The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-03-27
RAILROAD NEWS.
Development of Railway Service
in America.
Present Systems Compared
With Those of 40 Years Ago.
BEST In THE WORLD.
Europe Can Not Compare with
United States Roads.
Home of Many of the Greatest
Railway Invention

In no industry perhaps does the
United States enjoy more remarkable
asceudancy over the rest of the world
than ia its railway service. AT the
close OF the last century North America
had mo less than 220.Ss0 miles of track
iu operation while the total for Europe.
Asia. Africa. Australia. and South
America was only triHe greater
about 10000 miles The United States
then had mile Of road for every 3S3
Inhabitants Europe one for every 2267
and British India one for every Il. 400
This country invented the parlor.
sleeping and dining cars. the pressed
steel freight car. many of the best fea-
lures x the modern locomotive, the air
brake. the automatic coupler and
host of related devices. and it runs the
fastest lcne-distance trains 1T is no
wonder then. that the handsome and
instructive ~Transpor edition of
the Scientific American should devote a
great deal Of space to the railroads OF
one of the most marvellous develop
ments lu The whole railroad system IS
that which has taken place at the head
OF train in the last seventy years
Ine best locomotives today are about
four times as long as the De Witt
CLINTON ilt3l) a foot or two higher.
have drivers that are - cor even sos
inches lu diameter instead of only "a
and carry geo pounds of steam instead
ar only So. But these figures afford no
idea of the real gain that has been
euecteo in power. Relative to the other
normally. while the snnokestack has
actually diminished i'm size. In the
l)e Witt Clinton the smOkepipe was as
uls as the boiler One does not realiZt
what modern science has done for this
type Of engine until he is told that il
mas Dull OF from Is TO 80 tons. as
aEaiust ely pounds. A locomotive built
fNt long ago TOR the Santa Fe road
weighed 1892 tons. Trevethick's engine
.-Nl just a century ago. weighed fvei
0.al ltll@on s Rocket ll6Z9) was sew
tiai hundred pounds lighter. Even be-
cen 1901 ana 1860 the average weight
ar passenger locomotive was twenty
IONS and Of freight engine thirty.
HAe nl 4he first advances in American
locomotive construction was to mount
tie lLpNt end OF the boiler by stout
pivot upon small independent truck
or Dosle. Previously the forward wheels
were secured to the whole frame That
Iltn made the machine exceedingly
lel1 and awkward on sharp curves
where dcraiiment often resulted An
other Improvement was the link mo-
ton for reversing for which the credit
mas been claimed both for an American,
James ana Stephenson. a more even
ulstripution Of weight on the wheels
was secured by another Yankee notion
equalzing levers"
Al the close of the fiscal year 1901
there were i'm operation i'm the United
states l5o.eSl miles of track or within
about $4,000 miles of the total for
Norn America. IF these roads could
ne stretched ont into one continuous
line they would be long enough to en-
circle the globe at the equator about
eight times. or TO reach nearly nine
tenths of the distance from the earth to
the moon.
ln It's transportation" edition the
Scientific American makes some striI1-
ing comparisons to indicate the bulk of
material used in the construction of
fnese roads Tt takes the Great Pyra-
mia " Egypt IS the starting point in its
circulation. That mighty structure is
l'1 feet square at its base. and rises 4S1
teet and contains about 81 500 600 cubic
l-et If shell of the same shape and
dimensions were manufactured it could
Pc Jet down over the capitol at Wash
insion without touching. and the apex
or the pyramid would be 200 feet or
more above the dome Of the building.
~ steel rails used in laying the track
or these American roads We're melted
MP INTO single lump of a shape that
Would admit of measurement it would
ne found to contain Is per cent more
material than the Great Pyramid An
olner comparison can be made with the
w ashington monument which rises $50
feet above IFS base. This same mass of
steel would equal it in height if cast in
rectangular block 1876 feet square at
The bottom. Some of these rails weigh
from $40 70 100 pounds to the yard but
most OF the track west of the Mfssie-
sppi is considerably lighter. Probably