The times., 1899-04-03
FRANCE Buys OUR ENGINES.
Purchases Ten locomotives From
the baldwin Company.

the baldwin Company.
Philadelphia. April 2-Tne recent order
placed by the Commissioners OF the French
State Railway with the Baldwin Locomo-
tive Works for ten express passenger en-
gines has opened up anothe. market for
American locomotive construction. The
order for twenty locomotives given by this
Great Northern Railroad Company. OF
England. to the Baldwin Works. GRATED
much comment in engineering and official
circles on the other side The order has
IN part been attributed to the engineering
strike in England. by which the EDg in
workshops were put behind in their orders.
The first significant foreign order re-
ceived by the Baldwin Locomotive Wo.ks
i was Ia 1898. from the English Wa Ofacs
and was for three locomotives OF the ordi-
nary passenger type. Earrow gauge for use
I on the Soudan Military Railway This was
supplemented by call for fourth. Tae
order for the first three was placed jan
uary 4. and the agreement was that ths
engines were TO be ready for sh pment ~
February 20. which would have given tn
company fftythree days on the hrst threc
engines, and less than hfty on the flurtn
This was considered very short time for
| the work. yet the locomotives we're s1tpseI
from the works February 9. being held fo.-
( eight days prior to that until the arrival OF
I
might look them over. The engines were
shipped from New York 10 Alexandria
They were only thirty days in course OF
| construction.
Following this order came one from the
Egyptian Government Railway for twenty
| freight locomotives. OF these ittsea were
ordered February 2S and were shipped
! April q. Five more were ordered April
aud lett the works June 2. Since that ticce
! zaaraf faf
the Soudan Railway. 1t Ia a matter OF
military record that the first batch OF %
| comotiyes built for the Soudan we're usef
| by Gen. Lord Kitchener, the Sirdar, IN his
advance on khartoum.
| The recent order from the Midland Rail-
way Company. OF England is equa-ly sig
nihcant. 1t is for thirty locomotives on tn
Mogul pattern for freight service built ac-
| cording TO American practice a. to design.
/ but having copper freboxss and coypsr
| tiues. in accordance with the English prac-
| tice. Another large foreign order was for
seventy-one engines for the Chinese East
| ern Railway. all of the consolidated type
for freight service. built on the Vauclain
/ compound system.
| Since the first foreign order was receive
! the Baldwins have built engines for use In
| China to connect with the Russian Trans-
continental Line, Egypt, Soudan. Australia
America, Queensland, England. and Jerusa-
| lem. The Baldwins buiit the first loconc-
1 tiyes that ran into Jerusalem from Jaaa
One OF the questions advanced by the
| French Commissioners who placed the or
der for ten engines for the French State
| Railway was as to the comparative con-
sumption OF coal By American and Eu-
| ropean locomotives. VI. BoelI who was
a the head of the French Commission. said
that this is a question which can be de-
termined only by comparative tests. This
he said, is matter OF much importance in
Europe, where the cost OF fuel Is greater
than in America For himself. he believed
that the American engine uses the greater
quantity OF coal, but he gave evidence OF
desire TO see the question fairly and fully
tested.
A correspondent called on George Burn
ham, President OF the Baldwin Locomotive
Works, and asked that gentleman how his
firm could build locomotives so much more
quickly and so much better than the Eng
lish firms President Burnham said:
There is very little doubt that the en-
gineers' strike eighteen months ago had
much to do with the placing of the orders
with our firm. On comparative basis iron
is cheaper in this country than in England
The coal mines in England are becoming
very deep and difficult to work with a
profit, and coal can now be purchased in
this country as cheap. if not cheaper. than
in England. The appliances necessary in
the manufacture of locomotives are more
modern on this side than ON the other and
| far more efficient. Another advantage is
that the locomotives built BIZ us for for
| eign trade are according to American pat
tern and design. The peculiarity OF de-
sign OF American locomotives makes il
| easier to build and enables6 Us to construct
them more rapidly