The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-08-02
FUTURE RAILR0ADING.
ENGINES WITH A THIRTY FOOT
DRIVER AND A WIDE GAUGE.

Ten years from now there may he 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
now are.
The diameter of the locomotive driver
wheels must be increased to secure greater
speed, but master mechanics are not at all
agreed as to how this can best be 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
enough for the American of today. The
locomotive has probably attained the max
imum of it's efficiency. 1t makes moro
economic use of steam than any other form
of engine The marine engine loses 81 per
cent. of the latent energy in the coal, but
the locomotive utilizes fully SO per cent. o.
it. Therefore the problem is not to i'm
prove the locomotive, but to enlarge its ca
pacity to get over the ground.
ANEW ERA FoRESHADowED.
This can only he done by some radical
change in the form of the roadbed and the
rolling stock. To increase the diameter of
the wheels is the first requisite. This will
necessitate a widening of the permanent
way. Suppose the driver wheels to be
thirty feet in height, the gauge ought to
be twenty feet The rails would have to
be a foot high, and ought to weigh ton to
the rod. They will be bolted to ties made
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 2O0-ton 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 Sxles, instead of resting upon
them. The boiler will be built around the
axles, and the smokestack will not be
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 tiremen will be required,
and they will be provided for on platform
at a 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 us 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. If 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 300 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 rum
The track will be kept absolutely clear, and
there will not beany stopseXceptt to change
engines at half way point.
OF course such 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 million people each
The saving of time Will stimulate travel
ing, and every train will be filled. The en-
gines will burn 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 a mere fraction Of
what is now requisite. Nobody will trave
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 thC
cars. They will be 10 feet wide and prob
ably $50 feet long. The most scientific arti
fetal ventilation and heating apparatus
will be adapted to the case. OF course NJ
windows can be left open on train goins
$50 miles an hour They will have to bt
closed with the heaviest plate Glass--doubl,
windows, in fact. The structure of the cars
will be much the same as those of today
LESS DANGEROUS.
Theywill be built twholly of iron and steel
The walls will be steel plates, and the inte
rior finish and furnishing will be beautiful
and luxurious. The size Of the cars vii
insure single compartment forevery tray
eler. An aisle will run through the car
and the statcrooms will be arranged OF
each side thereof, shut Off by curtain O
wickerwork door. These rooms will b.
seven feet in width and provided with
large easy chair or sofa. Tho trains viii
be vesthuied, so that it will be quite pos
siblc to pass from one car to the other
1t is very doubtful if the element of dan
ger will be increased The cars of stee
can be made Of such form and braced il
such manner rs to render them less liabl
to 20 to pieces in cnse they leave the rails
Collisions will be impossible, becaus
trains will never be permitted to folloy
each other within half an hour, and no
even then until the preceding train ha
passed the station, situated ut least thirt
minutes time distant, says 100 miles
Double track will be the rule, not the eS
ceptiQn.
Difficulties about stopping the train
when once under headway will occur, bu
they will be met by improvements on tn
brakes that will render the gigantic mG
chinery us tractable as any now in use
An ingenious system of signals will be dc
vised, the bell ard whistle no longer bein
useful, because they cannot be relied upon
They will be drowned by the noise of tn
monster train.
The local service of the present roads wi
be utilized for intermediate points. If
man wants to 80 to Detroit he will ru
through to Chicago in four hours an
thence to his destination by an express
Cleveland and Pittsburg will be rcache
by regular train from the station at whic
the halt is made to change engineers
Cor. New York World