The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1899-11-03
THE AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVE.

The tendency of the az is manifestly
toward a continual-and, all things con-
sidered. a rapid-increase In the size,
weight. and speed of railroad trains The
demand for locomotives of greater pow
er and spc d follows a. a natural con-
sequence. \ few years ago public opin-
ION, which received some countcnance
i'm technical and scientific circles, was
| voiced in the prediction that the at
tainment of the maximum locomotive
! speed under present conditions had been
I reached. The fallacy OF this beliei has
! been most eloqucntly disproV by the
performance OF an eighty ton loco
motive of American manufacture which
has drawn "a train at the ra,e of nine
ty-hve milss per hour and ny the
achievements Of Americas fastest
! transcon,inental train. which regularly
travels a distance of three thousand
miles i'm one hundred hours.
Thus, with the pl"ture of locomotives
weighing from eighty To one hundred
tons travelling upon hundred pound
rails ana drawing trains of Vcnty cars
a present reality, IL is not difficult TO
treat with tolerance prophecies regard
ing the future which might at first seem
highly improbable. II is worthy of note.
moreover. that development has been
locomotives designed for passenger and
freight service respectively. Present ox-
actions i'm the case of the latter are well
GXemplified by the guarantee that each
OF the locomotives Furnished TO com
pany whose line extends from Buffalo
10 Chicago shall he capable of hauling
fifty cars. aggregating three thousand
tons, the distance OF 543 miles. between
the points mentioned, in thirty hours.
| To the designing OF powerful engines
| for passenger service an especial s,tim-
illus has been impaired by the dispatch
demanded of recent years in the trans
| portatiCn Of the mails.
! The evolution OF the American loco
motive from the standpoint of design
/ has been quite rapid during recent
| years AS the size has increased. the
Hetttt7r OF driving wheels has grown
| from four. originally, TO eight or ten,
| and i'm ratio as the number OF driving
| wheels has increased the smokestack
| has been reduced IN height With the
| increase I'm size the duties OF both en-
| gineer and fireman have become more
| arduoue With understands holding
from five 10 six thousand gallons OF wa
ter an engineer may occasionally speed
past water-tank where in the old days
he would have been obliged TO stop. but
additional duties in other directions
more than coun ~"balance the saving.
| with the fir man duty means even
| sterner eXactions No more eloquent por-
| trayal of this could be made than the
| fact that 10 many Of these men a day 3
| work means shoveling twenty tons OF
| coal into the throat Of a tire-spitting
! furnace within ten hours.
| Probably the most powerful locomo-
| tiVes I'm regular train service in Amer
lea are i'm use on New Jersey railroad.
| Each weighs over a hundred tons and
! will take trains of four thousand tons
! along without difficulty. Two firemen
| are employed on each engine. As has
been mentioned. the new requirements
! Of the government in connection with
the mail service have called INTO requi-
| sition the enterprise which has spurred
several Western roads to the acquisi-
/ tion Of most admirable equipment.
Thus NE have eighty-ton locomotives
| making three hundred trips out OF
| Chicago each day. with trains weigh
! ing almost four hundred tens behind
the engine and which they haul at the
| rate OF forty-two miles an hour. SELF
| Culture Magazine.