Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-09-12
SPEED ON THE RAIL


win Trains Ever He Run &C the Rate
OF 10 Miles IN Hoar or More1
''fy opinion IL that the speed limit OF The To-
connective engine has been reached With Tie
present guage OF track and diameter OF driving
wheel" said Expert Watkins ss the National
Museum to a STAR reporter. Il have been
given 70 understand on very credible authority
that an engine on one road has already made q
record OF 100 mile an hour-of course.
over very short distance OF perfectly
straight and level track. II that 10 10 be beaten,
II viii only be done by increasing the size Of
the boiler. TO begin with. To get greater CO.
pacity Of boiler il will be necessary TO widen
the locomotive and therefore the track n the
speed OF anything like 40 miles an hour 10 10
be attained in the future. the track must be
widened, not by inches but BY feet and the
size OF the driving wheel proportionatsiy.
Naturally
THE QUESTION or SAFETY
Is the first one brought up in connection With
discussion on this subject and 10 10 asked:
Can trains be run with as much security to life
and limb at 40 miles hour as at 5O1 Nv
answer TO that ~: No. Take given stretch Of
track, m perfect condition. with nothing in the
way and train is more likely TO run on the
travelling at GO. But such ideal conditions are
not usually found In railroading. You must
consider that there are such things as froes
ana switches. whichget out of order or misplaced.
as well as a multitude of other things more
difficult to look out for the moro rspidly trains
are going. Most important 10 think of. too In
the fact that If an accident does occur the
tram that meets with 10 Ii going TO suffer in
proportion to the speed at which it is going At
the moment OF interruption. Two trains
agI a.
and coming into collision would quickly be no
duced to kindling wood, If not tooth2icks
THE NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES.
Another thing worth inquiring about "a the
number Of men that are eoius IN
be required to run one Of these en-
gines of the future that are 20 travel 10
miles an hour. Jump on board OF one of
the fast-hylng locomotives at Jersey CITY that
carries you to Philadelphia at the rate OF nearly
mile minute. DO nothing but watch the
signals AS you pass with lightning speed
through city after city at grade and scros. rail.
way after railway intercepting. You
will find that it takes about ali
your time to catch them. How
much leisure has the engineer. then 10 Iook
ai'er ms steam Sauge and water gauge. 10 see
to his AIR brake, 20 make sure that every part
OF his mighty machine is in order, 20 keep in
touch with the train dispatcher's Office and 70
identify any extra trains they pass him so
that no mistake shall be made? So tremendous
is the strain upon this mans nerves that as
measure OF economy the company only per-
mits HIM TO work four days each week, and he
spends the remaining three i'm resting and
bracing up for further contests with space and
time.
IL OTHER COUNTRIES.
Trains in England. on an average, run
faster than in this country Their cars or car
riages are not nearly so heavy as ours: they
have not nearly many heavy grades end
sharp curves, and the law gives the railway
exclusive rights over their tracks, the infringe
ment OF which is punished by fines and i'm
prisonment In England one person out OF
every 5,2J0,000 people carried is killed. To
ride on the railways in France is more than
twice as dangerous inasmuch as one out OF
every 100000 passengers Is killed. Belgium
| Is much safer than England in this respect:
only one out of every 10000 is killed on its
roads. Safest of all by far are
the railways OF Prussia, which only
XIII one out OF every 2l,500, 600
people carried There are many advocates in
favor Of making our railroad cars much lighter
the argument being that it is absurd 70 drag a
whole row OF houses over the rails in order to
transport a lot OF comparatively light pack ages
in the shape Of people But il is very certain that
heavy cars have the advantage 70 safety in
proportion to their weight. You win notice
that the passengers in the heavily built parlor
cars always get of with very much less damage
in an accident than do the occupants of the
ordinary cars, which are usually tele-
scoped by the Pullman or Wagner
coaches. Extra heavy weight to draw means
extra expense for the railway companies,
but safety for the passengers they carry
means saving OF money in damages in these
days when juries are given TO mnicting the
companies severely in such cases. OF course,
you read in the newspapers about the run
ming OF Boynton's bicycle engine at Brighton
Beach the other day at the rate Of q mile in 80
seconds or ll2 miles an hour That NAV give
q notion of the future OF railrosding as regards
speed, but L am not myself OF the opinion that
the bicycle idea will work any revolution IN
the business of transportation by rail"