Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1893-03-18

coming TO deep cut the pow stops
while the shovelers are brought up'to
break" the snow. This is done by dig
ging trenches across the track at dis
lance of 100 feet, more or less, so that
the pillow may not have a solid mass OF
snow TO encounter. Then the plow en-
CINE backs up for a mile and half and
makes a run for the cut. By the time
1t strikes the drift 1t Is going sixty miles
an hour. The shock is terrific Often
the pillow buries itself completely and
comes to full stop in going 400 feet.
The conclusion throws ton or so OF
coal from the tank forward upon the
deck OF the engine. Sometimes it
breaks the machinery so as to disable
the engine totally-as the engineer
would put it-~she strips herself. Then
the shovalers come up and dig the snow
away, and If the engine Is all right the
process is repeated until that cut is
clear. 1t used to be a process of days
to clear a division with push
plows and shovelers. Each succeeding
storm made matters worse, for the snow
was simply pushed aside, not thrown
out OF the way. By the close of hard
winter great portion OF the line would
be lined on either side by precipitous
cliffs of snow. Sometimes these cliffs
became so high that the only way fresh
drifts could be cleared away was by
shoveling the snow upon fiat cars and
hauling it out to place where it could
be got rid Of.
But methods Of snow bucking have
improved with other branches of rail-
way service. In 1886, J. S. Leslie, OF
Brooklyn, an employe OF the Railway
Mail Service, perfected a rotary pillow
which was designed 10 cut and throw
snow from the track as nearly
like the shovel in human hands
as it il possible to utilize steam
power. This first rotary plow made
its trial trip on the Union Pacific Rail-
way In the winter OF 1886 and 1887.
making a record of 1900 miles through
snow that sometimes reached a depth
of fifteen feet, al a cost OF l6t cents q
mile for operating both rotary and
pusher. This was remarkable when
compared with the cost OF the old
methods OF snow bucking The rotary
has been improved since then until IL Is
considered perfect. Now an entire
division can be cleared OF snow in a day
without discomfort TO the men who do
the work. The pillow simply starts from
one end OF the division and keeps going
at the rate OF twelve TO twenty miles an
hour until IL gets 10 the other end. and
that Is all there IL % It, When IL goes
through a drift It opens a roomy pas-
sage, throws the snow entirely out OF
the way. and -Hanges every foot OF
road. flaugIng IA cleaning out the
snow between and below the level OF
the rails
The rotary has been introduced on d
large number of the important lines be-
tween the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
Thousands % miles u track have been
cleared - n without tho loss of a single
/ life. O Is claimed. or The wfseking Il 4
single engine. Compared With the lona
/ usta of oostlY wrecks and numerous
iatailiiss hy ih8 0'd methods 81 suuw
bueh.ns thla BE- something romaraahle
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