater. unless such method or the
use Of such furnace or heater. shail first
have been approved in writing by the Board
Of Railroad Commissioner !"
Notice 10 hereby given that the Board Of
Railroad Commissioners will be in session
At their Office in Augusta. on Saturday, the
7th day of September. 1883 At 10 O'Clock In
the forenoon, for the purpose Of receiving
and considering applications for approval
of methods Of heating ~ provided above.
All applications must be in writing, and
shall fully state the methods and charac-
ter Of the heater. which such applicant de.
sires to adopt, and the purposes for which
the came shall be used.
Per order Of Board,
z. C.. FARRInGr0u, Clerk
In response to said circular, applications
were received from the Maine Central,
Boston 4 Maine. Portland 4 Rochester,
Knox { Lincoln, Rumford Falls & Buck,
field, and New Brunswick Railroad Com
pany. asking an approval Of the Sewall sys-
tenn Of steam heating, together with other
heaters (not common stove). to be used a.
auxiliary heaters including the Baker and
johnson. Edwards, Spears, ct a. The
Grand Trunk, Canadian Pacific, and all
other railroad corporations not mentioned
above, operating railroads in the State, ask
permission to use some Of the last named
heaters. solely, in all of such cars belong
ing to them. These requests we're granted
and the several heaters mentioned were
approved by the Board aud written per-
mission given to each company to use the
same until July lst, 1890. at which date.
all the said approvals expire by limitation
Railroad companies which have attempted
the use of steam from the locomotive, a. .
means Of heating their passenger, mail and
baggage cars, have been greatly delayed In
procuring necessary eQuipments and skilled
mechanics to do the work. They have,
too. been greatly hindered in the applica-
ton Of their steam heating system, BY rea-
son Of being obliged to couple on and haul
cars coming from other railroads. not 20
equipped, especially the Pullman drawing
room and sleeping cars. which. until very
recently. were all warmed by the Baker
Heater" 90 called. 30 far the e6orts made
to heat trains by steam from the locomo-
tive, have shown Il to be feasible; and the
methods used have been generally satisfac-
tory to both passeogefs and railroad on
cials. We trust that the experimental
stage Of testing methods Of heating will
soon have passed, and that steam or some
other method will be universally adopted,
90 that inside heaters now used, many Of
which are little better than the common
car stove, can be wholly discarded.
AUTOMATIC couPLsRs.
While satisfactory progress 10 being
made in the operations Of railroads and
trains in most respects, little, II any 10 be-
ing made In the coupling Of freight cars,
In this or other States.
Statistics show that the seemingly un.
necessary mutilation and loss Of life Of
men engaged in coupling and uncoup'ins
freight cars. still goes on. The action
taken by the Master Car Builders Associ.
ton, in the adoption Of the "JanRey type"
Of coupler. has, We believe, tended more
to hinder than to promote the general adop-
ton and use Of the automatic coupler,. At
the time Of the adoption Of that type" Of
coupler BY said association. 90 tar ~ sp
peas from reliable reports, no coupler Of
that type had been invented, which, when
subjected to practical and ph, sical tests,
would meet the requirements Of the ser
vice.
For that reason, We believe the ss,itude
Of practical railroad managers vac adverse
to its adoption. A. many Improvement
have since been made upon the type Of
coupler selected by that associa,ion, IL nos
rSy be more generally adopted. The
- ,ht traffic on fsilrosds. in this ~ in
other States, being interstate. few attempts,
10 enact laws relative to safsty appliances
neither has this board deemed is wise to
urge legislation In that respect. believing,
- We do. that all attempts on the part oi
individual States to legislate - to chasac-
ter or kind of safesy appliances. especially
on freight trains, must, BY reason Of con.
6icting laws, result in hindrance and Lost
70 railroad corporations, and failure TO &C.