The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-11-11
NEEDING RAILWAYS.

The Method Adopted in the Southwest
 to Get Rid of the Troublesome
 Growth
 In the southwest the railroads have a large item of expense which finds no place on the books of eastern compa- nies, this being for the removal of weeds which grow rank and luxur'ant ly between the tracks, seriously imped- ing rapid running, being crushed under the wheels and making the tracks greasy and slippery. Various methods have been proposed and tried to de- stroy these weeds, but that finally adopted by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe road is ito burn them by means of an oil flame.
 This burner destroys the vegetation between the rails and over a space of tWenty-four to thirty inches outside of them. The outfit. consists of a car made of iron, of iron shields suspended under the car and between the trucks an oil-tank car having a capacity of 4,500 gallons and a smaller oil tank of 800 gallons capacity, strong enough to withstand pressure of seventy pounds q square lllCll lUlS ldIih IS lllleu 1lOil the tank car and air pressure is sup piled for forcing the oil to the burners. The car, which is sixty~five feet long is strengthened by connecting trusses at each side and has a cab sheathed with corrugated iron at one end. The car is intended to be pulled over the road by locomotive. The shield be- heath the car is thirty-two feet long, with aprons at each side to retain the heat and to prevent side winds carry ing the flame to one side of the shield. The forward truck is protected by an auxiliary shield fastened to the bottom of the lower arch bars. When the fire is started the shield is lowored to with in three or four inches of the rail, and the aprons then slide on the ground. When crossing bridges the shields are | lifted clear of the rails twelve to fifteen inches by means of air pressure from a reservoir acting through a train of i chains and pulleys. The oil supply is also cut off in crossing bridges, and the moment the oil valves are closed the l flame is extinguished and it is as read 1 ily renewed when the oil valves are again opened. The oil is directed against the inclined under surface of | the shield, which retains sufficient heat to ignite the oil, even after 1t has been shut off for half an hour. In crossing | small culverts and cattle guards the | closing of the valve is unnecessary, as 1 the lifting of the shield will carry the flame high enough to prevent any firing | of the timbers.
 The compressed air for forcing the oil | through the burners and for lifting the shield is supplied by two Westinghouse air pumps, these being sufficient to maintain an air pressure of seventy pounds with four burners in use. Tie amount of oil required for each burner l is about eight gallons per mile. A light 1 crude oil is preferred. Only few minutes are required to get an effec- tive heat after reaching the place where | the work is to be done, and after the first few minutes no difficulty is expe- rienced from the oil dropping on the rails and making them greasy. A gang | of four men follow close to the car to 1 put out all the ties fired, but it is the l intention soon to use steam jets from 1 the locomotive in extinguishing fired | ties.
 The speed with which the car travels
 depends upon the kind of vegetation tc
 be scorched. Early in the season, when
 weeds are tender and not over five or
 six inches high, speed of four miles
 an hour is practicable, whereas if the track is thickly covered and matted with heavy, coarse grass the speed must be reduced to two and half miles
 an hour. Only the light blades of grass
 are consumed, the greater part being scorched, and while many stalks an. pear quite green after the flame passes
 over them, in few days they, too, wilt and die.
 One curious and unexplained fact which has also been observed in con.
 nection with forest fires is that a new
 kind of vegetation appears after eacf
 burning. The cost of operating the cal
 for day of twelve hours is $50, so that