Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-08-05
THE IRON HORSE.


Some Erroneous Railroad Statistics.
To the Editor Of The Evening star:
The writer of the very int arcsting article
on The Iron Horse which appeared in
The Evening Star Of SATURDAY last, made
one or two statements from which utterly
erroneous conclusions will inevitably have
been drawn. He stated, inter ALA, that
the American tourist who eutertains his
home friends with accounts of the great
speed of the trains abroad is ignorant Of
the fact that the best of the foreign en-
gfnes are furnished from his own country"
This Is a great mistake. 1t Is only in the
United Kingdom that the speed of even the
fastest trains is such as to excite the in
terest or attention of the American tourist,
and as an ex-railroad officer l am in "A po-
sition to state that up to 1882 there was not
a single locomotive of American manufac-
ture to be found on any railroad in Great
Britain or Ireland, while the annual repoI is
OF the United States Treasury Department
for the last ten years show that only two
locomotives have been exported from this
country to the United Kingdom within that
period. One of them had SO exceedingly low
a valuation as to make 1t evident that 1t
was required for some spacial purpose,
while the other, valued at $3.50, or two
and one-half times as much as your con-
tributor states is the cost of the best ex-
press locomotive now in use. either was
sent abroad for exhibition purposes or was
purchased by one of the English railroad
companies to be used experimentaliy. Just
as the Pennsylvania railroad has bought a
few English locomotives for experimental
use on its own lines. During the ten years
ending June 80, 1892, the total number of
locomotives sent from the United States 10
foreign countries was only 1,529, AMI the
South American republics. with Mexico and
Cuba, took over 80 per cent of the total A
few were exported to Canada, australia and
british colonies n ha ,har.s en-
to Europe in ten years time can he count
ed on ones fingers. With regard to the
speed Of trains on American railways. your
contributor states that even over the con-
tinental divide, where grades for many
miles exceed ninety feet to the rifle, or 2-3
per cent elevat ton. the mountain sleeps are
assembled with but little diminutiol of >peed
by the use of engines specially designed for
that service" This is perfectly true, ard
II Is certainly one Of the wonders Of modern
railroad travel, but the illuStrat lions by
which your contributor seeks 10 emphasize
his statement are very amusing. lie states
that the Union Pacific fast mail recently
one miles, in seventy-eiSht minutes. and on
another occasion from North Platte TO
Guiding stops. Your contributor however.
forgets to tell your readers that those runs
We're down grade. North Platte being co.
feet lower than Julesburg and C;ranl Island
no less than 937 feet lower than North
Platte. / am by no means sure that the
statement that engine sos Of the New York
w
connective ever built is not likewise open to
criticism, for i well remember the building
of two engines for the Northern Pacific,
when its trains had to be haiiei over ine
heavy grades of Stampede Pass, pending
the completion of the tunnel, that weighed
100 tons each. Random statements and the
too free use Of superlatives detract enor-
mously from the value of much of the
newspaper writing of the present day Mr..
Frank G. Carpenter, for example, stated in
a recent issue of The Star thai the stone
viaduct over which the Great Northern 1ail-
the direction of ST. Paul Is the first enSin-
eering work of its kind ever built on a
curve-a statement which Is entirely e.
roneous, the trains of the LONDON and
Northwestern railway of England between
Liverpool and Leeds having been carrie I
over the Saddleworth valley by a magriIi-
cent double-track stone viaduct, higher.
longer and on a sharper curve than the via
duct at Minneapolis, for over forty Years.
Again, a press dispatch was recently sent
out from Boston to the effect that the new
depot TO be erected in that CITY by the Bos-
ton and Lowell would have coo trains per
day, the largest number of any station in
the world. Both Liverpool street and
Waterloo stations In London exceed this
number by % per cent. / may state in con-
clusion that in connection with the exhibit
of locomotives at the worlds fair and with
the recent wonderful achievements of the
now famous No. 999 with the Empire State
express Of the New York Central the rcla-
tive merits of the locomotives and railroad
systems of the United States ard England
have been 50 thoroughly discussed in the
different railroad engineering AMI mechani-
longer the slightest excuse Tor the iynor-
ance and misconception concerning them
"A. August 4. 1888. JOHN HYDE.