Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-01-11
AN AUTOMOBILE HAND CAR
MOTORS ATTACHED TO CARS FOR
RAILWAY TRACK INSPECTORS,
Hank Robbers SOmeti Use the Lit
Omcers-Secti0n Gangs Pleased.

| 4 FoD the Cn'cago chronicle.
The old-style western bandits and bank
robbers always had their f1eet-footed horses
| tied in some convenient place near the
| scene of the robbers operations, where the
nags could be hastily mounted after the
| job was done or when the alarm was rails
| ed. With five minutes start on sherins
posse and horses sound of wind and limb
under them the bank robbers could give
| the laugh to all pursuers as they sped
! away In the darkness.
But the up-to-date bank robbers know
| trick worth two of that. Horses make a
! noise as they thunder over country road
and are likely to awaken some slumberinS
village marshal or deputy sheriff, who may
take pot shot at the thieves and bring
down one or two of them. Horses step
into gopher holes and break their legs.
They throw their riders sometimes in at
tempting to take walls or bitches. The
burglars of today who prey upon the little
| bank vaults in small towns do not depend
upon horses, but instead use railroad hanG
| cars on which to make their escape.
Robbers Use the Cars.
In half dozen recent instances in which
| country banks have been robbed the news
paper dispatches have added the line The
robbers made their escape a handcar.
The ease with which this may be done is
one of the beautiful features of the plan.
Every section gang on every railroad is
provided with a hand car one of the plat
forms on wheels which can be rapidly pro-
PEELED by the big handles attached to a
powerful mechanism under the car between
the trucks. Four stout men working with
desperation can get up speed of eight or
ten miles an hour with one of the cumbrous
old machines, and when the four men have
a few canvas sacks filled with gold coin
aboard the hand car they are likely to
throw a 10
The hand cars are kept in the little frame
toolhouses beside tho railroad tracks and,
| as these are fastened only with paddock.
it is no trouble for men who can break into
chilled steel safes to get them open. Be
sides the hand car they usually select all
the tools that will be necessary in break
ing into the bank-SedgeS, croWbars, etc
and then they roll the car gently along the
track to a point as near the bank as posi-
BILE. Getting into the bank building of a
country town is usually easy job. Pry
ing off a couple of half-nch bars from the
rear windows is about the hardest work,
and after the safe is drilled and blown open
the money is gathered up in satchels or
bags and before the frightened townspeo-
pie awakened by the explosion have climb
ed into their clothes and begun to assemble
at the wrecked bank the robbers roll
ing rapidly and almost noiSelessly down
the track at the rate of ten miles an hour
When they get far enough away to eVade
immediate capture they ditch the hand car
and quietly separate, to meet at some APP
its share of the work more quietly and
rapidly than four horses, and is more easily
disposed of than the nags would be.
Light Machine for Inspectors.
Many improvements have been made in
the construction of light cars designed to
carry one or two men on tours of inspec-
ton over railroad lines. OF course the old
fashioned hand car for hauling section
hands and tools has remained much as it
NJ xln%
particularly desirable sought after. The
section gang may sweat and groan over
the pump handles of the heavy machine for
the next twenty years before any one will
worry about its troubles But certain rail-
read employees are required to make fire.
quent and almost constant tours over the
lines to supervise the work Of the section
gangs and these trips cannot be made on
regular trains because every foot of track
must be inspected. stops must be made at
culverts and bridges to see how they are
standing the wear and tear.
Therefore light. easily propelled travel
ers" were designed, having their motive
power in the inspectors strong arms. but
having instead of a platform for tools a
seat for the occupant, with a pair Of ham
dies to be worked forward and backward
instead of vertically. Two wheels are
the right-hand track and only one on the
other, the third wheel being attached to
the end of a V-Shaped brace extending
from the traveller These machines, being
constructed just lightly as is compatible
along at cracking pace by a sturdy rail-
road man and can be lifted from the track
by one man in case he meets or is over
taken by train.
The latest move in this line, however. is
the application Of the automobile principle
to the travellers, which is accomplished very
readily by the substitution of storage
battery for the handles by which the oper-
ator formerly propelled the machine.
great speed is attained by the automobile
travellers, which are usually constructed to
IoIl fhny ell a1 AVIAN
the railroad tracks so close to the ground
that brakemen on the tops of passing
freight trains can scarcely believe their
eyes when they see the little buzzer come
flying toward them, pass and disappear in
the distance. The operator of this railroad
automobile has the advantage over his
brother on the cabs in that he has only to
keep an eye on the block signals and see
that the switches are not turned so as to
run him into a stalled freight train 9th
erwise his track is solid and sure. and ex-
cept at the few grade crossings which re-
main inside the city, he has nothing to fear
in the way of accidents.