Omaha daily bee., 1911-08-20
PIONEER DAYs OF RAILRoEpINe
HsPpy-GO-Lucky style Of Train Ope-
RATION some Forty years
AH0.

Eighty years ago there were ninety-five
miles OF railroad in operation in the
United States. Today there are over 242, as
miles, q length that IL extended in a single
line would encircle the earth more than
nine times
The enormous growth of our railroads
has naturally been accomplished by the ex-
pansion or increase OF size of the American
locomotive. but with this difference. that
while there lie practically no limit to the
extension OF a line OF railway there is q
well defined limitation TO the size Of the
engines, which must be kept within the
measurements Of the track and the height
and width Of bridges and other permanent
structures These rigid dimensions are
known as the loading gauge. and are sub
stantiRlly the same today as they were
at the beginning Of railroad history Thus,
the problem of designing engines to haul
the constantly increasing weight OF trains
Is one of exceeding difficulty, and its solu-
ton may be regarded as one Of the great
est achievements Of modern engineering
In the year 1881 Matthew Baldwin, the
founder Of the famous Baldwin Locomotive
works, received an order for a locomotive
from the Philadelphia, Germantown q Nor.
ristown Railroad company, whose short
line of six miles was operated by horse
power. In designing the engine Baldwin
was guided by the plans of the Planet
engine designed by George and Robert
Stephenson for the Liverpool & Manchester
railway in 1880. When completed the en-
CINE was christened "Old Ironsides," and
was tried on the road November %, 1882
old Ironsides" weighed something over
five tons. The driving wheels were -four
feet six inches in diameter. The cylinders
were nine and a half inches in diameter
by eighteen inches stroke. Its traotivs
effort was about 1900 pounds. 1t attained
speed OF thirty miles an hour with Its
usual train, but 1t only ran under favorable
conditions, for In rainy weather the cars
were Drawn by horses.
During the next seven years great i'm.
provements were made In American loco
motives, and the leading truck had come
into use, representative engine was bull,
at the Rogers Locomotive works. Engines
OF this class ran on the Jersey City & New
Brunswick railroad in 1882 The cylinders
were eleven inches In diameter by eighteen
inches stroke. Driving wheels four feet six
inches in diameter. Weight about ten tons
Tractive effort about 2O0o pounds, The
cylinders were inside the frame and the
valve gear, having the hook notion was or
the outside.
The time during which this engine wa,
in service was an interesting period of rail
road history. Business was increasing
faster than tho means for hauling It, Oul
railroads we're like a boy OF the awkward
age who is constantly outgrowlng his
clothes. They were getting unmanageable
Rough and-ready methods Of handling
trains-wsll enough for the pioneer days
! wero causing bad wrecks that alarmed
even the free and easy American public
The writer has interviewed old railroad
men (some of them SCARED ana manned b,
/ fearful acoidents) whose memories go bacl
to the fortles, and a recital Of their expert
ence would be truly surprising
How many of us who travel In the lux
uriously appointed trains of today, with al
almost perfect service. know or stop L
think of the hardships ana dangers en-
dured, not only by the railroad men, bu
by the travelling public. who often psiC
higher rates of fare than they do today
and for accommodation and service 8,
greatly inferior. that detailed description
might well be doubted as true.
The engines had thin boiler plates, will
lap joints and single rivets. There wer,
/ no pressure gauges, ana the only way Il
estimate the boiler pressure was to rails
the lever of the safety valve by hand anC
Judge by the sense of feeling, so that, II
| the words OF an old engine man. "If tn
lever was easy TO raise we had 100 pounds
| IL It was not so easy. we might have 7
! pounds. II II was hard to raise we didn'
| know how much we had nor did we know
how much we had when 1t was blowlnI
off, Under these conditions, is It an,
wonder that explosions were not uncom
monr
Freight trains were sometimes forty
eight hours late on a run OF less than 10
| miles. and the train had to be sidetracket
! 20 enable the crew to get some sleep Il
| the engine cab. What would our shipper
have to say about this kind OF service
when freight trains today travel fort,
miles an hour to deliver the goods7
Turning to the passenger eervios. wha
would the modern traveller think Of ridinl
on railway not protected by either tele
graphs or signals7 In the absence Of tele
graphs the superintendent was in profoun
ignorance OF the position of trains, and
In case OF accident or delay. trains wer
lost" and no man knew their where
abouta. Sometimes men went on horse
back to look for the missing train, bu
usually the superintendent sent a man on
on an engine. This proceeding was at
tended with danger. as there was