The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1899-10-28
SPEED OF RAILROAD TRAINS.

Seventy miles an hour Is no longer
phenomenal sneed" said New or
leans railroad official to a Times Demo-
crat reporter. Engineers make it ev-
cry day. as a matter of course, but
when they happen 10 be little behind
time, and IL the road bed is all right
there is less vibration and less sense OF
peril than there used TO be in going half
that galt. 1 was on a train the other
nlgnt dLl struck seveh.y-two-mile-
armour chp, ana 4 am cOntdent mat
any pdsstnser noe accustomed 10 csu-
mating speed NouIQ nave saiu az a
guess lhat We We're makIng aOout fotty.
NOW daays amy recent passenger eng ne
can cover "A nile a minute oA uOltr-
aDiy straignt track. Al Is no feat at
all. As "A mater OF fact, the passenger
| locomotives bought at present by rne
road ! represent are ali bullt under
, guarantee that they can do eighty miles
an hour, pulnng tour standard cars. or
| course we don speed 'em up TO that
| limit but We can II we want TO.
wv hat do | regard as the highest
| speed likely To be attained in ordinary
| service" continued the speaker.
| We'll that's a hard question 10 an
swer. Not long ago forty miles an hour
was considered very fast; today it is
| nothing. Ten years from now we may
feel the same about seventy miles.
| would say, however, that $50 miles an
| hour is a distinct future possibility oL Il
steam power locomotive on a straight
| track A hundred miles an hour Is
one OF the things already I'm sight. No,
| don't think the average percentage
| of danger would be necessarily in
creased by such speeds. For years, on
| the contrary the element or risk mas
steadily fallen in almost exact ratio To
the rise i'm the standard OF speed As q
rule the faster a train travels the salel
| Il is, the explanation pelns that the ue'
| veIopment of high velocitles IN loco
motives has been necessarily based OF
great improvements i'm track bulldog
bridge construction. safety appliances
everything connected witt
railroad equipment. \ seventy -mile-an-
hour gait presupposes the incest al
| iustnent in every detai OF the system
: ! and a management that goes like 9
clock The same equilibrium OF speed
: | and safety must necessarily apply e
$50 miles an hour
II might even go further. and say
, | there has been very little change i'm the
, | locomotive itself during the last quarter
! century The mechanism has beer
somewhat improved In the ,..reCtior
OF easier working, and the engines are
} | larger and handsomer 10 look at; but
{ | in every essential principle they are eX-
| actly the same. The chief difference be
tween the old locomotive and the one.
we use now Is I'm the boiler. I'm former
, | times IL was hung between the trucks
! but i'm the heavy. modern types. whert
| So much more power Is necessary II Is
= | raised and sticks out at each side oVel
the tops OF the drivers. The old en-
| gines. with their Light trains, Coult
| really make almost as much time as We
can today, but they didn't have th'
roads 10 travel over. lt is In tract
building that the actual development
has taken place and IL has reached I
! degree OF scientific accuracy that verl
few people dream of outside the rail
road service. There are a great man,
problems In the way of materially in
creasing the speed OF locomotives. On'
OF them ~ the use OF larger wheel
without raising the boiler. and othe'
heavy parts - high as 20 make things
dangerously top heavy. II Is difficult
too. 10 make the valve action perfectly
smooth and easy under great steau
pressure. Then, again, there Is diti
| Guilty about one OF the side rOds-thos'
big bars that connect the driving
wheels. SO foot wheel VIII revolv,
more than five times a second n gOinE
half minute and the constant Jar OF
such a momentum changes the struc-
ture OF the steel and renders it liable
to break These are a few problems
| taken at random from dozens.