The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1893-10-28


EVOLUTION OF
THE RAILROAD
| ILLUSTRATED by THE EXHIBIT AT
THE WORLDS FAIR. ,
| Models and Reproductions of all the
Famous Engines Which Have a
Place in In History of Railroads
ing-A Wonderful Display. y
The most interesting display in the
transportation building at the worlds
| fair relates to the evolution OF the
modern railway from it's infancy ut
| the beginning of this century. The idea
| carried out in making this exhibit was
that Of Major Pangborn Of the Balti-
more & Ohio road, who, with a compe-
tent corps Of assistants, gathered to-
| gether from all parts Of the world mod
| els and reproductions Of all the famous
engines and railroad rolling stock
which may be said to epoch making IN
the history of railroading.
As the visitor passes along the aisles
Of the transportation building in the
| Baltimore e. Ohio railway exhibit, he
| will observe exact reproductions OF
| work of Stevenson, Watts, T~revithlcK,
in the infancy of erSine and locomo-
| tive building. Here Is q good object
lesson in the progress of the pr1nclples
| Of applied mechanics and inventlon
from the time of the famous steam-ket.
| tie conception of Sir Isaac Newton o!
| 1880 down to the latest construction OF
the four cylinder compound locomotives
| Of 1893. Besides these reproductions,
| there are in this display seventeen oid
engines which have served their line 10
a rounded old age on the Oldest rali-
ways in the United States, and are no"
| taking q w~ell-earned rest, while tney
| impart to thousands of visitors, q con-
ception of how the great internal car
rying industry Of the United States'
| step by step advanced towards per1ec-
| ton, until it is now become one OF the
greatest marvels of modern times.
The literature of this industrial prog
ress has not been neglected. Thanks 10
| the enterprise Of the Baltimore ROAD a
| library has been provided on the SUD-
| iect Of r%ailroading, second only In com
| pleteness to that of the Leland Stan
| ford institute, known among the au-
| thorities as the best existing railroad
library. Complimentary to the library,
are many original drawings Of old loco
| motives by men famous In bulldlng
| them. These illustrations have been
| disposed about the walls contiguous TO
the display in such a way as TO al
tract the attention of all visitors. Al.
together there are seventeen hundred
| pictures exhibited, of which 100 are III
black and white, show the develop
ment Of the locomotive, and 1l3 snow
the development Of railroad rolling
stock. since 1880, including even the
latest compound locomotive, designed IN
\ 1893 by r. @. Wright, for the Baldwin
Locomotive works. A famous oil paint.
ing by Edward L. Henry, Of the old
| De Witt Clinton train, which will some
day occupy a conspicuous position in a
museum Of railway construction, is
also upon exhibition here. The whole
display at first suggests, perhaps, the
| humorous to those who are accustomed
to the perfection Of the methods Of land
transportation in the last decade
| Everything looks g. primitive, simple
and rude to the modern eyes OF men
unaccustomed to reflect that every in
| FAINT must first creep and then t0ddle
| before it can walk. Nevertheless, nc
one can fail to be greatly interested in
| looking back over the many attempts
groupings, n might say, after the
| principles Of mechanics which were te
make a wonderful success possible.
The data collected in making this ex
hibit has also cast a great deal Of light
upon many mooted points in the his
| tory of %railroading which hitherto have
not even been clear to the best au
thorities upon the subject of railways
in the United States. The foreigners
have claimed the credit of most of the
| great inventions upon the locomotive
| which have made it a practical success
and they have been allowed to carry
| of the honors with scarcely a protest
| or even an expressed doubt upon the
| part Of Americans. Facts elected, how
ever, in making this display, prove thai
the greatest improvement upon the 10
connective after it became known thai
steam transportation was practical
| were devised by Americans years be
fore they appeared in Europe and were
claimed to be the inventions Of English
! men or Frenchmen. The display is ir
| exact chronological and historical order
The first reproductions represents Sill
Isaac Newton's conception Of steam
power in a huge copper steam kettle
mounted upon wheels and ascribed t.
the year 1850, when the great scientis,
| was in the prime of his wonderful
| mind. The first practical land-travelinf
locomotive is represented by a repro
| duction Of the historic !Cugnot, built in
1769-71 by Nicholas Cugnot, a French
military officer Of an ingenious turn OF
mind. He may be truly called the in
! ventor of the locomotive, although Il
| appears to be a queer conception Of
| an upright boiler and a unique trans
mission of power. ..r
William Murdoch's famous model Of
the first high pressure engine is repre-
| scented here. He was an assistant o.
| the great engineer, James Watt, abou,
| whom many ''cock and bull" storie.
| were told to the effect that he wa.
afraid Of Watt, and was obliged t.
| make trial of his engine at night. It i,
| also narrated that during one of these
trials his engine ran away down hill
nearly frightening a good parson of the
Church of England who CHANGED t.
see the Internal machine at night belch
ing forth fire and birthstone, into a be
lief in Martin Luther's personal devil.
Soo1. American genius has to demon
strate it's superiority in the domain o.
invention. In 179O Nathan Reed con
structed a vertical locomotive with {
m%ultitubular boiler, the first ever in
vented. Thirty-seven years afterwarJ
a Frenchman named Seguin managed
to stumble on to the principal of tn.
multitubular boiler and subsequently