Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1907-04-04


tracks and move out somewhere, it
is necessary, in practice. to move vir-
tually the entire hundred. But II
you have the total amount of freight
distributed among fewer cars of
larger capacity, or have the hundred
cars distributed over a greater num-
Der Of tracks. there is proportion
ate reduction of the number of cars
that viii have to be moved in order
to pick out the 90
"You come now against the fiat
Limitations in this matter of terminal
facilities, There Is only a given
amount of space available on AL the
island Of Manhattan that you can
cover with tracks, and we have prac-
tically reached the limit of carloads
on the existing guage Right here
the question of motive power comes
in.
The freight care Is like n bridge.
The trucks are the piers and, the
body is the roadway. Now, in meas
ure as you lengthen the body to take
on more load, you have got to in
crease the dead weight of the car to
be able to carry IL. and every such
increase in dead weight means de-
crease in earning capacity for the
car or for the train when a given mo-
tive power is applied to move Il. II
is a matter of practical experience
that II We could go on increasing the
width of the cars up to standard
that would be permissible on a six
foot guage. or even a five-foot guage.
we would be able to get great deal
more car capacity for a given in
crease in dead weight.
Furthermore, we would gain in
the loading and unloading. II, for
instance, by increasing car capacity
you put into. twenty cars freight
which had previously taken up so
cars, you require less terminal track
age for the handling of the freight.
you are able to get In on and OF with
greater speed and you have the other
10 cars out on the line earning
something In the meantime. hut
right here we come up against the
matter of motive power. and In that
we have reached the limit OF develop
ment under steam. so long ms the
present guage is employed.
It's the Only Way Capacity Can Grow
you will see why this Is whou
you remember that there are three
ways In which an engine can grow to
get more tractive power. IL mus;
either be heightened, be broadened.
or be made higher. And in all three
directions we have made our engines
grow as far as they can on the pres
sent standard guage or four feet
eight Did you ever ride In the cab
OF one of the modern freight locomo-
tlves?
"Well. you probably noticed the
swaylng back and forth that accom-
panied the drive OF the plstons.
That meant that the center OF gravity
had crcpt up just about as high as Il
could go without having the engine
topplo over when Il got into action.
II told you that we had gone as far
as we could In building engines up
into the air. Now II you viii think
minute YOU will see that there IS
obviously limit In length OF hreboV
beyond which II Is impossible to Are
an engine. And we have reached
that limit as well.
SO there you are. II we increase
our car capacity We increase the un-
productive dead weight that is 10 b.
drawn disproportionately TO the In
crease OF the load. and IN 80 doing we
are making demands upon tractlve
power that has already reached the
limit OF its development under pres
ent conditions. The obvious relief
then would be- by widening the guage
TO six feet. and am not sure that
the railroads will not come TO that
In the end
III the country after the civil war
had adopted the six-foot guage that
some OF the railroads in the south |
then employed. or even a hye-foot
gUage, We would be In much better
shape today. for we could increase
the height and breadth OF our loco