Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1893-04-18
FUTUKE kAILKOApINH.
ENGINES WITH a THIRTY FOOT
DRIVER AND a WIDE GAUGE.

4 Trip from New York to Chicago I'm
-Four Hours. at the Rate Of 800 Miles
an Hour. and No stops Between--A
Prophecy That May Not he Fancifui.
Ten years from now there may be only
one railroad in this country. to which
trunk lines will be feeders
The Americans OF the near future must
travel faster
There are no reasonable grounds for be-
lieving that the present record OF locomo
tive speed can be improved upon while the
gauge and rolling stock continue as they
I, now are.
| The diameter Of the locomotive driver
wheels must he increased to secure greater
speed, but master mechanics are not at all
agreed as to how this can best he done
The enlargement of the drivers beyond
seven feet would necessitate widening OF
the gauge, and this experiment is not like
| ly to be repeated while the present forms
| of rolling stock are in use
| But sixty miles an hour is not fast
J enough for the American OF TODAY The
! locomotive has probably attained the max
| fmum OF its efficiency 1t makes a more
= economic use OF steam than any other form
| OF engine. The marine engine loses % per
cent. Of the latent energy in the coal, but
the locomotive utilities fully 90 per cent. of
, it. Therefore the problem is not to i'm.
prove the locomotive. but to enlarge it's ca
pacity to get over the ground
NEW ERA FoREsHADowED
| This can only be done by some radical
change in the form of the roadbe and the
rolling stock. To increase the diameter OF
| the wheels is the first requisite This will
|
way, Suppose the driver wheels to be
thirty feet in height, the gauge ought to
be twenty feet The rails would have to
be foot high. and ought to weigh a ton to
the rod. They will be bottled to ties made
| of the largest tree trunks obtainabIe
Mammoth fish plates" will join them end
| to end
| The cost OF construction will be trebled
Bridges and viaducts will have to be built
OF the heaviest material, and tested to bear
the weight of 200ton locomotive The
heaviest engines on the Pennsylvania rail
road used in the passenger service weigh
forty tons, and one five times as large will
give power enough to pull the great cars
that will travel on 30-foot wheels
The gigantic engine will be suspended
below the axles, instead of resting upon
them The boiler will be built around the
higher than the tops of the driver wheels
The cab will be very commodious, and 10
Gated just behind the smokestack atop the
boiler. Several firemen will be required.
and they will be provided for on a platform
at lower level on the rear of the engine
FIGURES DON'T DECEIVE
| If the same number of piston strokes can
be obtained by thirty foot driver wheels
per minute as attained by an engine with
six foot wheels, the increase in velocity
will be as ninety feet are to eighteen feet.
In other words, the train will travel exact
ly five times as fast. II the best speed of
the present passenger locomotive be sixty
miles per hour it may be hoped that the
engine of the future will attain 800 miles
| per hour Strange as it now sounds, it
| will then be possible to run out to Chicago
after breakfast, take luncheon there with a
friend and return to sleep in New York.
Chicago ought to be about four hour run.
The track will be kept absolutely clear, and
there will not be any stops except to change
engines at half way point.
vi course such a road can only be made
| to pay between great cities like New York
and Philadelphia, Chicago or Boston In
another generation there will be ten cities
in this country with a million people each.
The saving of time will stimulate travel
ing, and every train will be filled. The en-
! gines will burn a tremendous lot of coal,
but the cost of driving the train will be
about the same as at present. because the
time consumed will be mere fraction of
what is now requisite. Nobody will travel
long distances by the old lines There will
not be any competition offered by the ex
isting systems of transportation.
| This brings us to a consideration of the
| They " ha fact Wi and
| ably $50 feet long. The most scientific arti
! fetal ventilation and heating apparatus
will be adapted to the case, OF course no
windows can be left open on a train going
$50 miles an hour They will have to be
closed with the heaviest plate glass-doubIe
windows, in fact. The structure of the cars
will be much the same as those of today
LESS DANGEROUS
They will be built wholly of iron and steel
| The walls will be steel plates, and the int.
rior finish and furnishing will be beautiful
| and luxurious. The size of the cars will
insure single compartment for every trav
eler. An aisle will run through the car,
and the staterooms will be arranged on
each side thereof, shut off by IA curtain or
wickerwork door. These rooms will be
seven feet in width and provided with a
large easy chair or sofa The trains will
be vestibuled, so that it will be quite pos
sibie to pass from one car to the other.
| 1t is very doubtful If the element of dan
ger will be increased. The cars of steel
can be made of such form and braced in
| such manner as to render them less liza BILE
| to go to pieces in case they leave the rails
| Collisions will be impossible, because
trains will never be permitted to follow
each other within half an hour and not
even then until the preceding train has
passed the station, situated at least thirty
minutes time distant, says 100 miles.
| Double track will be the rule, not the ex
| ception.
| Difficulties about stopping the trains
when once under Roadway will occur but
they will be met by improvements on the
brakes that will render the gigantic ma
chinery as tractable as any now in uGe.
| An ingenious system of signals will be de
yised, the bell and whistle no longer being
useful, because they cannot be relied upon
They will be drowned by the noise of the
monster train.
The local service of the present roads will
be utilized for intermediate points If a
man wants to go to Detroit he will run
| through to Chicago in four hours and
thence to his destination by an express.
Cleveland and Pittsburg will be reached
| by regular train from the station at which
the halt is made to change engineers
| Cor New York World.
Publicly Disinfected.
A somewhat rare and curious sight was
seen in Paris a few days ago. About sixty
gypsy caravans were drawn up in line, and
L