Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1927-09-23
BIG RAILROAD SHOW


is the huge Hall of Transportation,
respondent with white-pillared en-
frances and glistening domed tower,
502 feet in length and go feet wide, it
is constructed of brick and steel, and
stands in the center of a 1000 acre
tract of land. In this building will be
placed exhibits showing the progress
in the growth of locomotives, cars,
bridges, signaling devices, ties, brakes
and every other accessory, however
small. known to railroading.
Startling contrasts between the old
and the new will be brought out in
strong relief. The vast improvement of
the present pipe-conducted, vapor-heat-
ing system in coaches over the crude
simplicity of the old woodworking
stoves, the advance in the lighting of
cars from the use of candles stuck in
glass tubes to the present day of cleo
tricity, the development from the
clumsy mandrake to the use of COM
pressed air, the first sleeping-car and
the modern home wheels, will fur
nish some Of the contrasts. In short,
all the railroad inventions that the
busy brain of man has been able to de-
wise in the past one hundred years will
be displayed, so that those who come
to see will understand.
Against the south wall of the Hall
of Transportation will be seen a model
panorama, $50 feet in length, repre-
senting typical scenes along the Balti
more and Ohio line from Baltimore to
| Chicago. The houses and general APP
pearance of Baltimore Town will be of
| the period of 1880, while Chicago will
| picture the skyscrapers of today. Ten
/ miniature working models of historic
and modern engines, electrically driven
and reproducing exactly the essential
features of the originals, will be spot
ted at various points along the scenic
railway. Hauling coaches and freight
/ cars built to scale, these engines will
/ travel over miniature bridges of wide
4 ly different types, from the old COW
cred wooden structures to the great
concrete and steel spans of the present
day.
On two big tracks in the center, run
ming the entire length of the building,
will be arranged a collection of thirty
one models and originals covering in
brief the world history of steam driven
appliances, from the grotesque inven-
lions of Newton and Murdoch, dating
back to the eighteenth century, to the
famous Director General, with six-foot
wheels and highest recorded speed
of more than 90 miles an hour-the
premier engine at the Chicago Worlds
Fair of 1898. A special feature among
these exhibits will be a Ptolemy OK.
cart, from Egypt on the Nile, used
2l00 years ago to carry animals fol-
sacrifces to the gods.
Arranged along the walls near the
Harper's Ferry model will be his
toric collection of pictures illustratinf
in chronological order the evolution Of
the locomotive on the Baltimore anC
Ohio Railroad. Beginning with thC
ingenious four-wheeler sail-car in
vented by Evan Thomas, which raj
on wooden stringers and strap rails
the picture will follow right on VI
the line of progress to the heavy noun
! tain type freight engines and the higl
speed passenger locomotives now il
service.
) A special section will be set asid
E for the largest and finest historica
! collection of railroad timepieces in tn
' United States. Over 200 railroa
4 watches, local and foreign, and
e score of clocks with interesting bio
j. graphies, will be shown. The Balti
more and Ohio was the first railroa
e in the country to -~tablish a strictl
|, supervised time service system, re
c quiring the services of 1877 certifie
n watch inspectors. Under this syster
employees of the railroad must carr
watches that will not vary more tina
e 20 seconds per week.