The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-01-06
A GIANT LOCOMOTIVE.
The TwoHeaded Monster Just Made
For the Mexican Central.
From the Pittsbisrq Dispatch.

From the PSttsblrq Dispatch.
PROVIDENCE, r. l., Dec. 3l-The big
gest and most wonderful locomotive in the
world has just rolled out Of the works
in this city. 1t was built expressly for the
Mexican Central railroad and under the
direction of the chief engineer of that big
system. The engine has the APPEARANCE of
two big locomotives backed up together
and coupled, but the mechanism Is single
and inseparable, and only one crew is re-
quired to operate 10.
The hauling capacity OF this locomotive
is remarkable and it IA designed for the
especial purpose of pulling heavy freight
trains between Tampico aud Mexico over
the high mountain grades. Power was the
first thing TO consider, and then there was
another thing before speed also, the ques~
ton of making the 20 curves on the side
tracks and the 49, curves on the main line
1T WEIGHS ABOUT 125 TONS.
The weight of the locomotive In working
order Is 250, 900 pounds, the tanks holding
5000 gallons and the coal bunkers tons
One of the most striking peculiaritieS OF the
new double oogie locomotive is the method
of transmitting the motion OF the piston
rods to the driving wheels. There is n re-
turn crank on the center pair Of drivers
| which receives two connecting rods. These
| rods at the front end connect to vertical
| levers, that are in turn coRnsotsd together
at the top.
The front lever is attached 70 the cross
head, while the rear one 10 attached to the
| framework Of the engine. This arrange
| ment moves the pistons forward, the
bottom end of the front lever moves ahead,
the bottom end of the rear lever moves
back and in this way motion Is conveyed to
the wheels.
The connecting OF the crank pins to the
| connecting rods IL a flexible one. The
valves are driven by motion made solely of
levers and without links or eccentrics. The
reversing rod aextsnda backward to con-
mon reverse lever, which is moved by a
spoke wheel that drives pinion working in
| a rack. ..
The engineer stands on one Tside'of the
engine and the fireman on the other, the
| firebox casing containing the rod fire.
| boxes between the two men. With an or
binary form Of boiler the water level falls
considerably at the back end Of the firebox
when descending such a steep grade as
per cent, and in ascending, while there may
appear plenty Of water in the glass at the
rear end the front end OF the GROWN sheet
and the dues may be nearly dry. With the
inexperienced fremen found in such a ooun-
try as Mexico this may be serious disad-
vantage.
DIMENSIONS OF THE GIANT.
lue Ctlluuers are Id anu 20 lOCQeB IN Ql~
ameter, the high pressure cylinder being
inside of the low pressure cylinder. and
the stroke is "a inches. Each of the IL
| driving wheels is AZ inches in diameter
The centers are Of cast iron, with hubs and
rims cored out and turned to AZ inches In
diameter to receive tires of Krupp steel.
The journals are ~ inches In diameter
and IL inches long. The boilers are OF
| steel, sheet 9-lS, box S-8, and Is an inch
thick. riveted with 1916 and "a inch
rivets. The waist is 81 inches In diame-
ter at the smoke box and made straigh
with Belpaire frebox. with one dome 81
inches, o. D., in diameter.
In each boiler there are POI two-inch
tubes, Is feet aud 81 inches long, with cop.
per ferrules on the firebox end. The fire.
box 10 SO inches long and SO inches wide,
with q water space of So inches at the
back and inches at the front In front of
all the drivers are sand boxes and automatic
airbrakes, and there 10 a headlight at each
end of the locomotive, which is so con-
structed as to run equally well in either
direction.
DETAILS OF THE CONSTRUCTOR.
The two boilers are carried on a long,
rigid frame, and the cylinders are also
fastened on the frames, instead OF on the
trucks. Power is transmitted TO the driv-
ing wheels by q flexible mechanism. The
water supply is held in saddle tanks on the
tops of the boilers; swivel casting bolted
TO the frame has a oonical bearing on the
bottom which fits in oonical casting Sec
ured to the driving wheel or bogie frames,
and the drivers are thus enabled to swivel
independent of the boilers and the main
frame of the engine. The driving wheels,
with their frames, form two 6-wheel trucks,
which carry the locomotive.
The double bogie locomotive was given
its trial here in Rhode Island, and it was
found to work successfully. 1t is already
on the way 10 Mexico.