The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-03-27
WINTER ON THE RAILROADS.
The Number of Freight Cars Hauled
by One Engine Falls With the
Thermometer.

by One Engine Falls With the
Thermometer.
From the New York Sun.
1.-THE weather can't get any too hot to
suit me professionally" said a train DIS
patcher ON one of the big railroads
Warm weather Is the most favorable for
the business of running trains, and the
colder the weather the more difficulty we
experience in keeping the yards and stor-
age tracks free Of cars. At this season of
the year we make up train of in the
neighborhood of sixty-five cars-of course,
we are speaking of the freight service
and this number will gradually increase
with the approach of werm weather until
we reach a maximum of about eighty-hVe
cars train. These are only the ngures,
you understand, of my particular diVls-
ION They will vary on other divisions and
other roads, according to the grades and
other physical characteristics. Neither do
these figures apply to the fast treights,
which nowadays come from San Francisco
to New York fully as quickly as a letter
and nearly as quickly as an unincumbered
passenger can make II.
1.-THE minimum number of cars TO a train
Is reached during the most severe winter
weather. Then the average falls down to
about forty-five. During the coolest wealth
er Of this winter we did not dare TO use
more than forty to train. The differ
ence is due to the resistance of the train,
l should say It's all right as long as the
train is kept in continual motion, but the
moment 1t stops the trouble begins The
oil that lubricates the axles congeas so
that the train Is what we call frozen after
ID stands for short time. / have seen
every wheel in train slide, and the cars
must not exceed in mber those that the
motive power can start with the. brakes
set. You see it costs as much money and
energy to run a train of forty cars as 1t
does one of eighty cars-very often more.
This means that in traffic Of LOO cars
a day It takes forty engines in the winter
to twenty in the summer and train crews,
switching facilities, storage room, and OPP
Grating expenses all in proportion Be
sides all this, there are always delays and
complications coming up that are directly
traceable to the cold. Frozen steel Is al
most as brittle as so much glass, and ev
erything from the rails up Is subjected to
a greater strain when in this state of con-
traction Valves and pipes filed with hot
steam freeze with incredible speed with
the thermometer at IS degrees below zero.
and the locomotive going a the rate of
twenty miles an hour Engineers are
held as strictly accountable as ever but
these accidents do happen 10 the best of
them and each accident causes so much
additional delay
There is only one thing worse than
cold weather and that is cold weather with
snow For its size and capabilities an
engine I'm a snowstorm is the most help |
lessly stupid thing imaginable. A loco !
motive does not push the snow to one SIDE
and make a path for itself. II seems to
wallow around in Il and take most of 1t
along with 1t, apparently for the purpose
OF decorating the running gear. II isn't
long before an engine Is loaded down with |
half ton of Ice, and throughout the train |
the friction causes the snow to melt just |
enough to freeze tighter than q ordinarily |
would The brake blocks accumulate (
enough ice to make the wheels slide, and |
IL the train ever comes to a halt in this |
condition she Is apt to stay right there /
until dug loose. Losing trains Isn't so |
bad, but our busy day comes when we |
begin TO find them again. There Is not |
only the point Of congestion to overcome |
but Il must be overcome with the least pos |
slble delay to the traffic that continues to
pour in upon us from both directions.
ION the whole" concluded the train dis I
patcher, you will see why there Is no
blueblrd IN the land more gleeful than /
at the approach Of warm weather.