The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-05-21
RAILWAY EXHIBIT.
Sights TO Be Seen in Transpor.
taiio: Building.
ENGLISH AND AMERICAN ENGINES

The Foreign Locomotive Lacks the Cow
catcher Because English Railway Tracks
Arc -iever Bothered by Cows-Ensiish
and American Sleeping Cars and Day
Coaches-An Interesting Comparison.
WORLDS FAIR. May 90. - tSpecial1 -
There is one spot in the big Transportation
building where crowd of visitors may al
wavs be seen. It IS an aisle on one side OF
which is typical American railway train,
and on the other train from the London
and Northwestern railway Of England. A
fully equipped English railway train is a
novelty, sure enGv IA. and the polite young
men kept here Tor tie purpose by the Brit
ish corporation are busy from early morn
ing till late at night explaining to inquisi-
tive Americans tie mysteries and pecul-
iarities Of the locomotive and coaches. 1t
is rather odd appearance that the Eng
lsh train makes Ia such close proximity
TO a locomotive and coaches OF our own
build. The foreign locomotive is without
that graceful and sometimes useful ap-
pendagc known il this country as cow
catcher" Th;s IS Tot needed in England
because the track-or permanent way
as the English have it's never bothered
with COWS. The iirs protected by fences
or walls which are COW proof. The top of
the English locomotive does not look
much like one OF our engines for many
reasons. It has no bell, probably for the
same reason that it has no cowcatcher,
and for the additional reason that there
are few if any grade-crossings in England.
The streets and roads are all run under or
over the permanent way. The foreign To-
connective has a whistle, but it is so little
like an American whistle that you would
never guess its identity. The top Of tbs
big boiler has no huge dome, no orna-
mental work of brass or iron TO win the
undying admiration of the small boys
along the route over which it runs. 1t is a
LOGON olive, OF course, but it surely doesn't
look like one, according to our standard.
''The Queen" is the name of this i'm
ported flyer. 1t is an express engine, of
the type used to make the rapid runs for
which the road which sends 1t over here Is
! Justly famous. One Of these locomotives
| will take train of ten or twelve English
cars, which are not as heavy as our Amer
| lean coaches, and haul it from London to
| Aberdeen, distance of $50 miles, in twelve
| hours and FIVE minutes, making dozen or
| fifteen stops en- route. This Is very nearly
| fifty miles an hour for the whole di;-
| tance and is a fast run-faster than any
| of the long distance runs il America For
| shorter distances, such as between London
and Liverpool, London and Edinburg, the
express speed is ffty-six miles an hour,
| and is made many times day and every
| day in the year.
All these English locomotives are made
on what is known as rigid frames. They
have no trucks before or after the drivers
1t has been supposed they could not be run
over our American roads, with their
sharper curves, but this train was brought
entire from New York TO Chicago over the
New York Central line, and, Is the British
railway men say, without any trouble and
with every journal cool and nice. Still,
the English type would not do on the
average American road. Just as soon as
it attempted to round some of the sharp
curves at pretty good rate of speed it
would find itself in trouble and perhaps in
the ditch.
1t may well be doubted il an American
engineer could be hired to run one of these
British machines. He might admire it as
| piece Of mechanism-indeed, American
| engineers by the score visit the aisle every
day-but no would not care TO stand with
his hand on the throttle without more pro-
lection from the weather than is afforded
by the hood Of the locomotive. The only
protection offered is mere upright,
through which two holes are cut and
glassed over-the English raiI.oad man
calls this lookout window spectacle, -
and but the narrowest pretense of a roof.
In practice the rain and the snow, the hail
and the sleet beat il upon the engine
driver Just as if ne were standing IN the
open air OF course the fireman or stoker
is no better off Neither driver nor stoker
has a seat, either, and must be on their
feet al, the time The polite and intelli-
gent young men in charge of the train ex'
plain that by act of parliament railway
company is forbidden to work an engineer
more than nine hours, and that stations
and signals are Sc numerous along the line
the engineer could not sit down If he
wanted to- He says also that no demand
for seats ha. ever been made by the driv-
ers: and as 10 the exposure, the company
provides storm coats for the engine men
While it is of course true that the weather
in ENGLAND is not so severe as 1t IS IN TINS
part of America, visitors wonder why such
q simple continuance az a cab and curtain
ip use on all American locomotives, is not
attached also to the splendid machines Of
the English build.
The tender of this English locomotive is
much like an American tender, except that
it has no trucks, but instead three wheel:
on side also of the rigid frame pattern
Underneath is seen the water-taklng de
vice in use on the Pennsylvania and few
other American rosds. 1t Is simply {
spout which Is let down into trough be
tween the rails. and the motion Of TIKI
train causes a stream of water TO rise anC
fall within the tank. This is one Of th'
very few railway devices for which Amer
lea is indebted to England. This methot
of saving the time consumed by flIint
tanks on the old plan was first used by tn
London and Mort western road, and wa
introduced in this country by an Englisl
engineer In return for this improvement
we have given our foreign friends the air
brake, the sleeping car, the dining car, tn
vestibule the baggage checking system
, interlocking signals, the block system ant
many other important features OF moderI
railroadng, some OF which are taken kind
" TO IN England and some Of which ar
not.
There are but two cars in this train. ant