The evening tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 189?-190?, 1897-02-01
A GIANT LOCOMOTIVE.
NEW MONSTER ENGINE THAT MAKES
MEN LOOK LIKE DwARFS.


Swimming School Holds 4,5op Gallons.
Its Weight Is ai7A.oO0 Pounds and Its
Height II I.2 Feet. ioir
A locomotive Of such stupendous size
as to at once rivet the attention of the
world, fifty named the Mastodon. has
just been built and will be shortly placed
in daily operation. Beside its towering
height full grown men look like pyg-
mics. Its strength is so prodigious that
1t can only be understood when it is
stated that it would require the COM
bined strength of several regiments Of
men to hold this iron monster once
steam was up and the throttle thrown
open.
This big engine was built for tho
Buffalo. Rochester and Pittsburg road,
and when in service will be what rail
road men call ''pusher" There is a
particularly heavy grade on this line in
the coal regions near Mount Jewett,
and it is there that the services of this
giant engine will be required to help
the regular engines up tho grades with
loaded coal trains.
This big engine was designed and the
parts constructed at Dunkirk. The fin
ished parts were taken to the Lincoln
Park shops of the Buffalo, Rochester
and Pittsburg road, where the work Of
erection occupied over a month. The
setting up Of the Ixonster not only re-
quired the work of an unusually large
- 1,,,t
before it could be accomplished extra
heavy cranes and travellers had to be
erected and rugged in order to lift and
convey the parts to their proper place
in the great machines structure.
The parts had, however, been design
ed, made and finished with such scrupu-
lous care that when the process of fit
ting them was carried out no change OF
importance had to be made. The trifling
alterations that were found to be neces-
sary were quickly done i'll the shops,
where the coming mogul's skeleton was
rapidly being supplemented with its vi
tai organs and developed into a com
pletely formed body, marvelously capa.
BILE of power and motion.
The Mastodon, which is tersely de.
scribed by Superintendent of Motive
Power Turner as "B. r. and p. IL
wheel freight locomotive, road No.
$780," is much more massive, extensive,
taller and more powerful i'll appearance
than any possible picture or written
description can convey, and its story
told in figures, though exact, would
mean more to an expert engine builder
than any one else.
No. 1879 was constructed TO use bitumi
nous coal as fuel and to run ON track
of 4 feet s l-2 inches gauge. The total
wheel base Of the engine is 20 feet 6
inches, which means that its wheels
stand on a space longer than the width
of full city building lot. The driving
wheel base is Is feet inches. The to-
tai wheel base of engine and tender il
so feet 8 inches, while the total length
of engine and tender over all is over &C
feet.
The engine is giant, and would, in
carrying out the idea Of symmetrical
proportion, have been taller than it is
but for the numerous obstacles, like the
roofs of tunnels and bridges, which 10.
comotive while travelling is likely to
encounter. 1t is cheaper to foreshorten
the stacks Of locomotives than 10 incur
expense of extra rock work in tunneling
and for building higher abutments and
approaches for wagon road bridges.
The top of 1895 stack is IA 1-2 feet
from the tops of the rails over which
the monster runs. From the rails to the
center of the boiler the distance is s
feet 1-2 inches, and when a man OF
ordinary height stands beside the engine
the height looks even greater.
The boiler is of the type known to To-
comotive builders as the Belpaire wagon
top. It's diameter at its smallest ring is
8 feet and inches. It's crown is sup
ported by direct stays. The stay bolts
are inch in diameter and are spaced
not over 40 inches from center to GEN.
ter.
A man crawling in the manhole OF
the boiler would see what resembles a
giant mitrailleuse, composed Of 824
tubes 2 inches in diameter. The length
of these tubes over the tube sheet is IL
feet 5-16 inches. The heating surface
affected by the tubes amounts to 2, 120
square feet.
It takes considerable room for the
fires which convert the water into steam
for 189. The inside of her great fire boz
is 0 feet 8 inches long and it is 8 feet 2
inches wide. The heating surface in
the fire box is 186 square feet, while
the CRATE surface is 30 $40 square feet.
The total heating surface is 2,806
square feet. There is q brick arch on
tubes, and the CRATES are cast iron and
of the rocking variety.
This engine has IL wheels Of the most
massive type. The diameter of the driv-
ing wheel outside Of the tires is 56
inches. The diameter and length Of the
journals is 1-2 by 10 inches. The di-
ameter of the engine tender wheel is 2s
inches, and of the journals of the truck
51-2 by 10 inches. Both engine and ten
der wheels are Of the Krupp variety and