Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-08-29
AN engine TREADM|L
The Modern Method Of Testing a
Locomotive.
RACING AT A sTANDsTlLL.

RACING AT A sTANDsTlLl-.
Going at Full Speed, Yet Not Moving
Ahead an Inch--The Wheels Of the
Steel Monster Are Driven to Their
Limit to Test Every Detail.
In the old days when an engine was
built it was the custom to test her by
sending her out on the road. Rudyard
Kpling once wrote q story describing
how great locomotive was tried out.
This was true at that time. 1t was
usual then to take the engine, hitch a
lot Of heavy freight cars to her and
send her out over the line, on levels
and tangents, on curves and grades,
until she showed exactly what was in
her for those purposes, says Harper's
Weekly.
But nowadays the railroad men want
to know more, and they want to know
1t before they intrust scheduled pas
senger CT freight train to her mercies,
so they put the engine on a treadmill.
The first thing they do with her then
is to- allow her wheels to revolve to
capacity, for in that the maximum
speed is figured. Then she is coupled
to an arrangement with dial attach
ment for the purpose Of testing he1
pulling power. BY a backward pull
the engineer makes her draw the
equivalent Of everything from bag
gage car to annie long freight train.
Now she is to all intents and pur-
poses racing over the meadows, the
track clear and the way straight; now
she is striking the grade on the other
| side Of a large town and painting like
a human being In distress. stronger
and stronger grows that backward pull
until No. 5000 finds herself slowing up.
After a time she is required to start or
try to start again, with every known
condition against her, every brake, bar,
lock and lever set wrong. This is to
learn her startling power--a most Inn
portant thing in railroading.
All the time the engine was pulling
and hauling, racing and checking her
steam gauges and water gauges had
been telling little stories of their own,
and these stories We're listened to with
interest. They were telling about. the
pressure Of the steam in the boiler,
with the amount OF water and coal
| used. They were saying whether the
| amount OF fuel was producing the max
fmum of steam or whether there was
a mistake somewhere. They We're tell
ing as plainly as the words will wheth-
er the boiler was large enough for the
CRATE or the crate too large for the
boiler.
By this severe test by the experts
Of the new locomotive on the tread
mill these skilled men can learn ex-
actly what every part Of the machine
Is doing, and woe to the part that
fails in Its share. 1t means another
trip to the construction department
and the supplying of new parts.
Speed and pull and pressure and eff
fectiveness OF parts do not end the
tests Of No. 0OO0. Another important
and interesting thing Is determined
while she is on the treadmill, and that
is her best load. lis strange, but
true, that engines for some reason are
never exactly alike. They may be Of
the same type, parts made from the
same pattern may go into them, and the
same workmen may construct them
on the same plan, but just the same
they differ. Old engineers will tell
YOU of that, and therefore there must
be test for each machine. za
Once the test was to hitch on cars
to an engine until she laid down and
cried, as they said that is, till she
could not pull another car over the line
marked out. Nowadays they never do
that, but by a scientific arrangement
OF pulleys,f levers and wheels strike
the golden mean between too much
weight and too little-the exact point
where the machine can do its best
work in the shortest time under the
most adverse conditions.
The principle is the same ais In the
case Of hodearrier who overloads
himself for d climb up a ladder and is
therefore wearied by single trip,
while the man who loads light makes
many trips, with a minimum of effect,
and therefore accomplishes more. The
modern railroad superintendent wants
to get the most bricks over hts division
every day. 4t 81
The proposition of putting locomo-
tive ON a treadmfIl and running It at
full speed Just to find out what 1t can
do Is a little startling. The demands
made upon loco notives today have ma
terially changed the conditions of for
mer years. Longer cars, heavier trains,
higher speed and longer runs are all
factors which must be dealt with.
Nothing short Of the most accurate
knowledge obtaina BILE regarding every
element of design and its effect on the
operation of the machine as a whole
meets the needs OF the man who builds 1
a locomotive Iss
There are certain Qualities of b loa