Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-06-26
FROM FACTORY TO JUNK PILE
A Moving Thing of Few Years and
Much Trouble.
STORY OF THE LOCOMOTIVE
An ExempIar OF the Strenuous Pace
of Modern Life-JOyOusness OF
the start, PathOs of
the End.


ceiyed the idea Of distinct American loco
motive factory. He was what was known
i'm that day as a "far-seeing man." and he
knew IL Dimly in the distant future ne
saw time when there might be a demand
for new locomotive every week, ana
aeainst the advice OF friends who cried out
.'overproduction" his factory was designed
on a scale that worked to full capacity
could turn out fifty each year
Now the works that still bear his name
turn out five complete locomotives every
working day in the year and enjoy that
condition, dear to the heart Of the manu-
facturer, of being so swamped with orders
that customers must order months ahead.
Yet this plant has not by any means a
monopoly of constructionis there are others,
and, as some of the larger railroad sys-
TENS nave erected shops OF their own, the
total output OF American engines is nearly
300 per year.
Where do they all go and what becomes
OF them?
They go everywhere that men have goods
TO move by land; one Of the grandstand
plays Of our ex-president was TO ride the
'cowcatcher" OF an American locomotive
in Africa. They arc well known in the
"FIowery Kingdom" in Siberia Australia
Of Galilee and to Jerusalem.
one formerly well acquainted with the
motive power of any railroad will miss
many OF the engines after an interval Of
ten years even as OLD faces have disap-
peared and new ones sprung up in the
personnel OF the road Where have the old
engines gone?
Ineir history is in way pathetic. as in
any case where death rcentlessly touows
life.
The BEGINNING.
When il first rolled out of the shops as
perfect as skill and fidelity knew how to
make il, it had a reasonable expectation
Of life of twenty-one years recorded in
time, but the life of the locomotive Is meas
ured more logically by achievement than
by length of years.
There is none OF the formality OF launch
ing a ship, but much of the superstition
In starting a new locomotive over the road.
The "breakcr-in" of new engines the man
who trains them for the road, with the
roundhouse mascot, in this case collie,
has mounted the pilot, even as a navigator
Of the sixteenth century stood at the bow
Of his ship to invoke the good will of Nep-
tune during the life of the craft.
Standing on the threshold of life sur
rounded by the men who built it, our loco
motive gave promise of a mileage life of
i5O,OUO miles. Unlike the Grant box car
that will wander over continent, the loco
motive wears its life away in very re-
stricted sphere. Its active life will be passed
In journeys back and forth over 15O miles
Of road.
But wear and tear" the inevitable to
which man finally yields begins with its
first motion. BY the sime he has run a
distance equal to the distance round the
earth the trucks are worn out and must
be renewed Minor LESSONS, sucN as worn
brasses and burned out CRATES como under
the head of running repairs" and are
remedied without interfering with regular
trips; but by the time the second pair of
trucks are "all in" the driver tires -
grooved from the constant grind on the
rails. and at point 20 degrees ahead of
the stroke there is a place worn flat. Thus
far the first aid to the injured" and
simple remedies of the round house have
kept the engine in service, but now 1t must
go to the hospital and have it's tires turned
true and smooth. Three times the tires
must be turned before they are worn out
and replaced with new ones
In the early days of railroads an obvious
metaphor gave the engine the appellation
Of iron horse" and 1t is like that animal
In more than transporting goods and men,
for both to render the best service must
have good digestion. BY the time the
wheels need new tires 1t is very dyspeptic,
md must have q new firebox and new
hues that it may assimilate it's food of
coal and water. If its life is passed where
there are not of the best quality. its diges-
tive apparatus must be renewed the third
time before final dissolution.
Almost Sentient.
But little stretch of Imagination is needed
TO regard It as a sentient thing and to
think that after the second overhauling it,
like a man past so, begins to wonder how
and when IL will all end.
1t now begins to feel the breaking down
incident to old age, and is more often
beset by ills that will not yield to the
mild cures Of the roundhouse. 1t spends
Oue-fifth of the time in the hospital while
keen-eyed men under the urge of economy
begin to calculate closely If it is paying
its way. Twice 1t has been relegated to
the rusty sidetrack for incurables, but
rush of business has put it back on the
road. where, with light loads and careful
handling TO humor its mfirmitles it
wheezes painfully over the track where it
once hauled sixty loads or the fast express
on time, even as a decrepit old man shuffles
Comes a day at last when, no longer able
TO move itself switch engine stunts It
TO the Junk track" for the last time.
Well spent Life.
During the life now closed of our locomo-
tive has Travelled nearly 100000 miles; II
has turned 100000 gallons of water into
steam, and in doing so has consumed 1850
tons OF coal 1t has done a great work
in life. and has been expensive in its de-
mands for maintenance. Fastidious as 70
appearance. $S75 worth of waste has been
used on its complexion. and the grooming
has cost an item of $4,000 more.
The more delicate parts of the machinery
have used 1900 gallons of refined oil, while
the journels of truck and tender, swim
ming In grease" have used twice that
amount OF crude black oil.
Its doctors bill" has been a big one;
cents for every mile that It has run, an
aggregate of about four times the first cost
of the entire machine.
National pride prompts the depression TO
say that the American locomotive, like the
American Woman, is the best on earth and
the most faithful Long ago some one said
that the American engines were inferior
to the foreign: he repeated II till he came
IN ma h.