The Washington times., 1901-08-12

ment they may have bought are stored
| Tor Them free OF charge, in the yards of
| their original owners. When intending
purchasers wish to see any OF the mate
| rial offered for sale they are taken to the
yards. Locomotive are usually fired up
and tried out-are always fired up if the
intending purchaser is n second hand
dealer. The tricks that are said to exist
| in all trades seem to be singularly plenti
full in the business of buying and selling
railroad materials. The railroads which
| offer these things for sale will seldom
guarantee the condition, safety, or even
| fitness of the stock.
The dealers have to take their chances.
and so their examination of the goods is
particularly thorough. Once in while
contractor In large way of business
VIII go straight to the railroad, disdatn-
ing all dealers, and Will himself buy loco
motives and other track equipmeV If
this independent purchaser ASSUMES a
competent knowledge of the material and
engines offered to him he Is pretty sure
to be heavily stuck, for the master
mechanics and others, to whom is dele
gated the duty of showing OFF the mate
rails and vehicles the road has for sale,
have no mercy on people who assume n
knowledge they do not actually possess.
On the other hand, if man presents him
self as purchaser, frankly admitting
that he knows nothing whatever about
engines, he is likely to get the pick of the
lot The men will go to exaggerated trou-
BILE for him, and will be at much pains
TO show him that his confessed Ignorance
is not DelnH taken advantage or. II Is
the man who knows it air who gets into
difficulties in a railroad yard.
When the immense amount of material
disposed of every year by the large rail-
roads is taken into consideration, the
wonder arises as to where all the cars,
engines, and old rails go. Most people
think that nearly all of 1t is exported.
but, as matter of fact. the bulk of the
locomotives and rolling stock seems to
be disposed of in this country. Changes
are made so quickly nowadays that loco
motives and other things that are prac-
tically new frequently find their way into
the hands of the dealers. The dealers, in
their turn, find ready sale for such
nearly new equipment among the small
roads of the West and South. There are
hundreds of little railroads scattered over
the United States, of which the public
knows little or nothing. which neverthe-
less are making good living for their
cheapest possible basis and the cheapest
basis upon a railroad. can be conducted
is the second hand basis.
There Is one railroad in the Southwest
with fifty-fve mile track that has not
single new thing about it. 1t started out
with few carloads of secondhand ties
bought cheap from n road that was try
ing experiments with a steel tie-and 1t
spiked down a lot of lightweight second
hand spikes, obtained from road which
was 4nstalling the English method of
track laying. Its sidings Were second
hand and it's switches We're stubs dis
carded by railroad which preferred split
ones
on its second -nand tracks this company
installed some excellent little secondhand
compound engines that had not been
found quite fast enough by another road.
The engines pulled trains of cars that did
not look second hand. though they were.
These cars had actually been cast aside
by a railroad in preference to changing
their old air-brake equipment to the
high speed" pattern for which 1t had
liking. Secondhand semaphores guard
ed the tracks of this secondhand railroad
and secondhand cattle guards and cross
ing gates prevented cattle from straying
on the right of way.
The right of way, incidentally, was the
only thing about the little railroad that
was not second The right of way,
as matter of fact, was stolen.
A great deal OF secondhand failroad
material Is. of course, shipped to foreign
countries. Japan has taken quite a lot,
but the best all-around collection of GUS
toners is to be found In South America.
Recently a big steamer sailed from New
York for Central America. conveying
three other steamships. On the four was
a complete secondhand equipment for
secondhand railroad. There was not
new thing in the outfit. Even the theodo-
plan the right of way were secondhand.
1t was said that the secondhand con-
tractor having this outfit in charge car
ried his predictions so far that he ac-
tually bought up a lot of secondhand
quinine to cure the malaria he expected
to find when he reached his destination.
Some Of the railroads, jealous of the
evident profits made by the secondhand
dealers, have tried the experiment of es-
tablishing a secondhand department of
their own. So far none of these have
been successful.-Brooklyn Eagle.