The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-11-27
RAILROAD MOTIVE POWER.
Something Apout the Maine Central
and Grand Trunk.

comotives. counting those lately secured nv
lease Of the Penobscot Shore line. Since the
line Is SO long and has so many loops and d.
visions, OF course II is impossible that all or
anywhere near all of the engines are to be
seen here. Yet the Maine Central has been
good customer of the Portland Company,
ana therefore nearly all of the engines have
been seen here at some time or other.
The locomotives of this road are not named
now, 1t being a theory of the general mana
ger that the absence Of names takes away
certain provincialism and makes the road
seem more like a great trunk line. Before
Mr.. fuckers day there were names on the
engines, and the j. B. Brown, No. 80, Phi
lander Coburn. 62, and William G. Davis. 60,
were well known here, The 'lady-bue"
shutters, Atlas. "a, and General Knox. 81,
were also well known. The General Knox
has gone the way Of all good engines, but "a,
shorn of its name, still pulls cars about the
Union Station. By purchasing other lines
the Maine Central has at times some mon-
strosities in the line of locomotives, but a
vigorous weeding-out process has consigned
most OF them to the scrap heap, and filled
their places with machines that would make
any engineers eyes sparkle. Several of the
early numbered are in the second engines,
while the others yet remain to shift freight
cars In the smaller yards in tile eastern cities
The Maine Central has practically two
round-houses, with complete equipments, In
this city. having leased the Thompson,s
Point establishment of the Ogdensburg.
Here is fine engine house, with eight pits
and water supply inside. There Is full
sized turn-table, and ample coaling facilities
at the end Of the point. This house is used
more especially for the passenger engines of
both the main line and the mountain divis-
ion. The round-house has been doubled in
capacity since it was first built, but the
traffic Of the road has completely outgrown
1t SO that now engines are stalled In the open
air almost every day for lack of pits. An
other section will probably be added to the
house before long,
The other engine house of the Maine Gen.
trial, used for freight and shifting engines,
and some few passenger machines, is located
on made lard in the rear of the old glass
works on West Commercial street. The
house is of wood, and has pits for II engines.
with yard room for as many more. 1t is the
successor OF the gloomy brick structure that
stood between the Eastern and Maine Gen.
tral tracks next the gas works and sheltered
the old-timers for good many years. The
water for the engines kept In this house, is
secured on the spot, and the coal shed is
down at the end of Portland bridge. In this
new round-house. among others, are kept
the monsters of the freight service, IS. 81.
%, "a and Is. These engines were built by
the Rhode Island Locomotive Works, weigh
about 20 tons apiece, and can be used in
either passenger or freight service, when
ever there Is a tremendous load to be pulled
over the dine In quick time. The noon train
to Bangor is hauled by one If them. In this
house are also kept the six-wheel freighters,
formerly the CarrigaD, Crawford, Franken-
stein. Resolution, ChocOma and Avalon of
the Ogdensburg, but now simply 107, 10S,
100. ITO. lib and ia of the Maine Central
OF the whole system, it may be said that
the Maine Central possesses the snap and
enterprise Of great line to a more notice
able extent than any other of our railroads.
Every few months the officials come out
with some new idea which they lose no time
in putting into practice. and which is always
step forward. They borrowed the idea of
carrying train numbers on the headlights of
the engines; they introduced, first, the deep
toned steamboat whistles. then the musical
chimes; they first put on straight stacks
and smoke consumers, and painted the
stacks red, they were quick to change them
back to black again. to adopt the very latest
type of stack plain round tube,-in short,
anything that is in the line of progress is
quickly taken up ty the Maine Central loco
motive department. The latest wrinkle Is
In uniformity of locomotive tenders. On
each side, In an oval, is the engines number
with Maine on one side and Central on the
other.
The Grand Trunk Railway of Canada on
the other hand. is extremely conservative in
its management. The old way is generally
adhered to until the new is thoroughly tried,
and found to he worth trying. This steady
going thoroughness, added to road that
was built to stay when 1t was built, may be
one of the reasons why the Grand Trunk
gets so much work out of its engines at so
little cost. The engine house is next above
the passenger station, on the site of old Fort
Loyal, built and destroyed over a century
ago, and is literal round-house. There are
Is pits In it, with turn-table in the centre.
and water pipe near the door. The coal
sheds are at the other end of the company's
yard, under the hill at Fort Allen Park.
Leaving out this matter of coal, however,
the Grand Trunk round-house. we'll heated
as 1t is and fitted with electric lights, is as
well equipped as any.
A man who had been away from Portland
for ten or dozen years, going into that
house today would see, with some excep.
tions, the same engines he saw there then.
Smoe of the I'D stand bys, liz, 1l3. ia, 1l5
and 116 among them, have left US, and the
powerful 'camers hump" shifters, 8, 10, II
and II take their places. But the great ma
jority of the passenger and freight engines
Of that day are there now. 1t speaks vol
umes for the men who have them in charge,
and for the road itself that they have stood
up to their work as they have. The runs on
the Grand Trunk are long. On the main
line every engine goes to GoIham, N. H., 81
miles, and especially in the freight service
doubling down and back" is regular
tuiuB. vi tuO LoWlSbOH int IOuuu Zip
and half is made every day, covering with
extra runs and shifting 100 miles. and this
is kept up, day in, day out, except Sundays,
all the year round. In spite of this and the
fast running and frequent stops, the engines
hold out for years and are as strong and ac-
tive today apparently as they were years
ago.
Within the last few years the Grand Trunk
has adopted the straight stack and extern
sion spark arrester on some of Its engines,
while others keep the old diamond" type.
The passenger engines are mostly changed
to spark.arresters, and they are also nearly
all painted scarlet lake in color, with black
and white stripes, following the English
fashion. and securing uniformity in appear.
ance with the cars.
Both the Grand Trunk and the Maine Gen.
trail do an immense freight business, which,
like all other business, has its ups and downs
Its brisk times and quiet times. When a
rush comes the master mechanic does not
always preserve nice distinction between
freight and passenger engines, anything that
can pull a train being In demand. There.
fore the shining beauty that yesterday pulled
the fast express may today go up the line
with long string of gondolas loaded with
nj 4