The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-07-09
STEEL CARS FOR RAILROAD PAS
SINGER SERVICE.

During the recent convention of the
 Master Car Builders held at Saratoga.
 William Forsyth presented a valuable
 paper upon the subject of the use of steel in passenger car construction in which he said: 'There seems to be no
 good reason why new passenger equip
 ment should not be built with entire steel underframes The large experi- 1ence which has been obtained in the construction of steel freight cars should render 1t an easy matter to adapt this metal construction to passenger equip-
 ment, and it is difficult to understand why it has not been introduced at least 1 in an experimental way The great number of casualties in railway wrecks l is due in large measure to weakness
 in the equipment
 I The fact that the master car builders have given the subject serious conside- ration for the first time In eighteen
 years. and have appointed a committee
 to report at the next convention, is en-
 couraging to those who deplore the l failure of increased strength of con- struction in passenger equipment to
 keep pace with increased speed, in-
 creased travel, increased service and ! increased danger of accident. Even more encouraging is the fact that the Interborough Company of New York
 has, after careful experiments, given orders for two hundred steel construct I ed passenger cars. and that the major- ] lity of passenger cars for long distance electric lines are of steel underfranes. ] MT. Forsyth calls attention to the l fact that the use of steel undarframes
 for passenger cars has been quite gene ral in foreign countries for many years.
 while in this country the managemeHts l have been chiefly concerned with beau- Itiful effects in the interiors and with
 Luxurious furnishings rather than with increased strength of construction and fireproof quality He further invites attention to the unsymmetricai charac-
 ter of the modern passenger train as to
 strength, with the result that in the
 event of a wreck the Pullman cars ram the shell-constructed coaches like a
 battleshlp in collision with ferry I boat. The rapid increase in the use of steel built freight cars has also added I to the danger, for at any moment a
 passenger train may collide with enor- l nous steel freight cars heavily loaded. With the aid of the manager of a car l works, MT. Forsyth presented to the
 convention specifications of a steel pas
 senger car which led him to declare
 that a cheaper and lighter car can be built by the use of steel which will be
 stronger in resisting the force of colli1
 sion and which will be practically fire I proof. Railroads could not be expected
 of course, to throw away all their pas
 senger equipment, representing many
 millions of dollars of investment, but under the added weight of testimony land in the light of recent experience it is clear that they should not continue the old wooden construction when or
 dering new equipment. There is ample
 reason for believing that from an eco lnomical standpoint alone the steel pas
 senger oar is well worth adoption, in
 that 1t would greatly reduce the annual
 bill for injury and for loss of life and property. Chicago Record Herald,