The Van Buren press., 1897-08-21
RAILROAD BURDENS.
Not the stocks Nor the Bonds, Bnt
the Car Weights.

Not the stocks Nor the Bonds, lint
the Car Weights.
An ordinary passenger car on steam
railroad costs from $4,000 to $4,000, and
weighs $4,000 pounds or 10 tons. mail
car which costs from $4,000 to $4,000
and is shorter by about one-quarter
than the ordinary passenger coach,
weighs 80, 900 pounds or 16 tons. bag
gage car, without the baggage in 1t,
weighs $4,000 pounds or IA tons, and
costs about as much as a mail car. A
sleeping ear is more expensive than any
of the others, and it weighs good deal
more, too. A plain. simple, but dur
able sleeping car costs anywhere from
$4,000 to $4,000, and an ornate, elab-
crate, luxurious sleeping ear with OBJ
servation attachments, literary annex
and culinary department, costs any
where from $4,000 TO 100000. The av=
erage weight of a sleeping car is from
0,0o0 to 44,000 pounds, or from 20 to ~
tons.
A full train in motion, as little figur-
ing will show, is no light affair. The
ordinary weight Of the railroad loco
motive for passenger service, inclusive
of tender, but not of fuel in tender, IS
40 tons. One baggage car weighs II
tons and one mail car weighs 10 tons,
bringing up the weight OF the loeomo-
tive and the baggage and mail cars to
70 tons. Six passenger cars at an aver
age of 10 tons each weigh ia tons, SO
that the total weight of a train made up
of "A locomotive and eight cars would
be 1S4 tons, or 36s,000 pounds, eXclr-
sive of the weight of baggage, OF the
fuel carried, passengers and mail mat
ter. Pulling 1874 tons along rails at the
rate of so miles an hour or more is an
achievement which has not been easily
brought about, and the more the prob
lem is studied the more clearly it is un-
derstood how far the mechanical work
on railroads has been pushed There
were, by the last figures reported, 3o,-
600 locomotives in use on American rail-
roads. 10000 passenger cars, and S,00o
mail and baggage cars. These hgures
seem large until compared with the
number of freight cars on American
railroads, and then they seem inslgnih-
cant. for the number of freight cars in
use is 1850, 900.
Freight cars, among railroad men,
are divided into four classes-fiat cars,
such as are used for the transportation
of stone, machinery and lumber; 5oS
cars. such as are used for the trans
portation of grain, fruit and ordinary
merchandise; stock cars, such as are
used for cattle, and coal cars, such as
are used for the transportation of oil
and coal-those used for oil being sup
piled with tanks. The average weight
of a fiat or gondola car is 7 tons. The
ear costs from $500 to $400. Box cars
weigh a ton more, and cost 500 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
| 50 coal cars is $50 tons, and of their CON
tents. if all filled, $50 tons, which, with
locomotive and caboose added, make
ago tons as the weight of train. 1t
may be said, roughly, that the weight
of loaded trains, passenger, coal, or
freight, ranges from 200 to $50 TONS
The lighter the train, the greater the
sneed: that's the railroad rule.-N. y.