White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1927-07-22
new De Luxe TRAINS
FOR MIL WAUkEE ROAD

TUN MlLUAUNIL nUHU
The operation of transcontinental
roller bearing trains, the last word in
travel luxury, has been announced BY
the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul
Railway. The first of fleet of IL
complete new de luxe "Olympians"
J will be r5aced on public exhibition
at important points on the Milwaukee's
main line between Chicago and Seattle.
/ Upon completion of the cross-country
exhibition, the new Olympians will go
into regular service between Chicago
and Seattle Tacoma August 1st.
A total Of 127 new cars, equipped
throughout with roller bearings, will
be required for the new Olympian
trains. Placed end to end, the cars
would make a solid steel passenger
train nearly two and one half miles
long.
The appearance of the new trains will
! be unique. All the cars will be painted
the traditional Milwaukee yellow. To
tinental roller bearing trains, the most
powerful locomotive in the world will
be exhibited simultaneously. The loco
motive is one of 90 which will pull the
Milwaukee's transcontinental flyers
over the roads 600 miles of electrifi-
cation This monarch of the rails is
nearly 100 feet long, weighs 642,500
pounds, and can speed 10 miles an
hour with complete passenger train.
H. E. Byram, of the Chicago, Mil
waukee & St. Paul, in announcing the
e,eration of the new trains, declared
that they forecast new era in passen-
ger travel.
mot only will these new trains be
(! the last word in travel luxury, but they
will revolutionize all our former ideas
about smoothness Of operation" said
Mr.. Byram. Velvet ease of riding
at all speeds will be coupled with entire
absence of jolt and jar in starting and
stopping. Without roller bearings the
automobile would not have been pos
sible. After exhaustive tests which
have demonstrated its practicality we
are applying to passenger trains the
same principle These new roller bear
ing trains will glide out of a station as
silently and easily as liner slides out
Of dock.
"The great mechanical advantages OF
roller bearings have been demonstrated
throughout industry. They practically
eliminate friction and friction is the
railroads. worst enemy. 1t requires
only one seventh the tractive' effort to
start these new roller bearing trains
as compared with trains equipped with
ordinary friction bearings. A rough
start is impossible. The lightest touch
of the, throttle and the train starts to
move.
i "This is the first time, however, that
entire fleets of passenger trains have
been SO equipped. The results OF our
tests were SO astonishing that we may
safely predict new era in passenger
travel"
Tvs years ago the Milwaukee equip
4 ped some OF its standaTd-sieeperg with
roller bearings. One of these cars has
already travelled 10000 miles. Placed
in an ordinary train, passengers were
abe to notice a marked difference in
riding qualities when passing Into this.
car from standard equipment. In. ad-
dition, pitching and rolling when ira
yelling at high speeds were almost en-
tirely absorbed.
/ The tests further showed that a
etandard Pacific type passenger locono-
tive could handle 21-car train equip
pod with roller bearings as easily as
l2-car train equipped with standard
bearings. In addition, 21-car roller
bearing train started much more easily
than the 12-car standard train. These
tests were made between points on
run 235 miles long. 1t included IS
stops and the schedule was very fast.
The tests ended with a 2l-car train
because it was found impracticable to
handle longer trains. At least 80 ball
bearing steel cars could have been pull
ed by a single standard locomotive at
high speed, it was estimated. The new
cars were found to be SO easy of OPP
Grafton that two men could pull one OF
the heavy steel Pullnans.
Seven times the tractive effort is re-
quired to move train OF standard
type passenger cars, as compared with
the new roller bearing equipment
Chicago, Milwaukee & st. Paul coach
No. 42s3 equipped with roller bearings
required 759 pounds tractive effort per
ton. Coach 4273, with well-worn STAN
dard bearings, required 54.4 pounds
tractive effort per ton. The sleeper
"Vancouver," with new standard bear
ings, required 55.8 pounds tractive
effort per ton. .
The total tractivc effort required for
Coach 1888 equipped with new roller
| bearings was 500 pounds as against
36OO pounds fer Coach 4273 and 430D
pounds fer the sleeper Vancouver"
= Engineers have a picturesque term
for describing the difficulty of starting
the modern heavy steel train. They
call it "the hump in the road" This
is in metaphorical sense, because OF
course there is no hump. What they
mean is the tremendous power neces-
sary to overcome the inertia. The big
driving wheels of the locomotive often
spin with terrific force in straining to
move the train. The passengers are
frequently shaken UP when the train
{, thus makes rough start. II
All this will be thing Of the past
with the installation Of roller bearings.
The "hump" will be completely fat
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