White Pine news weekly mining review. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1910-1920, 1920-10-03
ExiQencies Of War Marked Pass
ing Of Compound Loco
motive.
COMES ALONe THE BOOSTER
cowcatchers Vanish a. Arc Lights
Show the Way-New Idea From
Lima, O., 10 Being Tried Out on One
Of the Bio American RaiIrcAds-
Compounds Go to Scrap Heap, ~
Costing More for Repairs Than They
Could Save In Coal.

taken place since the world war be-
gan than In the half century which
preceded 1t. True, the vital organs of
the iron horse remain precisely as they
were when George Stephenson first
gave him to a world a~stounded.
The full blast of the exhaust steam
used to draw vast quantities of oxygen
through the firebox to make the fuel
blaze with almost explosive fury, and
which idea alone made the steam To-
connective possible; the horizontal boil
err with its enormous heating surface
and low center Of gravity, the furnace
submerged in water and twin cylinders
are all practically as the "Father Of
Railways" left them. and % far as
any p~resent-day engineer can fOresee
will so remain until the last steam
engine shall have rolled the rails.
Perhaps the change which first at
tracts the attention Of casual travellers
Is the outside valve gear, now practi-
cally universal. 1t gives a sharper.
cleaner cut-of to the steam following
the pistons than the Stephenson link
motion In its original form, and Ii re-
verses the engine just as readily, but
another great gain is that it leaves
the space between the frames free for
increased size of boiler and frebox,
with consequent gain in steaming ca
pacity. The swinging rods and os-
cillating links, being In plain sight out
side of the wheels and driving rods,
gave the popular name of "~grasshop-
pers' to the engines when they were
new and monkey notion to the gear
itself.
Freed From Double ThraIl.
OF far greater Importance from an
engineering standpoint is the practical
abandonment Of the compound locomo-
tives, which ten years ago we're hailed
as the browning triumph of nearly a
century of locomotive building. Now
they have all gone to the scrap heap
as costing more for repairs and de-
lays In traffic than they could possibly
ave in coal. As a veteran railroad
executive put 1t the other day, "they
were In the back Of the shop all the
Time"
All that are left Of these engines
that II was thought would work almost
revolutionary changes IN railroad trAv'
Ell are q few of the heaviest type and
they are In the freight service exclu
sively. This change does not strike
the lay observer SO forcibly. as thu
compounds were not startlingly DIFF
ferent in appearance from the straight
or single expansion engines, although
their music on the road was of a yer,
different quality. They started OF will
only half the number Of puffs Of thu
older machines, and without the artil
lery detonations which mark the start
ing Of a heavy train, and when tn
compound mounted into full cry acros
the open country the note was sof
and purring. far different from tn
deep organllke diapason of the other:
Evolution Of the Compound.
After many experiments on bot
sides of the ocean, the locomotiy
"Marchioness of Stafford" built fo
the London & Northwestern railwa
of England, was hailed as the su,
cessful Inauguration of the new tyr
of engine In which steam was boun
In double letters, the principle bein
that the steam, after being used |
one set of engines to turn the rea
driving wheels. was discharged int
another engine where its remainln
energy was expended in turning tn
forward drivers, after which II wa
discharged In the atmosphere throug
the smokestack Is In all other raj
road engines from the Rocket" /
the present day. The "MarchiOness
was followed by the Queen Empress,
built for the same road, and exhibite,
at the Chicago worlds fair, at tn
head Of a complete and luxurious trail
In charge of a uniformed crew oil
ready to take the road at an hour
notice.
Compound locomotives during tn,
following years were built in grea
numbers and with many differences II
parts, ZONE with four and some witt
three cylinders. and after the Chicag,
fair some American railroads ex
changed . few Of their finest engine.
with similar types with British roads
and they were subjected to sever,
competitive tryouts In both countries
but the result was not such as to leat
to continuing the practice.
American engineers can be found
who admit that the English engines
are the best in the world, for mas
much as a stout wicker basket will
outlast a rigid packing case sof like
original strength In its life Of travel
so the American locomotive, with Its
greater fiexibility of frame. and joints
more readily adapts itself to the un-
foreseeh strains and shocks of more OF
less crudely-built railroads laid in new
or sparsely-settled regions.
War Brings Changes
Then came the war with all Its ter
! rible emergencies. anc these rang the