Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-02-22

new set Of tire just like any wagon, for
Though his drive-wheels are of cast-iron
their rims are bands of steel put on by
turning them just a trifie too small, ex-
banding them by heat, slipping them on
in place and allowing them to grip
tightly about the wheels as they cool.
All this truing up takes nearly
month. Then. forth he goes again and,
save that he's a little mite slower on
account Of the smaller diameter of his
wheels and a little more powerful on
account of the boring out of his cylin-
ders. he's just the same old locomotive
and as good as new.
But when, at the end Of another two
years and a half, he returns again to
the hospital to be lacked up" age and
overwork have begun to show them
selves in his more vital paIts. His di-
gestive organs-usually known as the
-firebox"-wherein rage ravenous fires
of carboniferous assimilation, begins to
burn thin in places, to warp and crack
tough metal though it be, on account of
the continued expansion from hot
flames and contractions Of cold water;
for locomotive unfortunately is called
upon suddenly. now to work to it's ut
most on grade, now to stand idle at a
station; and rent plates and twisted
bolts are the results.
His circulation (of water) and
respiratory machinery by this time arc
also sadly in need Of repair. Do not
ina CINE that long, round barrel body of
his contains nothing but water.
Within it also run dozens of smaller
tubes from back to front, through
which dart the flames on their way
from the fire to the smOkestack, thus
heating the water surrounding them
upon all sides and in all parts at once.
Many of these tubes, rent by severe ex
pansion, contraction and strains and
gradually burned away, must now be
drawn out and replaced patches are to
be put here and there about the boiler,
ing, of course. the truing up and bor-
ing out of moving parts is all to be
done over again. too. Yet, when he
walks out of the hospital this second
time he is still sturdy and able to keep
up to the procession and the time
table.
All this. however, is supposing he has
had the good fortune not to meet with
a collision, to have a whole half-mile of
heavy ore cars climb up on him and
bury him with their contents, to be de-
rallied by faulty switch or rolled over
and over in the muddy torrent of
spring freshet or dropped unceremoni-
ously through a burning bridge. When
he comes hobbling home after such
misfortunes there is nothing to do but
go over him from pilot to cab, stretch
| ing fine silk cords along the centre
| lines, measuring from these to see
| " here and how much he is wrenched
and twisted; then taking him complete
| ly to pieces, Strengthening his heavy
steel frame under the steam hammer,
aligning each separate rod, and as
sembling the parts one more, replacing
the missing ones from those of still
more unfortunate locomotives who have
ceased to exist as individuals entirely
| and dividing their few remaining men,
| bers among their disabled companions.
| But. barring accidents of a fatal
sort. our hard-driven peast of burden
will continue on for ten or even fifteen
years with a new fireboX on state oc-
casions, a new pair of cylinders at
long intervals, and, once in a while, a
rev set of tires. AT the end of that
| time. what with the increase in traffic,
greater weight of cars and his own in
| .irmities, he finds himself retired to a
far-off. up-country branch of the road,
where the speed is slower and the
| trains lighter. Five years more in this
| capacity bring him. alas, face to face
with unmistakable old age and de-
crepitude. His repair bill of about
$1,000 a year has amounted to more than
his original cost and save for boiler
shell-plates and frame his new parts
might easily outweigh his original
self Yet, in spite of that and his raw
enous appetite for coal and water, his
earnings of $50 day have made him a
eral-hundred- percent investment;
ard. moreover he may still be useful
About this stage of his existence he be-
comes particularly interesting to certain
junk dealers, locomotive brokers' who
regularly buy and sell old engines. Once
in the hands of the brokers he submits
helplessly as true old invalid should to
being ordered South or West for fresh air
and moderate exercise. Some secluded
meandering Southern railroad buys him
for passenger service-One of those road;
where the cowcatcher is placed on the
rear end of the train to keep the cows
from running over ii instead of on the
front end to keep the train from running
over the cows; where speed counts for
very little, and time is too abundant to
be valuable. Or he may find himself
| limping sadly back and forth between
| bleak hills from the entrance of a sooty
coal mine to the nearest main-l line
! track. or dragging piles of lumber after
| him through Swampy forests.
At last comes a day when, through
some steam-emittng crack or clanking
| disjointedness too serious to be repaired,
| he is absolutely useless. And after that
| he may rest for months or years. reposin2
| in a ditch or at the end of "A forgotten
| siding with naught to do but rust yell
| lower and yellower. waking only when
small boys c!imD goblin wise into his for
saken cab or ring his bell to disturb the
Waterman.
But this is not yet the end of him: for
some day. when the price of steel and
iron is higher than usual, he will be Wis
tied and scanned critically by Mr.. Isaac
stein. dealer In scrap iron and other junk
who will buy his unlovely carcass for so
much a pound, take ii to pieces (and no.
too gently, load 1t into cars or carts and
send it away to the steel mills. And a.
the steel mills, the fires will melt him
down, the roaring rolls fiatten him into
sheets, the giant hammers strike him
out into bars, scattering his slowly accu-
INFLATED rust away in a shower of sparks
at each blow, till he finally energies as
good sound material ready to be made
once more into locomotives as hard work.
ing as he was in his day, stronger swift
err heavier and better in every way ac-
cording to the laws of locomotive evolu-