The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-07-04

Not the Stocks nor tho Bonds, but the Car
weights.

" - SteNhh NUT - hohuh 1ut 80
weights.
An ordinary passenger car on q steam railroad
costs from 81, 900 to s 5000, and weighs $4,000
pounds or nineteen tons. A mail car which costs
from 80. 600 to 81. 500 and is shorter by about
ono-quarter than the ordinary passenger coach,
weighs 80. o pounds or sixteen tons. A bag
gage car. without tho baggage in 1t, weighs o.
600 pounds or fourteen tons, and costs about as
much as q mail car. A sleeping car is more ex-
pensive than any of the others and 1t weighs o
good deal more. too. A plain, simple, but dura-
bio sleeping car costs anywhere from $4,000 to
$4,000 and an ornate, elaborate luxurious
sleeping car with observation attachments,
literary annex. and culinary department costs
anywhere from $4,000 TO $4,000. The average
weight of q sleeping car is from 40, 900 to "A. 900
pounds, or from twenty to twenty-five tons.
A full train in motion, as q little figuring will
show. is no light affair. The ordinary weight OF
the railroad locomotive for passenger service,
inclusive of tender. but not of fuel in the ton
der, is forty tons. One baggage car weighs
fourteen tons and one mail car sixteen tons.
bringing up tho weight Of the locomotive and
the baggage and mail cars to seventy tons. Six
passenger cars at an average Of nineteen tons
each weigh ia tons, SO that the total weight of
a train made up Of q locomotive and eight cars
would be 1874 tons, or 36s,0o0 pounds. exclusive
OF the weight OF baggage, OF tne tuel carried,
passengers, and mail matter. Pulling 1S4 tons
along rails at the rate of fifty miles
an hour or moro Is an achievement
which has not been easily brought about, and
the more the problem is studied the more clearly
IL is understood how far the mechanical work on
railroads has been pushed. There were. by the
last figures reported. $4,000 locomotives in use
on American railroads, $4,000 passenger cars,
and 1000 mail and baggage cara. These figures
seem large until compared with tho number OF
freight cars on American railroads, and then
they seem insignificant, for the number of freight
cars in use is 1880. 600.
Freight cars, among railroad men. are divided
into four classes-flat cars, such as are used for
the transportation of stone, machinery, and
lumber; box cars, such as are used for the trans
portation Of grain, fruit, and ordinary merchan-
disc; stock cars, such as are used for cattle. and
coal cars, such as are used for the Transports
ton of coal and oil-those used for oil being
supplied with tanks. The average weight of a
fiat or gondola car Is seven tons. The car costs
from $500 to S400. Box cars weigh q ton moro
and cost 800 more each. Stock cars weigh eight
tons each on the average; coal cars weigh three
tons each. 1t costs about 5000 to build coal
or oil cars. and they are designed to carry FIVE
tons apiece. The weight of fifty coal cars Is $50
tons, and Of their contents. II all filled. $50 tons,
which, with locomotive and cabooso added.
make 400 tons as the weight Of a train. 1t may
be said. roughly. that the weight OF loaded trains.
passenger, coal, or freight, ranges from 200 to
$50 tons. The lighter tho train, the greater the
speed; that's the railroad rule.