Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-15
LOCOMOTIVE RACERS
EXPERT "CLoCKERS'' KEEP TIME
ON FAST TRAINS.
They Are Employed by Railroads Dur
ing Speed Trials Of
Flyers.
From Pea rson's Weekly.

Very soon the Orleans Railway Company
of France will have a wonderful new loco
motive running south of Bordeaux Paris
to bordeaux at present takes seven hours
10 accomplish. The new engine will knock
Two hours or that time. for speed trials
nave shown that 1t can maintain an aver
age OF seventy-ive miles an hour.
TO literally keep pace with the times rail-
way companies are always building new
types OF locomotives. And when a prom
lsing fresh-comer, like the Orleans flyer, is
finished. 1t Is taken out when there is little
traffic on some length of road" and given
speed trial. or run against the clock"
to see what 1t can do
speed trials of railway trains are carried
out IN two ways. There are various me-
chanlcal speed recorders, which generally
actuated by the whirling wheels of the en-
gine, indicate the pace attained by means
OIL hand moving on a dial, much after the
same fashion as cyclometers indicate dis
lance Travelled.
The most accurate and useful results.
however, are those obtained by human
tlmekeepers taveling on the train The
timekeeper has with him a shorthand clerk
10 note the intermediate times as the mile
posts and distance posts fly by. These
with the train going at high speed, require
10 De looked out for very carefully The
expert uses, perhaps, three stop watches
and an ordinary watch; and by stopping
one watch and starting another at each
quarter mile-the assistant Immediately lot
tlng down the fgures-times for all parts of
the run, up grade and down grade are
obtained. The watch itself gives the time
ior the entire run, which. If no mistake has
been made, will, Of course be the exact
total of all the figures the assistant has en-
tered in his note book.
The Fastest Train.
THE fastest train in the warld" is al
W hoi cloir
other-most often America not so very
often Great Britain. The reason for this is
simple British railway companies care lit
tie or nothing about the sentimental as
pect of the case. To ho.d the worlds
record will not bring then any more pas
sengers; railroad racing is expensive work
especially in wear and tear" Therefore
the title Is left to those who care to claim
IL, and British railroad race against time
only occurs when a rival company has to
be beaten in the journey to some point that
Two or more companies serve. Then, nat
urally enough, worlds record" may be
beaten; but 1t is not what the competing
trains were primarily out for
With the United States the case is quite
different. To hold the record is the dearest
wish of many of the great companies there;
and large sums are spent in attempts to
regain or improve it. The driver of the
record express" is a hero in the railway
world; maybe he earns substantial sums for
ldSleSl lllpS. between Two crack
drivers there keen rivalry existed On two
consecutive days last autumn they, with
different engines. by authority had a
'cut at record" One man had square
meal before entering his cab" to avoid
wasting time in feeding while driving Il
didn't" said the other man, who won; II
got on board hungry, and guess I thought
less Of risks than of half duck and green
peas getting cold at the other end"
However carefully express locomotives
may be constructed, their speed trials may
bring to light defects, usually minor ones,
that exist in them. With what minuteness
details are adjusted may be judged from
the fact that in some instances hollow
pockets" are left In the balance weights
of the wheels. If the time trial shows that
the engine is slowed because It's driving
gear is not properly balanced" melted
lead is poured into the pockets" until cor
rect running Is arrived at.
japanese Railroads.
Up to date in all things, Japan holds time
trials Of her mostly imported locomotives.
The standard gauge of line in Japan is 3
feet inches. against our own 4 feet SO
inches; but even on so narrow track good
speeds are obtained. The watch has shown
that Japans speediest locomotives are
those of British build
Unrehearsed speed trials not infrequently
take place when trains are coming down
the tremendous slopes of the Rocky noun
tains. The brakes may fall to hold the
train, and such runaways are regularly
watched for by polntsmen, who switch
them aside into long sidings built to run
steeply uphill, and which soon safely put
an end to the unauthorized "record-mak-
ing"
In considering the question of timing the
speed trials of railway trains 1t should of
course, always be borne in mind that ac-
cording to whether the road goes up or
down. the pace during the run varies.
Looking a. the times taken of British ex-
presses. we find that on some parts of jour
neys done at average OF 90 to 65 miles
an hour a maximum speed of so to Sc miles
an hour is accomplished. The watch shows
that for comparatively short lengths, the
express on It's time trial may leap down
declines al 90 miles an hour; 100 miles is
not unknown. Those may be mere ''spurts."
but official time trials prove that several
British trains have done so miles hour
and over for more than dozen miles "a
at