Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-05-22
RAILWAY EXHIBIT.
Sights to be Seen in Trans
portation Building.
English and American Engines
Sleeping Cars and Coaches.
Hew Thsy Differ and Hsw Ours Are Superior
-laterestins Comparison.

! WORLDS FAIR, May 2l.-(SpeciaD-
There is one spot in the big Transportation
building where crowd of visitors may al
ways be seen. 1t 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 ID a
novelty, sure enough, and the polite young
men kept here for the purpose by the Brit
ish corporation are busy from early morn
ing till late at night explaining to inquisi-
tive Americans the mysteries and pecul-
iarities of the locomotive and coaches. 1t
is a rather odd appearance that the Eng
lish train maxes in such close proximity
to a locomotive and coaches of our own
build. The foreign locomotive is withouG
that graceful and sometimes useful ~
pendage known in this country as a Cow
catcher" This is not needed in England
because the track-or permanent way"
as tle English have it's never bothered
with cows. The line is 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 cow-catcher,
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-
comotive has a whistle, but it is so little
| like an American whistle that you would
never guess its identity. The top of tho
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
locomotive, of course. but it surely doesn't
look like one, according to our standard.
1.-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 it 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
can 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 dis
tance, and is a fast run-faster than any
of the long distance r<ns in America. For
| shorter distances, such as between London
| and Liverpool, London and Edinburg, the
express speed is fifty-six miles an hour,
and il 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, as 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 n pretty good rate of speed it
| would find itself in trouble and perhaps in
the ditch.
1t may well be doubted II 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 scere visit the aisle every
day-but he 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 railroad man
calls this look window a a"spectacle, -
| and but the narrowest pretense of a roof.
In practice the rain and the snow, the hail
and the sleet beat in upon the engine
driver just as if he were standing in the
open air. OF course the fireman or stoker
is no better off Neither driver nor stoker
has seat, either, and must be on their
feet all 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 SO numerous along the line
the engineer could not sit down if he
wanted to. He says also that no demand
for seats has ever been made by the driv-
ers: and as to 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 it is in this
part OF America, visitors wonder why such
| a simple contrivance as cab and curtain,
in use on all American locomotives, is not
attached also to the splendid machines Of
the English build.
hc tVhaci VI thhs IsuElisu iOCOLlotlFC Is
much like an American tender, except tn at
it has no trucks, but instead three wheels
on side also of the rigid frame pattern.
Underneath is seen the undertaking de-
vice in use on the Pennsylvania and a few
other American roads. It is simply a
spout which is let down into trough be
tween the rails. and the motion Of the
| train causes a stream of water to rise and
fall within the tank. This ia one of the
very few railway devices for which Amer
lea is indebted to England This method
| of saving the time consumed by filing
tanks on the old plan was first used by the
London and Northwestern road, and was
introduced in this country by an English
engineer. In return for this improvement
we have given our foreign friends the air
brake, the sleeping car, the dining car, the
vestibule, the baggage checking system,
interlocking signals, the block system and
many other important features Of modern
| railroading. some of which are taken kind
| ly to in England and some of which are
| not.
There are but two cars in this train. and
| very queer they look without platforms or
steps, and with their doors swinging out
| ward. In order to get into one Of these
coaches as they stand it is necessary 10
walk up ladder Of four or five steps. But
in England the station platforms are much
higher than in this country, ard are on
level with the floors Of the carriages. One
of the coaches is a sleeping car, a sort of
English adaptation Of the American idea
| 1t cannot be said in truth that ii is an i'm
provement. The sleeping car is forty-two
feet long and has accommodations for six
teen persons. The car is subdivided into
apartments corresponding to our drawing
rooms, though they are not 30 large or
comfortable. The ceilings are oppressively
low. The berths are arranged in uppers
and lowers as in our cars, but each berth
| is wide enough for but one person, while
in this country two Passengers may occupy
| one berth in tolerable comfort. Each Of
the English drawing rooms may be closed
and locked from the interior and cannot
be opened until the occupants turn the
| key.
The berths are made up before the train
starts on its journey. are, in fact, made up
| all the time. Therefore the passengers
have no place to sit except On their berths,
which they are forced to convert into
l Iou-,ssaa Iv, - = - A.