The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1907-03-04
RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.

Railroad men, Government ofhclals
and publicists throughout the country
are directing much attention TO an at
tempt 10 discover the real underlying
causes of railroad accidents, the fire.
quency and fatality Of which have of
late forced inquiry
A recent disaster which has invoked
serious investigation is that at Wood
lawn, on the New York Central. Bear
ing in mind the fact that this road is
equipped to about as perfect degree
as is any line in the country, a result of
study of the conditions pertaining to
the Woodawn wreck may be regarded
as a criterion in most Of tho other eases.
In this wreck twenty-one persons were
killed and one hundred and forty in
iured.
For over n year past the New York
Central has been equipping portions of
its system with electric traction, uti
lizlng the third-rail method of trans
mission. The accident occurred to one
of these electric trains on three-de~
gree curve. 1t was subsequently dis
NpNCItu lDhb lut pulSIot ldli udb pCCh
forced sideways and that the spikes
had been sheared off A tire from one
OF the bogie truck wheels was stripped
and thrown n considerable distance
from the track. These facts would in
dicate that in all reasonable possibility
the wreck would not have occurred on
a straight track, with other similar at
tendant physical conditions. But
whether the direct cause of the catas-
trophe was In faulty construction Of
the curve, or in the possible high speed
at which it was entered, has net been
definitely determined. Expert opinion,
however, inclines to the latter cause AS
being the true one. The springing of
the outer rail, the shearing of the
spikes and the stripping of the steel
tire, all i'll face OF the fact that the
outer rail has super elevation of four
and one-half inches recognized to be
sufficient for the safe passage of trains
at a speed of sixty miles an hour) seem
to demonstrate the correctness of the
view. Some justification is also had for
this conclusion in the recognized fact
that when steam locomotive engineers
first run electric locomotives they un-
consciously reach higher rate of speed
than on the steam machines. Speed pos
sibllities arc so much greater with elec.
tric locomotives: and the tractivc force
being steadily impaired from contin~
uously rotating machinery, instead of
from heavy OF
Meeting and side rods, the old oscillation
is absent. Engineers have been known
to often run at n speed of seventy-five
miles an hour while imagining that they
were making but sixty miles. When
the Woodlawn wreck occurred it is free
ly stated that the train entered the
curve at seventy miles an hourl These
new electric locomotives are very
heavy and "squatty that is, the
center of gravity is very low There
fore, when rounding curve the pres
sure on the outside rail is very much
greater than in the passage of ma
chine in which the center of gravity is
higher. In the latter case there is
tendency in the machine to ride on one
side, delivering a heavier vertical pres
sure but relieving the strain upon the
side
1t is recognized, though, that added
efficiency of ties, rails, etc, has not
been commensurate with the increase
of weight of locomotives and rolling
stock. Fifty years ago a tnirty.ton
engine was a monster-and the spike
was used to hold the rail TO the tic.
Today it is not "A large locomotive
which does not weigh hundred tons
and the spike is still used to hold the
rail TO the tie. While the weight Of
rails has been increased, il seems that
IN most instances the railroads arc in
clined TO get along with as light rail
as possible to carry their very heavy
trains. In the West, where the "runsr
are long and the towns far apart. the
principal drawback is in the single
track, which IS overworked to such an
extent that not only is there danger of
wrecks on account OF collision, but the |
continuous passage of trains so strains
the track as TO weaken it. On this ac,
count the broken rail or the spread
curve is likely.
Whatever may be the causes for 50