Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-20

record, and it has also shown that such
service may be maintained at profit, which
Is aver all the chief consideration. "his
question OF profit is the one in which the
| railway managers have been most deeply
| interested. None of them has doubted the
capacity of modern railway science to equip
o train, furnish 10 with roadbed and with
suitable locomotives so that it could main
tain continuously speed of even more than
so miles an hour.
| The Trouble Lies in the Engine.
Just what the limit of speed is may be q
| question OF some speculation. 1t is purely
scientific question. The best railway scien-
lists agree that with perfect readbed, stand
ard heavy steel rails, gentle curves and
| trifling grades, combined with strong, but
light ears, 1t would be easy to make as much
as 100 miles whenever locomotive Is de-
| signed, which, while having comparatively
| light weight, has sufficient steam producing
| power to produce such results. The only
| problem is the construction of the looomo-
tive. But even with the present form of
locomotive as it has recently been improved
! it has been demonstrated that a continuous
| speed Of more than 20 miles an hour can be
maintained. That, however, is not now the
| problem. Railway managers are agreed
that those who demand fast transportation
| are entirely content with rate of speed be-
tween SO and 60 miles an hour.
| Up to the practical demonstration made
under Mr.. Webb's directions the important
question was, will such trains as these pay
| il they are run on regular schedule? And
| many of the managers shook their heads in
| doubt when it was announced that Major
Webb bad determined to run a regular
train which should daily duplicate the e1-
perience of the reeord-breaker. In a con-
versation with Major Webb he explained
| the result of his experiment quite enthu-
| siastically, and it may be of interest to
| quote his own words:
sit has now been demonstrated, 4" said he,
chat such train as this which people have
been calling the record-breaker is q source
| of profit. 1t has been running long enough
for us to figure with exact accuracy its cost
and to compare the figures with the average
receipts. The charges have been the regular
fares charged for any other train. We have
found after four months experiment that
the train is a profitable one. 1t has made
money for our company. That is the i'm
portant thing about this experiment.
The Limited vestibules Arc Losers
"It has been said that what are called
the gilt-edged limited trains running only
palace cars with vestibule attachments. be-
tween the sea-cesst and Chicago id twenty
four hours, are run at loss. You should
know something about that, is it SOP" Mr..
Webb was asked.
'T can only speak from my own knowI-
edge" he replied. SIT Is the truth, so far
as the company with which am associated
is concerned, and it is rumored that il is
also true Of other companies"
"How then can it be explained that this
train, which is run at higher rate of speed
than the vestibuled limited, returns you .
proft?'
'In this way The vestibuled cars are tho
heaviest which are run on our road and they
are nearly twice as heavy as the parlor cars
we run on this ord-breaker, as it is called.
The vestibuled cars weigh nearly 60 tons,
and six or seven of them compose a train.
This train carries only two psrlor ears, which
ordinary passenger coaches, which are even
less heavy. This, in distance Of
4S6 miles, represents an enormous
difference in the amount of coal
consumed by the engine. We do not
have to carry nearly so heavy q weight, and
therefore we do not have to burn so much
coal.
.sThen," continued Mr. Webb, ain the
next place the train service is not nearly
so expensive On these fancy vestibuled
trains there are corps of extra servants,
u8iuS III dttcnuetuCC upOH VIC i0fASfc Poo-
seagers, telegraph operators, stenographers,
extra porters the aggregate Of whose sala-
ries eats up the profits very rapidly. Now
We have discovered that to be a money
maker fast train must dispense with the
extra service, and 1t must also be light
train-one which an engine can draw ut
hiqh speed with comparatively small ex-
pepditure of coal. That is exactly the
problem which has been solved by this
train"
Anew Era of Raifroading.
cts it your opinion, Mr.. Webb, that the
tendency of the great trunk lines is such as
to bring about a regular daily service of
this kind upon all of them?"
"Undoubtedly This demand for fast
travel exists in the other great eenters ex-
actly az it does here, and now that it is
demonstrated that trains running at nearly
go miles an hour continuously are safe,
comfortable and profitable, expect to see
such service adopted before the opening of
the Worlds Fair by all the leading lines.
The science of railway engineering has
reached very high point. Nothing is left
to chance. The steel which composes the
rails is chemically analysed; the depths to
which the ballast should go has been accu-
rately determined; ingenious machines are
now constructed which when placed upon q
locomotive especially duaptcu W thohi WILL
"a that locomotive runs over the rails,
leave tracings which show to the eye at
once imperfections. if any exist, in
the roadbed, the ballast, the sleepsrs or
the rails. We are approaching the English
standard respecting grades and curves,
standard much more difficult 10 maintain
here than in England. We are making
locomotives which, while not greatly in
creased in weight, are furnishing far greater
steam power that those in use some years
ago, and we have shown that it is possible
to ride continuously at q rate of go miles an
hour with the most perfect comfort, and
without any appreciation of this enormous
speed. Now we have demonstrated that
such tyains may be run at a profit, both
because there is demand for them and
because we understand the economics That
being 80, am firmly convinced that We are
entering an era when 40 miles an hour
viii no longer be considered fast railway
travelling.
"How about the matter Of safety, Mr.
Webb"
Major Webb here EXPIRE ssed something
of impatience In his manner, saying tbr he
was somewhat amazed that it should be
charged that 1t was dangerous thing to
run q train continuously at 80 odd miles an
hour.
'Tt Is no more dangerous" said he, "to
maintain such a speed than 1t Is to run at
40 miles an hour. Some managers are in
clined to believe that in some cases danger
would be overcome by the very fact of
greater speed. A train running at high
rate Of speed would be likely to annihi-