Omaha daily bee., 1906-07-19
STEEL CARS ON OVERLAND
BVv-Niil and Passenger Coaches TO Be
Made by Union Pacific
VICTORY FOR THE POSTAL CLERKS
GREAT ssviaE OF Property. bot. Res,
OF All. " VIII AGOrd Pro-
tecfion for Humah
Life.

Steel cars will soon be constructed al the
Union Pacific shops in Omaha for the Har-
riman lines. Models Of these cars will be
built AT once and experimental work car
ried on so that by the time the new car
shops are completed It is hoped some more
practical cars for passengers coaches, mall
cars. box cars and others will be evolved
so the new shops can be utilized In the con-
strurtion N these. which are sure to re-
place the wooden variety.
Besides lesseninE the loss and damage
from wrecks. the cost OF maintenance will
be greatly reduced and Safeguards will be
thrown around human Hfe. - .a. .
The Southern Pacific has been expert
mentug With model cars OF each class for
some time ana the work Ne now to be aug
mented by the local shops in the hope of
Fastening the contamination 81 plans for
car which will contain all the desired
qualities so the improvements in patterns
may be adopted as the standard for the en-
tire Hartman system.
Work on steel cars has been along con-
ventional lines and It is hoped to mako
complete change in the car which will he
vast Improvement over any so far built
When the old lines of the wooden cars are
followed out not much change is made ex-
makes the cars heavier instead of lighter
and safer In times Of wrecks. When the
motor cars were constructed at the Union
Pacific shops Superintendent MeKeen de-
parted from the old-established lines in car
building and sent out cars Of steel which
were things Of beauty as we'll as much
stronger and lighter
Result of Experiment
Fr1.g. a..
the success reached in the direction Of steel
underframes for all freight equipment
which has been turned out for some time.
BY the use of these steel underframes the
weight Of box cars has been reduced from
about 1900 pounds to 1900 pounds BY the
use OF steel throughout Il is expected to
reduce the weight OF cars nearly. 1900
pounds. Thus In a train of fifty cars this
would reduce the weight nearly $50 600
pounds of lightweight. This would be a
great saving on the motive power and per-
NIT the hauling Of heavier trainload
weights,
with the substitution Of steel mail cars
and steel passenger rolling stock the chance
of loss of life in a wreck would be reduced
to almost nothing, and the horror of FIRE,
which so often follows a bad wreck would
be done away with. The monetary loss in
a wreck also would be greatly reduced to
the railroads Steel cars which have been
| in wrecks, and which would have made
wooden cars a complete loss, have been en-
tirely repaired at a comparatively small
cost. Another great saving would also be
| in the cost of maintenance, which is esti-
mated to be nearly 30 per cent less in the
case of steel cars.
! Railway postal men have tried for years
TO have the roads substitute steel cars
for the wooden class and have gone so far
as to try to compel some legislative action
which would force the roads to make the
change. In all wrecks Of. passenger trains
the mail cars generally come out the worst
of any, because of their position on the
trains and also because of thelr construc.
ton. The heavier Pullmans are the safest
I of all on the train from their very con,
struction. The mail car. being of a more
iimsy nature, is more often, crushed by
the compact when two trains come to-
gether or when there is some other kline
of wreck.