Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-03-22
.NoTEs0F THE RAILWAYS
Oil Locomotive That Runs 5000
 Miles Without a Stop.
MOTOR CARS ON UNION PA0HIC.


 For Passenger and Light Freight
 Service on Branch Lincs-Santa Fe
 system Will Plant spineless Cacti
 In Deserts.
 Three thousand miles without stop and at the rate of 100 miles or more all hour is the capacity of a new type i. of locomotive which has been ordered by the Southern Pacific railroad, says a Chicago dispatch.
 The locomotive is entirely different from anything now in use. The cost of operating it will be less than one half the cost of operating the present type of steam engine. Fuel oil, cost ing but or 5 cents gallon, only will be used.
 The machine is what is known as the four stroke cycle. There is com pressed air reservoir, from which the power is obtained for starting. This gives the piston its first stroke, when it takes in the air at atmospheric pres sure and temperature. The second stroke congresses this air and raises it to a temperature of about 1000 degrees F. The third stroke is what is known as the working stroke.
 The oil is sprayed into the hot air, the amount being regulated by govern OTIS. During the first part of this stroke the combustion of the oil is carried on at constant pressure for period that is regulated by the amount of oil spray ed. The second part of the stroke is practically an expansion, with trans ference of heat. and the fourth stroke eXhausts the gases.
 The Union Pacific railroad recently completed the first of a number of mo- tor cars that will be used in passenger and light freight service upon branch lines of the system, says the Kansas City Star. The new car in shape re- sembles an inverted racing yacht. The roof tapers from the top and is smooth ed and rounded. The front is tapered to sharp point so as to afford the least possible resistance to the air. Its design gives it great strength and makes it difficult to be telescoped.
 The motive power is six cylinder ed gasoline engine. The car is also pro- vided with large air reservoirs in order that 1t may be started or stopped by air pressure. The floor of the car is sealed and water tight, enabling 1t to be cleaned by turning on hot water. The seats are of leather, and there are DO lodges or crevices to harbor dust or dirt. The car that has been completed has seating capacity of twenty-five persons. A second car under cOnstruc- tion will seat sixty persons. This car is being built of steel instead of wood and is intended for journeys of sixty to seventy miles on the branch lines in Nebraska and Kansas. The cars have been built at the Omaha shops of the Union Pacific under the supervision of W. R. McKeen, dr., superintendent of motive power and machinery. Thev were designed for the special purpose of providing economical and rapid transit for use on steam railroads in competition with electric interurban roads and on branch lines where it is not considered practicable to operate heavy trains.
 A new railway track layer, with . crew of forty men, will lay two miles of track day. according to the Indian apolis News. The track layer has huge crane sixty feet long. which pro- jects forward over the road and hauls behind 1t train of sixteen fiat cars loaded with ties and rails. A continu- ous double line of cars moves constant ly over rollers and carries the tie with it. Both rails and ties are seized at the proper time by the machinery and plac- ed on the road in front of the train. where they shortly form part of the track over which it passes. This de- vice is said to be the most expeditions as we'll as economical track layer in the world
 The Santa Fe system is making ar engagements to plant the southwestern deserts along it's route with spineless cacti. which contain both food and wa ter for cattle. says the Chicago Inter Ocean. The Mojave desert will first re- ceive attention, then Arizona and New Mexico. Splneless cacti plants are now worth $10O each. but they are easily