The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-06-18
RAILROAD ENGINES LIFE
It Is Generally as Long as That
of a Well-Kept Horse.
WHEN USEFULNESS ENDS
1t Is Consigned to the Potter's Field
Odd Accidents to Which Rolling
Stock Is Subject - A Talk
With a Yardmaster.

From the New York News.
Rolling stock" said the yardmaster,
lis a good deal like animals. 1t gets
out of order and has to be doctored. 1t
has accidents and has to be fixed up. 1t
grows old and finally goes to the pot
ter's field, where it returns to its ele-
ments. 1t makes no difference whether
1t be locomotive, a passenger car, a
freight caboose or a trolley-they all
run their little careers and then the
world knows them no more
How long do different kinds of roll
ing stock last?" / asked.
1T is much easier to ask than to an
swer that question:" he replied. Luck
has a great deal to do with it. Not
long ago we had a new car which had
not been in use more than a week. 1t
was standing on a siding and a freight
train passed 1t on the main track. The
contents of one of the freight cars had
been badly slowed, or something had
happened, no one will probably ever
exactly how, and long bar of metal
protruded sideways 50 as TO project
like spear from the side of the car
1t struck the side of the new car and
ripped it into fragments. The engineer,
damage was done. The new car was
practically ruined and had to be sent
back to the repair shop, where it was
taken to pieces and a new framework
made for it.
This style of accident is more COM
mon than you outsiders ever dream of.
You travel on passenger trains for
which the road is kept perfectly clear
and you never know the immense
amount of work done upon sidings,
switches in car yards. round houses and
repair shops. Then there are the un-
avoidable accidents which shorten the
life of Stock
Hot boxes will sometimes start a
small fire, heavy humping will weaken
the framework, a rough roadway will
loosen the nuts, careless or thoughtless
people injure sensitive parts, and then
there are flaws in metal which science
has not yet been able to prevent.
1T may be in the wheels of the axle,
| which means injury or destruction to a
car or train. 1t may be in the con-
! Meeting rod of the locomotive, which
| frequently involves death and disaster,
or it may be in the Orders of a bridge
| or viaduct.
II recall one case where one of the
| best freight trains on the road was
running along on a clear track upon an
| embankment. 1t was in December and
[ the frost or the concussion of years
| of travel or both together, had made
the rails brittle. One of them snapped
at two places, so that the fish plates
were of no benefit.
THE car which was third from the
| tender, went off the track and after it
went all the other cars. They rolled
down the embankment and when they
| got done rolling they We're not of any
great utility to the company. That
danger used to be quite common, but
they have made such Improvements in
the manufacture of steel and the no.
pound rails of to-day are so much
stronger than the 30, 40 and 50-pound
rails of the old DAYS that most of the
newer men in the cab have forgotten
all about the peril which used to keer
their predecessors looking ahead quite
| lively.
The finest thing on wheels is the en-
CINE. He's just like a horse He is
groomed every day with far more care
than is given to the average trotter OF
runner, unless 1t be some race track
star. Now that / think of it, his life
is just about as long. Horses break
down when they are young, and SO dc
engines. A good horse will do his work
up to the time he is Is years old, and sc
will a locomotive.
"a few horses keep in harness 2(
years, and so do some locomotives. But
there the engine begins to beat the
| horse. l never heard of a horse that
worked after he was 81 and there are
two or three old engines now in this
country that are still doing something
for their living at 80 years of age. En-.
gines have more risks than horses, and
they don't average as well as horses.
'.Of 100 locomotives that come out o1
the works I suppose they'll average 1:
years apiece. They go to the repair
shop every now and then because g
company can't work an engine to death
as a man can work a horse. Some
companies are mean enough to do 1t
but they know perfectly well that il
they did they would have an accident
and the jury would look to them fol
damages, so that it might cost then
the price of 20 or 80 locomotives over
again.
"These mean companies generally
work hard in the repair shop, and aftel
locomotive is not good for regular
work they put it on branch lines or il
the car yard to push around freight.
and make up trains.
What becomes of the locomotive
when it is no longer of any use? I
goes to the junk heap, figurativel.
speaking. A locomotive that Is M
longer any good has still some valu,
as matter of metal. The OUTSIDE
sheathing is the best quality of Russis
sheet iron, which is of a different char
the sheet iron we use for stoVepipes.
is wrought iron, with some qualitie!
like steel and with a. very curious fiber
which keeps the strength of the meta
and takes that beautiful blush blacl
polish which you may have noticed
when you were standing near an en-
CINE at rest.
, I'm many cases this sheathing can b.
used for other locomotives, and when i
) cannot be utilized in that manner i
can be in other branches of the meta
trade. There is some brass on the 10
connective, not so much as there use,
to be- The fashion nowadays is t.
have the locomotive as plain as can be
while in the old days they used to pu
on lots of brass and red paint Som
of the very latest engines are as plaiI
as the big stationaries in car houses
The tubes of the crown sheet get prett,
we'll burned out by the fire.
, Formerly they were broken up an,
thrown away, but now they are takel
into foundries and melted into sasl
weights and other cheap castings. TIL
cylinder piston rod, connecting rod