Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-08-01
STEEL CARS AND STEEL TRAINS
RecOllections of Changes in the Pas
senger-CRrrying Equipment
of Railroads,

In a recent issue of The Northwestern the
little employees journal published by the
railroad whose colloquial name II bears,
there is printed a reproduction of a copper
etched poster gotten out In 1877 to adver-
tse the introduction of the Hotel Car" on
the run to Dubuque. 1t shows an old fash
toned Pullman interior, with the slanklng
upper berths, the engrossed ceiling, the
ornamental iron braces and the general
evidences of our first reachings-out into the
realms of the heavily ornate. At the din
ing-car tables is a remarkable row OF nota-
bles including among others Dom Pedro,
Coils P. Huntington, John H. Logan, Sam
uel ]. Tilden, Lucky" Baldwin, Jim Flood
and General Pleasanton. They serve to
make illustrious the Hotel Car"-which
is diner, a day coach and a sleeper COM
bined-and also to emphasize the advertise
ment of the fact that 1t is run over steel
rails"
The old poster is interesting because 1t
illustrates the rapidity of passenger serv-
Ice development. Steel rails were worth ad-
vertising in the day Of the Hotel Car"
In 1881, according to Poor's Manual, there
were s1,471 miles of iron rails to but 1884
of steel. In 1909 there were SS1 1886 miles OF
steel to a dwindling of $500 of iron.
And as the Hotel Car and the steel rail
were the wonders of their day. so. for the
moment, is the steel passenger car the
wonder OF today. The public hears of this
latest and highest development in trans
portation equipment only when some road
puts on an ''all steel train" and adver-
tises 1t. as the Illinois Central advertised
the Daylight Special to st. Louis, which
made it's first run recently; or as the st.
Paul emphasized the start OF the "Colum-
bian" and "Olympian," the two through
"all STEEL trains to Puget sound.
But as a matter of fact the manufacture
of steel cars goes on all the time, both
on these roads ami on others The New
York Central and the Pennsylvania, lead
ers in the use of solid steel trains, seem
spurred on to further steel construction by
their splendid new depots in New York.
The Great Western prefers steel for max
ing up it's best train to the north. The
Northwestern is turning out steel day
coaches and the Illinois Central steel Sleep
ers. and so on.
By leaps and strides the railroads are ad-
vancing the safety of their passengers. For
there is no doubt that an all steel train
can go through a smash-up almost free
OF the terrible danger OF telescoping. 1t
is equally clear that the fire peril-the
is practically abolished, In daily use, too,
steel car will move with a swinging
smoothness noticeably better than the rat
Ting instability OF a wooden coach.
All this costs. Take, for example, the
"Olympian" and columbian" They seem
10 the public merely two trains. But, as a
matter OF fact. the seventy-two hour sched-
ule to the coast requires equipment for ten
complete trains. So for the daily opera
ton OF this lordly pair the road had TO
! buy eighty-four coaches. forty twelve-sec-
| ton sleepers, eighteen ten-section sleepers,
eighteen tourist sleepers two all-compart-
/ ment sleepers, twenty eight baggage cars,
eighteen baggage and mail cars, twenty
diners, four parlor cars, two chair cars
and nine buffet-observatioR cars-Just 24S
cars in all. Mr.. slason Thompson In his
Railway Statistics for 1870 quotes the
price of all-steel cars at from $3.50 TO
Sl5.ss4.
| In addition 10 the heavy cost OF con-
struction there are added costs OF opera
ton. The cars are at least one-third
heavier than the old style coach, This
means that more fuel is needed to haul
them. Whether these costs are to be COM
pensated for by economy In repairs and
length OF life remains to be seen.
The average unenlightened layman may
identity a steel car by the rivets that show
along the sides. Some OF them have a
new elliptical roof-Iike thst on an English
| car-in place OF the familiar American
clerestory roof But the rivet IL the only
unfailing mark OF identification.-Chicag
Post