The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-11-06
SWIFT TRAVELLING.
ARGUMENTS AGAINST GREATER SPEED
ON AlLROADS.

The Limit Reached Is 100 Miles an Hour.
To Do Better Will Require Larger Lo-
connective Boilers, Bigger Wheels and
Wider Tracks-The Danger Is Great.
my opinion is that the speed limit OF
the locomotive engine has been reached
with the present gauge OF track and
diameter of driving wheel said Expert
Watkins at the National museum. 81
have been given to understand on very
credible authority that an engine on one
road has already made record OF lOO
miles an hour-of course over a very
short distance of perfectly straight and
level track.
"If that is to be beaten it will only be
done by increasing the size of the boiler,
to begin with. To get greater capacity
of boiler it will be necessary to widen
the locomotive and therefore the track.
If speed of anything like 12O miles an
hour is to be obtained in the future the
track must be widened, not by inches
but by feet, and the size of the driving
wheel proportionately.
Naturally the question of safety is the
first one brought up in connection with
discussion Of this subject, and 1t is
asked, Can trains be run with as much
security to life and limb at 15O miles an
hour as at fifty? My answer to this Is:
No Take a given stretch of track, In
perfect condition, with nothing in the
way, and train is more likely to run
off the rail when going at $50 miles an
hour than when travelling at sixty. But
such ideal conditions are not usually
found in railroading.
FACTS TO CONSIDER
you must consider that there are such
things as frogs and switches which get
out of order or misplaced, as well as a
multitude of other things more difficult
to look out for the more rapidly trains
are going. Most important to think OF,
too, is the fact that if an accident does
occur the train that meets with 1T Is
going to suffer in proportion to the
speed at which it is going at the moment
of interruption. Two trains each going
at the rate of 100 miles an hour and
coming into collision would quickly be
reduced to kindling wood, if not to tooth
picks.
Another thing worth inquiring about
is the number of men that are going to
be required to run one of these engines
of the future that are to travel 100 miles
an hour. Jump on board one of the fast
flying locomotives at Jersey City that
carries you to Philadelphia at the rate
of nearly a mile minute. Do nothing
but watch the signals as you pass with
lightning speed through city after city
at grade and cross railway after railway
intercepting. You will find that it takes
about all your tine to catch them.
"How much leisure has the engineer,
then, to look after his steam gauge and
water gauge, to see to his airbreak, to
make sure that every part OF his mighty
machine is in order, to keep in touch
with the train dispatcher's Office and to
identify any extra trains as 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 permits him to work four
days each week, and he spends the re-
manning three in resting and bracing up
for further contests withspace and time.
PERCENTAGE OF DEATHS.
Trains in England, on an average,
run faster than in this country. Their
cars or carriages are not nearly so heavy
as ours; they have not nearly so many
heavy grades and sharp curves, and the
law gives the railway exclusive rights
over their tracks, the infringement of
which is punished by fines and imprison-
ment. In England one person out of
every 5, $50 900 carried is killed. To ride
on the railway in France Is more than
twice as dangerous, inasmuch as one out
of every 1000, 900 passengers is killed.
Belgium is much safer than England in
this respect; only one out of every 9,000,-
| 900 is killed on it's roads. Safest of all
by far are the railways of Prussia, which
only kill one out of every 81, 100000
people carried.
There are many advocates in favor OF
making our railroad cars much lighter,
the argument being that 1t is absurd to
drag a whole row Of houses over the
rails in order to transport lot of coJu-
paratively light packages in the shape of
people. But it is very certain that heavy
cars have the advantage to safety in pro-
portion to their weight. You will notice
that the passengers in the heavily built
parlor cars always get off with very much
less damage in an accident than do the
occupants of the ordinary cars, which
are usually telescoped 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. OF course you read In the
newspapers about the running of Boyn-
tons bicycle engine at Brighton Beach at
the rate Of mile in thirty-tTo seconds, or
112 miles an hour. That may give no
ton of the future of railroading as re-
CARDS speed, but l am not myself of the
opinion that the bicycle idea will work
any revolution in the business Of trans
portation by rail ashington Star.
| Forced by Desperation.