The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1902-11-26
GIANT LOCOMOTIVES.
Iron Monsters Two Stories High on the
Northern Pacific.


Tacoma Ledger
The Northern Pacific has received the
last Of a consignment Of twenty-oue Of
the biggest engines in America. The
last one Of the series arrived a few
days ago. and Tacoma. the terminus has
the distinction Of being also the greatest
railroad center in the world in this re-
spect. There are as big engines else
where In twos and threes. but on no line
and AZ no point are there a score Of
engines like the 1900 class Just received
In Tacoma. ANY ten Of those engines
could have done all the railroad bust
ness there was to be done here ten
years ago. when the sage hens" used
70 crawl uD 20 Weston with eight and
ten small cars that could be loaded into
I'VE modern cars, wheels and all The
public sees little Of these engines. since
they are confined TO freightiug on the
mountain division. Any one OF them can
pull on level track all the loaded cars
that can be hung behind them The
only limit is the number Of cars that
can be handled by a single crew. In the
graphic language OF Master Mechanic
Brue- You can string all the cars YOU
can get behind one Of these engines
chop the train of az mile or so, and
swing EN- into Portland easy"
Technical language viii not convey to
the average reader the immensely OF
these wonders OF locomotive building.
The name given them by common con-
sent all over the road Is BattIeships. %
and more descriptive name could not
have been chosen. One goes up two
Sights Of stairs 10 reach The cab. for
the boilers are so biz they cannot be
squeezed between the drivers. and per
force must be put on top OF them. Their
height is OF three men standing on each
others shOulders-just low enough 70
squeeze through the tunnels Indeed
many tunnels had to be raised 10 let
them through from the East The cylin-
ders are double on each side. being ar
ranged tandem" the word tandem"
being adopted as the class name Of the
engine.
Five years ago the "MoguT' engine.
which could swing 500 tons up the 2-IO
grade 70 Lester al the foot OF the noun
lain. was considered a wonder. and many
believed the limit had been reached rs
20 size. But the "Mogui" and it's load is
not mouthful 10 the present Battle
ship" which weighs loaded nearly three
times as much, and rolls along without
apparent effort with 900 tons.
II fhc froightiuE over the mountain
were still done with horsefesh, as forty
years ago. 20 would take 90. 900 horses to
do in a week what a "Battleship" does
iE a day. She carries 2IO pounds OF
steam. The "highpress" cylinders al
the front of the tandem" looking like
young l5-inch cannon. discharge into the
low press cylinders ar seventy pounds
From end 10 END the engines are sixty
nine feet LONG. for. as the master mo
chauic says Since they can't build EN-
any higher. the only thing they can do
now Is 10 build EN- longer" RoundIy
speaking. one Of the engines would run
all The mills in Tacoma If it were not
locomotive.
Five years ago the company received
the first Of its "KlOudike" engines. then
considered a masterpiece of engine con
struction. Though monsters in size and
power, the new engines exceed them lust
20 per cent In both Dimensions The
"Kl0ndiker" exceeded the "Mogul" By
500 tons up the grade to Lester. and the
"Battleship' daily exceeds the "Klon-
dilcer" by 200 tons.
The engines are not comfortable for
the engine crews. and have occasioned a
great deal OF kicking A bulletin was
posted yesterday cutting down the loads
OF engines. and till further orders the
''Battleship' viii only be required to
draw 900 tOns-still far in excess Of any
thing which has preceded them. The OBJ
ject OF the order Is the speeding up Of
trains during the great rush Of business
now on.
II is positively announced now. as Oft
times before. that the limit Of Iocomo-
tive building has been reached. II re-
mains 10 be seen how many months IL
viii be before the limit sign IS torn
down and higher one substituted.