Evening journal., 1910-11-29
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
A Trio Of Condolences Of
Railroad Development
BY "HOlland.'

I'm my long career as a railway and
business man | learned that whatever
the emergency might be, however
great the~opportunity, there always
came at the exact moment resources
needed TO meet the emergency or to
grasp the opportunity" said the late
James ID. Laying, who for many years
was associated with prominent rail-
ways of the west--the Pittsburg, FIT.
Wayne and Chicago, the Chicago and
Northwestern, and the Big Four-in
high official capacity. 81 think. how
evers the most extraordinary demon
stration of the truth of what I have
just said was that which occurred in
or near Pittsburg at the time ] was
with the Pittsburg, Ft Wayne and
Chicago.
"In 1S49 | assisted in making the
first survey for any railroad west Of
Pittsburg. So enormously had the
railway development of the midwest
been between that time and 1868, the
year of the three condolences | have
in mind. that 1t had become apparent
to all railway men that, unless there
were some new inventions traffic
would be congested, since railway
equipment would not be sufficient 10
meet the demands made upon IT,
"We had just been seriously con-
cerned over the swift movement of
trains between Pittsburg and Cincin-
nati-and especially because of an
accident due to the inability Of rail-
road engineer to slow down a heavy
freight train--when. one day. there
called at my Office young man whom
] knew, who said to me that he had
an apparatus he had just perfected
which would make It possible for a
railroad engineer completely to con-
trol a train-to bring It to a stop
within the limit of safety.
II asked him TO show me his ap-
paratus. He did So and / was given
authority to test Il upon a specially
prepared train on the Panhandle be-
tween Pittsburg and SteubenvilIs,
Ohio. That was the way George West
inghouses airbrake was introduced.
About that time--within a few
months anyway-there also called
upon me an apothecary whose home
was in Alexandria, Va. He told me
that a railway accident had occurred
near Alexandria which caused much
damage by reason of the fact that the
cars had clashed together and were
telescoped, and he added that he had
invented an apparatus which would
make telescoping impossible.
Il told him to show me this appara-
tus, and he did. / gave orders that
it be adjusted to several cars and
then be severely tested. In that way
the Janney coupler. perfectly supple
menting the air brake. was introduced.
'Yet again, about the same time, J.
Edgar Thompson, president Of the
Pennsylvania, told me that he wanted
re to test tie new steel rail which
was th,n heing first manufactured I'm
England. I decided TO put ten miles
O. those steel rails upon a section Of
the Panhandle a few miles out Of
pittshurg We gave the rails IN eX-
haustiye~stest, and we decided that
with slight improvement they would
make very heavy traffic possible That
improvement was made and We be-
gan to equip our railroad with heavy
English steel rails.
These three features OF modern
railway equipment-the air brake, the
Janney coupler and the steel rail-
which have made heavy and safe traf-
fic upon American railways possible,
we're all perfected. as | now remem-
Der. within a year. and were tested
and adopted by the Panhandle, then
by the Pennsylvania, and afterwards
by every important railway In the
United States Some great prime
cause was surely inspiring Americans
20 meet a new and imperative emerg-
ency. and | have never ceased to mar
vel al the results"
Copyright 1910, by E. J. Edwards.
All rights reserved.)
To.morroxv Mr. Edwards will foil of