The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-11
A BOYS OWN RAILROAD.
Built the Locomotive, Laid the
Track and Operates 1t Himself

Robert NJ. Tyler the son Of William NJ
Tyler, has built perfectly equipped railroad,
with rolling stock and locomotive, on the
farm Of his father at Bucks Hill, a suburb
OF Waterbury, Conn.
He built the locomotive himself He sur
Veyed the line, decided upon the grades and
curves, and, aided by ordinary labor, made
the roadbed. laid the rails and now runs the
engine 1t is q real railroad and not Il toy
a railroad over which the engine Dict by
the boy, runs daily. hauls stone. lumber and
other materials and farm products, and hrs
an existence with definite and profitable
purpose. Hunters found efield with their
dogs take Tyler's road TO get a lift toward
the hunting grounds, and OTIS of people nave
the line.
The want that Tyler's Bucks Hill railroad
has at last practically illel arose ont Of
conditions in which his father. William VI.
Tyler, farmer on a large scale, is inter
ested, and that were inci19 ltIl to the Cnar-
acter of Connecticut soil AMI the topography
Of that part Of the state. Farming owing
to preponderance Of rocks powders and
gravel, is not all it might be n Connecticut
and hence Connecticut agr1cultursts try To
make both ends meet by adding to agric.I'-
ture poultry or fine live stock raising and
anything in the way of quarryiug or lumber
ing that might prove profitable.
IL was manifest that prolt as well fun
awaited the success OF a miniature railroad
running over Bucks Hill. Tyler who went
to work at it in very crude, small boyfsh
way at first soon compelled MS elder to
have faith in him as a civil and mechanical
engineer and road CONSTITUENT. Then the
necessary cash capital was forthcoming as
fast as it became necessary for Tyler ID in
vest in material.
DESIGNED HIS OWN LOCOMOTIVE.
The boy engine builder very sensibly re-
Trained from attempting to follow the lines
OF dr1Ye-wheel locomotive. Tyler was in
dIHeTent TO appearances, but bent on prac-
ucal results. He chose the rotary mechan-
ism best adapted to steam launches and small
he 1r1sv
such purposes. Tyler's levers connections
brakes, the exposure Of his boiler and ma
chineTy and his primitive coal bunkers all
wear an air Of Crudity. The bows sensible
aim was TO save and make money and not
to spend It eXtravagantly.
Tyler mOdeSJly states that engine No. /
the mogul Of the Bucks Hill line is rated
tWo-h0rse power, stands upright, is double
acting, reversible, and makes 800 revolutions
a minute. 1t generates steam rapidly can
get up steam in five or six minutes and uses
but little fuel. The car on which the engine
and boiler are placed is sixteen feet long bv
four and One-half wide The top Of the
smokestack is seven feet from the top of
the rails. The wheel base is five and one
half feet. The engine is duplex. and with tbe
boiler. IS Of the high speed order. The en-
glne and boiler and the car on which these
are mounted cost not less than $500.
The further equipment Of the Bucks Hill
line consists OF TWO cars. each four wheeled
and each having a capacity of 500 rounds.
The miniature train which the engine proudly
power even in this day Of cheap horse flesh
Small as the investment was for the whole
property. the ratio of operating expense is
very light.
TWENTY sIX-INCH GAUGE.
In running the line the boy surveyor bu
moTed the topography Of the region with
which he had to deal. and did not contract
Tor any deep cuts or for any rock work The
stony. grayelly surface was easily converted
into solid bed. The rails used were of
steel T-shaped, and the lightest rails made
OF this description, weighing but eight pounds
to the yard. The cross ties were of chestnut
three and half feet long, four inches face
and three inches thick. The gauge is twenv-
six inches. The grade in its steepest mart is
$40 feet 70 the mile. The whole cost of con
structing the railway was at the rate Of
$500 per mile.
The exigencies of Tyler's railroad building
did not compel any bridge building enterprise
as there were no intervening valleys he
tween the terminal of the road that could not
be rounded at their heads and the only
structures necessary were a few low tun-
nels.
Tyler. since Jan. l. has received an mixing
that he IS to be made the recipient Of one Of
the famous solid silver complimentary passes
issued by the SilyertOn railroad in the Rocky
Mountains Of Colorado, built by Otto Mears
the pioneer builder of the famous stage road
over the range between OuTay and Red Noun
tain. This pass is probably intended partly
as general compliment to the boy who could
build, equip and run a railroad and especially
in recognition of the fact that the SiIverton
road, made famous by its enormous grade OF
per cent to the mile is surpassed nv Tv-
ler's Bucks Hill railroad which has one
grade OF $40 feet to the mile, or exactly 7
per cent