The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-03-24

the track. Iney were the COWcatcnerS
In those days, and not the pilot.
Trains were not equipped with air.
engines did not have emergency brakes,
auxiliary air cylinders were not on ev-
cry coach, semaphores were unknown
signal towers unheard of and interlock-
ing switches not invented. The tele-
graph systems were crude. roadbe6s
lmperfectly made and all signaling Of
train done by use of a whistle and the
hand. In proportion to the number of
miles of railway in operation the
amount of human life killed I'm railway
accidents then was four times greater
than that taken now. There probably
never will come time in which abso-
lutte safety can be secured. Absolute
safety does not exist anywhere.
MODERN EQUIPMENT.
The engineer of the modern locomo-
tive which is to take the train Of this
story into the West is protected by a
system of mechanisms before which the
old-time enginee. would go crazy. To
begin with. his engine is equipped with
air brakes. as is also every car Of his
train. His trucks are Of steel. His
and soft iron evenly distributed. His
headlight is equipped with an electric
light which makes the way ahead as
bright as day. His bearings are ad.
Unstable under all conditions and pre-
vents strains on wheels and rails. His
couplers are of the latest standard. Ths
conductor may communicate with him
at any time either by means OF bell,
steam whistle or the use of air. His
engine weighs in the neighborhood of
100000 pounds and has a driving wheel
base of fifteen feet. The cylinders are
20 by 2S inches. The driving wheels
have q diamete.' of over sixty inches,
with centers of cast steel and flange
tires on all driving wheels.
The boiler is made of Il working
pressure of 200 pounds. The fire box
Is H. inches long by AZ inches wide,
and there are 275 tubes each fifteen
feet long. The heating surface which
the fireman must take care of Is 2,00j
square feet. and the CRATE area Is 32.f
square feet. The tender has thirty
threc-inch wheels of cast iron. with
wheel base of fifteen feet four inches
The tank has a water capacity of 6,00C
gallons and Il coal capacity of ten tons
There are Tower coupleis, WestinG
house brakes. Hancock injectors
Nathan triple lubricators, Crosby
chime whistles. Ashton safety valves
Leach sanding devices, Jerome piston
, and valve-stem packing, Coffin tough
enod steel driving axles. Kawanee ten
der brake beam and Mcintosh pneuma.
tie blow-off cocks.
BETTER ROADBEDS
such an equipment as this was moi
to be found on the locomotives of forts
years ago. and the danger in handling
them or being hauled by them was cor
respondingy great. And though the
Improvement in locomotives has beer
! remarkable, that in roadbcds is a.
great. The roadbcd in the early his
tory of railroading was about as pre-
! carious pile. as treacherous a mass o.
/ earth and sand as could we'll be thrown
| together
! Today the whole aim of track con
struction and maintenance is to provide
a smooth and even surface for the
wheels of the train, for which purpose
! the rails must be held as nearly a!
possible in absolute surface and line
while the weight which they carr!
must be distributed over a large are;
of the roadbed or subgrade. A cross
tie system has been introduced whlcl
places from fourteen to eighteen indc
pendent supports under each thirty-foo
rail. Another system adopts a concret
platform. while still another provides
that each rail shall be supported on ;
longitudinal sill or beam of concrete
built up of blocks ten feet long, and 81
connected as to form continuous an,
practically jointless beams.
Anchor bolts are nodded into tn,
concrete, but in the chances of de
rallied wheels breaking the bolts, re
1 movable attachment Is being sought
Additional improvements sought 70
roaGbeds and now being provided ar
those which do away with dust meta
ties. tie preserving process, switcl
| frogs and frog substitutes, unloader
and the like
1t is absolutely certain, then, that tn
| train which is coming west over tn
Central. the Lackawanna, the Pennsyi
| rania or any other of the great trun
| Lines. IS equipped, both aS to engine an
| az mechanism, with the best of huma1
Inventions. and is to pass over road
bed that the skill of man is constantl
rJtching.
| THE TRAIN IN MOTION.
| he conductor gives the signal I
| 'g,. There is a gasp from the loco
| dive. a slight spin of the drivers-n
l'lng and jerking of couplings, bu
| easy transition from inertia to mo
ion, and the train IS away. How man,
witch ponts-the place where a switc
comes in contact with the main lin
Jrack-the train passes over in leavin
the yards of any of the companie
centering i'm New York city it is impos
siblc 10 say.
' They run into the thousands, bu