The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-02-23
STRAIN OF CARING FOR OTHERS
MAN on THE TRACK TAKES NERvp
OUT OF THE ENGINEER.
MIR. Thomson's Locomotive Once
knocked Old Fellow Into
River, but Didn't Hurt Him.

or Sandy Thomson, one of the oldest and
most trusted engineers on the Big -Four
Railroad. He has been running a passen-
ger engine out of this city over the Peoria
division OF this road for over thirty years.
and without ever having wreck Of any de-
scription. When he first went In service
it was on this division OF the old L., B. &
w. which was absorbed by the Big -Four.
and during all of these years he has never
worked on any other line.
1.-The principle of the locomotive is the
same to-day" he continued. 'as IL
years ago. but on every part Of IL improve
ments have been made which add greatly
TO the strength and speed, the greatest
being those made in the cylinders and
steam pressure. You take, for instance,
engines OF thirty years ago. We then con-
sidered a cylinder sixteen inches In diam
eter, with a twenty-four-inch stroke, large.
but now. on the freight engines. we use
cylinders twenty-five inches in diameter
with a stroke of thirty inches. and on a
passenger engine twenty inches with a
twenty-six-inch stroke. You see. with CYL
inders Of this size and the wheels much
larger now than when first entered the
service, engines necessarily have greater
speed and strength.
capacity is much larger to-day than it
used to be. Formerly we carried 80 pounds
of steam. but now the big engines have
c25. while the smaller ones carry 2l5 pounds
boiler pressure. Any one can see IL IL
takes this much more steam to-day 10 get
an engine over the country than it did
twenty years ago. the engines must be
pulling much heavier loads and they also
must be making must faster time than
they formerly did. 1t was i'm the early six
ties that the railroads began TO see the ne
cessity of having their freight engines
built 10 pull much greater loads, and since
then there has never been any ect-gp op~
making Improvements along this line. be-
cause of the economy in having trains
made up with two and three times
many cars as heretofore and Of the greater
amount of freight that can be handled.
ut seems that from the year 1864 10 1853
was what might be called a period Of rail-
road reform, for it is from this period that
all of the important improvements have
dated. Among these are the steel tires on
the engine wheels. Before this time MOTH
ing but iron tires had been used but it was
found that they wore out quickly and THAI
they would slip on wet tracks. practice
was adopted when / first went in service
which is still in vogue. and that is OF
shrinking the tires the wheels instead
of fastening them by artificial means.
1.-The truth of the matter is, you cannot
keep tires from wearing even now. no mat
ter what they are made OF. Tires wear in
two ways. The weight of the engine press
ing on the driving wheels leads TO abra-
sion OF the surface coming i'm contact with
the rail, and as the wheels roll around the
tires wear away by the minute bruised par
ticles dropping off That is the wear OF tho
rolling friction. The second method OF wear
is that of sliding friction, where the slip
ping OF the wheels on the rails grinds away
the tires. The slipping friction is by far
the hardest wear on a locomotive. The art
of making tires is so highly perfected that
tires too hard for economical service are
rarely produced. The. principal cause for
merly Of engines slipping often found
to be that the tires on the wheels were too
hard and that there was too little weight on
the drivers"
ANYTHING FOR SPEED NOW
us it true that trains at the present time
run too fast for safety to the public?" Mr..
Thomson was asked.
YES" he replied. but the public is re-
sponsible for 1t. Everything in railroading
now is for speed. The engines have cylin-
ders on them that give them three and
| four times the power that they had some
years ago. And the fast trains are now
making sixty. and some OF them as high
as seventy-five. miles an hour. This is get
ting over the country at a pretty good
rate; in fact, 1t IS too fast for the safety OF
lives But the public demands fast time.
and the public must stand the conse-
quences. Many people when riding in a
| train think that when engine goes
! through a cut between hills or strikes
long stretch of level track the engineer in
creases his speed This is so only where
| the long stretch Of level track is concerned
! An engineer knows every mile OF the road
on which he is travelling he knows where
/ he can make time and where he loses it
/ he also knows where every grade and in
! cline is, no matter how slight IL may be.
/ for a grade reduces his speed. while an
/ incline increases it, He knows where ne
/ can let his engine out. and where 20 re-
/ duce il.
Everything in making time a railroad
/ is done according TO the schedule. III an
engine is scheduled TO run seventy-five
miles an hour, the engineer is compelled
/ 10 make just that time. and It doesn't mat
! ter whether he is going through cuts or on
/ a level plain. An engineer must use his
/ judgment and get high rate Of speed
/ out OF the machine as possible and he must
\ also maintain IL. II he doesn't. and loses
/ a minute or two and does not make II I'D
/ before he reaches the destination. IL is at
/ tributed to his being overcautious and los
/ ing his nerve. Very often IL would result
better for the passengers II the engineers
were a little overcautious. but We can't
\ be- for people want 10 ride fast.
Twenty or thirty years ago il would
| have been impossible for us 10 make the
| time that is made now on account OF the
| tracks We had then. In those days nothing
! but iron rails were used. But the rapid de-
/ struction OF iron under the high rate OF
speed and the heavier locomotives which
were coming into use made IL necessary
that some much harder material DC sub,