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THE AMERICAN RAILWAY

THE LAST SPAN— READY TO JOIN,

The American Railway

ITS CONSTRUCTION, DEVELOPMENT,
MANAGEMENT, AND APPLIANCES

THOMAS CURTIS CLARKE THEODORE VOORHEES
JOHN BOGART BENJAMIN NORTON

M. N. FORNEY ARTHUR T. HADLEY

E. P. ALEXANDER THOMAS L. JAMES

H. G. PROUT CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS

HORACE PORTER B. B. ADAMS, JR.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY

THOMAS M. COOLEY

CHAIRMAN OF INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION

WITH MORE TBA.V 200 ILLUSTRATIONS

NEW YORK

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1889

TROWS
PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY,

CONTENTS.

PAGE

INTRODUCTION xxi

By THOMAS M. COOLEY,

Chairman Interstate Commerce Commission.

THE BUILDING OF A RAILWAY

By THOMAS CURTIS CLARKE,

Civil Engineer.

Roman Tramways of Stone — First Use of Iron Rails — The Modern Railway
created by Stephenson's "Rocket" in 1830 — Early American Locomo-
tives — Key to the Evolution of the American Railway — Invention of the
Swivelling Truck, Equalizing Beams, and the Switchback — Locating a Road
— Work of the Surveying Party — Making the Road-bed — How Tunnels are
Avoided — More than Three Thousand Bridges in the United States — Old
Wooden Structures — The Howe Truss — The Use of Iron — Viaducts of Steel
—The American System of Laying Bridge Foundations under Water —
Origin of the Cantilever — Laying the Track — How it is Kept in Repair —
Premiums for Section Bosses — Number of Railway Employees in the
United States — Rapid Railway Construction — Radical Changes which the
Railway will Effect.

FEATS OF RAILWAY ENGINEERING 47

By JOHN BOGART,

State Engineer of New York.

Development of the Rail — Problems for the Engineer — How Heights are
Climbed — The Use of Trestles — Construction on a Mountain Side — Engi-
neering on Rope Ladders — Through the Portals of a Canon — Feats on the
Oroya Railroad, Peru — Nochistongo Cut — Rack Rails for Heavy Grades —
Difficulties in Tunnel Construction — Bridge Foundations — Cribs and Pneu-
matic Caissons — How Men work under Water — The Construction of Stone

vill CONTENTS.

Arches — Wood and Iron in Bridge-building — Great Suspension Bridges —
The Niagara Cantilever and the enormous Forth Bridge — Elevated and
Underground Roads — Responsibilities of the Civil Engineer.

AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES AND CARS loo

By M. N. FORNEY,

Author of " The Catechism of the Locomotive,'' Editor ^^ Railroad and Engineering

Journal,'' New York.

The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in 1830 — Evolution of the Car from the Con-
estoga Wagon — Horatio Allen's Trial Trip — The First Locomotive used in
the United States — Peter Cooper's Race with a Gray Horse — The " De
Witt Chnton," " Planet," and other Early Types of Locomotives — Equaliz-
ing Levers — How Steam is Made and Controlled — The Boiler, Cylinder,
Injector, and Valve Gear — Regulation of the Capacity of a Locomotive to
Draw — Increase in the Number of Driving Wheels — Modern Types of
Locomotives — Variation in the Rate of Speed — The Appliances by which
an Engine is Governed — Round-houses and Shops — Development of Amer-
ican Cars — An Illustration from Peter Parley — The Survival of Stage Coach
Bodies — Adoption of the Rectangular Shape — The Origin of Eight-wheeled
Cars — Improvement in Car Coupling — A Uniform Type Recommended —
The Making of Wheels — Relative Merits of Cast and Wrought Iron, and
Steel — The Allen Paper Wheel — Types of Cars, with Size, Weight, and
Price — The Car-Builder's Dictionary — Statistical.

RAILWAY MANAGEMENT 149

By Gen. E. P. ALEXANDER,

President of the Central Railroad and Banking Company of Georgia.

Relations of Railway Management to all Other Pursuits — Developed by the Ne-
cessities of a Complex Industrial Life — How a Continuous Life is Given to a
Corporation — Its Artificial Memory — Main Divisions of Railway Manage-
ment — The Executive and Legislative Powers — The Purchasing and Supply
Departments — Importance of the Legal Department — How the Roadway
is Kept in Repair — The Maintenance of Rolling Stock — Schedule-making
— The Handling of Extra Trains — Duties of the Train-despatcher — Acci-
dents in Spite of Precautions — Daily Distribution of Cars — How Business is
Secured and Rates are Fixed — The Interstate Commerce Law — The Ques-
tions of "Long and Short Hauls" and "Differentials" — Classification of
Freight — Regulation of Passenger-rates — Work of Soliciting Agents— The
Collection of Revenue and Statistics — What is a Way-bill — How Disburse-
ments are Made — The Social and Industrial Problem which Confronts Rail-
way Corporations.

CONTENTS. IX

PAGE

SAFETY IN RAILROAD TRAVEL 187

By H. G. PROUT,

Editor '•'■Railroad Gazette,'' Netv York.

The Possibilities of Destruction in the Great Speed of a Locomotive — The
Energy of Four Hundred Tons Moving at Seventy-five Miles an Hour — A
Look ahead from a Locomotive at Night — Passengers Killed and Injured
in One Year — Good Discipline the Great Source of Safety — The Part
Played by Mechanical Appliances — Hand-brakes on Old Cars — How the
Air-brake Works — The Electric Brake — Improvements yet to be Made —
Engine Driver Brakes — Two Classes of Signals : those which Protect Points
of Danger, and those which Keep an Interval between Trains on the Same
Track — The Semaphore — Interlocking Signals and Switches — Electric An-
nunciators to Indicate the Movements — The Block Signal System — Protec-
tion for Crossings — Gates and Gongs — How Derailment is Guarded Against
— Safety Bolts — Automatic Couplers — The Vestibule as a Safety Appliance
— Car Heating and Lighting.

RAILWAY PASSENGER TRAVEL 228

By Gen. HORACE PORTER,

Vice-President Pullman Palace-Car Company.

The Earliest Railway Passenger Advertisement — The First Time-table Pub-
lished in America — The Mohawk & Hudson Train — Survival of Stage-
coach Terms in English Railway Nomenclature — Simon Cameron's Rash
Prediction — Discomforts of Early Cars — Introduction of Air-brakes, Patent
Buffers and Couplers, the Bell-cord, and Interlocking Switches — The First
Sleeping-cars — Mr. Pullman's Experiments — The "Pioneer" — Introduc-
tion of Parlor and Drawing-room Cars — The Demand for Dining-cars — In-
genious Devices for Heating Cars — Origin of Vestibule-cars — An Impor-
tant Safety Appliance — The Luxuries of a Limited Express — Fast Time
in America and England — Sleeping-cars for Immigrants — The Village of
Pullman— The Largest Car-works in the World — Baggage-checks and
Coupon Tickets — Conveniences in a Modern Depot — Statistics in Regard
to Accidents — Proportion of Passengers in Various Classes — Comparison
of Rates in the Leading Countries of the World.

THE FREIGHT-CAR SERVICE 267

By THEODORE VOORHEES,

Assistant-General Superintendent, New York Central Railroad.

Sixteen Months' Journey of a Car — Detentions by the Way — Difficulties of the
Car Accountant's Office — Necessities of Through Freight — How a Com-
pany's Cars are Scattered — The Question of Mileage — Reduction of the

CONTENTS.

Balance in Favor of Other Roads — Relation of the Car Accountant's Work
to the Transportation Department — Computation of Mileage — The Record
Branch — How Reports are Gathered and Compiled — Exchange of " Junc-
tion Cards" — The Use of " Tracers" — Distribution of Empty Cars — Con-
trol of the Movement of Freight— How Trains are Made Up— Duties of
the Yardmaster — The Handling of Through Trains— Organization of Fast
Lines — Transfer Freight Houses — Special Cars for Specific Service — Dis-
asters to Freight Trains — How the Companies Suffer — Inequalities in Pay-
ment for Car Service— The Per Diem Plan— A Uniform Charge for Car
Rental — What Reforms might be Accomplished.

HOW TO FEED A RAILWAY 298

By benjamin NORTON,

Second Vice-President, Long Island Railroad Company.

The Many Necessities of a Modern Railway — The Purchasing and Supply De-
partments — Comparison with the Commissary Department of an Army —
Financial Importance— Immense Expenditures — The General Storehouse —
Duties of the Purchasing Agent —The Best Material the Cheapest— Profits
from the Scrap-heap— Old Rails Worked over into New Implements— Yearly
Contracts for Staple Articles— Economy in Fuel— Tests by the Best En-
gineers and Firemen— The Stationery Supply— Aggregate Annual Cost of
Envelopes, Tickets, and Time-tables— The Average Life of Rails— Dura-
bility of Cross-ties— What it Costs per Mile to Run an Engine— The Pay-
master's Duties — Scenes during the Trip of a Pay-car.

THE RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE 312

By THOMAS L. JAMES,
Ex-Postmaster General.

An Object Lesson in Postal Progress — Nearness of the Department to the Peo-
ple—The First Travelling Post-Office in the United States— Organization
of the Department in 1789— Early Mail Contracts— All Railroads made
Post-routes — Compartments for Mail Clerks in Baggage-cars — Origin of the
Present System in 1862— Important Work of Colonel George S. Bangs —
The " Fast Mail" between New York and Chicago— Why it was Suspended
— Resumption in 1877— Present Condition of the Service — Statistics— A
Ride on the " Fast Mail"— Busy Scenes at the Grand Central . Depot-
Special Uses of the Five Cars— Duties of the Clerks— How the Work is
Performed— Annual Appropriation for Special Mail Facilities— Dangers
Threatening the Railway Mail Clerk's Life— An Insurance Fund Proposed
—Needs of the Service— A Plea for Radical Civil Service Reform.

CONTENTS. XI

PAGE

THE RAILWAY IN ITS BUSINESS RELATIONS ^44

By ARTHUR T. HADLEY,

Professor of Political Science in Yale College, Author of " Railroad Transportation."'

Amount of Capital Invested in Railways — Important Place in the Modern In-
dustrial System— The Duke of Bridgewater's Foresight — The Growth of
Half a Century — Early Methods of Business Management — The Tendency
toward Consolidation — How the War Developed a National Idea — Its Effect
on Railroad Building — Thomson and Scott as Organizers — Vanderbilt's
Capacity for Financial Management — Garrett's Development of the Balti-
more & Ohio — The Concentration of Immense Power in a Few Men —
Making Money out of the Investors — Difficult Positions of Stockholders and
Bondholders — How the Finances are Manipulated by the Board of Directors
— Temptations to the Misuse of Power — Relations of Railroads to the Pub-
lic who Use Them — Inequalities in Freight Rates — Undue Advantages for
Large Trade Centres — Proposed Remedies — Objections to Government
Control — Failure of Grangerism — The Origin of Pools — Their Advantages
— Albert Fink's Great Work — Charles Francis Adams and the Massachu-
setts Commission — Adoption of the Interstate Commerce Law — Important
Influence of the Commission — Its Future Functions — Ill-judged State Leg-
islation.

THE PREVENTION OF RAILWAY STRIKES 370

By CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS,

President of the Union Pacific Railroad.

Railways the Largest Single Interest in the United States — Some Impressive
Statistics — Growth of a Complex Organization — Five Divisions of Neces-
sary Work — Other Special Departments — Importance of the Operating
Department — The Evil of Strikes — To be Remedied by Thorough Organi-
zation — Not the Ordinary Relation between Employer and Employee — Of
what the Model Railway Service Should Consist — Temporary and Perma-
nent Employees- — Promotion from one Grade to the Other — Rights and
Privileges of the Permanent Service — Employment during Good Behavior
— Proposed Tribunal for Adjusting Differences and Enforcing Discipline- —
A Regular Advance in Pay for Faithful Service — A Fund for Hospital
Service, Pensions, and Insurance — Railroad Educational Institutions — The
Employer to Have a Voice in Management through a Council — A System
of Representation.

THE EVERY-DAY LIFE OF RAILROAD MEN 383

By B. B. ADAMS, Jr.,

Associate Editor, '■'■Railroad Gazette" New York.

The Typical Railroad Man — On the Road and at Home — Raising the Moral
Standard — Characteristics of the Freight Brakeman — His Wit the Result of

xil CONTENTS.

Meditation — How Slang is Originated — Agreeable Features of his Life in
Fine Weather — Hardships in Winter — The Perils of Hand-brakes— Broken
Trains — Going back to Flag — Coupling Accidents — At the Spring — Advan-
tages of a Passenger Brakeman — Trials of the Freight Conductor — The
Investigation of Accidents — Irregular Hours of Work — The Locomotive
Engineer the Hero of the Rail — His Rare Qualities — The Value of Quick
Judgment — Calm Fidelity a Necessary Trait — Saving Fuel on a Freight En-
gine — Making Time on a Passenger Engine — Remarkable Runs — The Spirit
of Fraternity among Engineers — Difficult Duties of a Passenger-train Con-
ductor — Tact in Dealing with Many People — Questions to be Answered *
— How Rough Characters are Dealt with — Heavy Responsibilities — The
Work of a Station Agent — Flirtation by Telegraph — The Baggage-master's
Hard Task — Eternal Vigilance Necessary in a Switch-tender — Section-
men, Train Despatchers, Firemen, and Clerks — Efforts to Make the Rail-
road Man's Life Easier.

STATISTICAL RAILWAY STUDIES 425

ILLUSTRATED WITH THIRTEEN MAPS AND NINETEEN CHARTS.

By FLETCHER W. HEWES.

Author of " Scribners Statistical Atlas."

Railway Mileage of the World — Railway Mileage of the United States — Annual
Mileage and Increase — Mileage compared with Area — Geographical Loca-
tion of Railways — Centres of Mileage and of Population — Railway Systems
— Trunk Lines Compared : By Mileage ; Largest Receipts ; Largest Net Re-
sults — Freight Traffic — Reduction of Freight Rates — Wheat Rates — The
Freight Haul — Empty Freight Trains — Freight Profits — Passenger Traffic —
Passenger Rates — Passenger Travel — Passenger Profits — General Con-
siderations — Dividends — Net Earnings per Mile and Railway Building —
Ratios of Increase— Construction and Maintenance — Employees and their
Wages — Rolling Stock — Capital Invested.

INDEX 449

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS.

Title. Designer. Page

The Last Span (Frontispiece) A. B. Frost v

Alpine Pass. Avoidance of a Tunnel From a photograph . . 5

Big Loop, Georgetown Branch of the Union

Pacific, Colorado From a photograph . . 11

Snow-sheds, Selkirk Mountains, Canadian Pa-
cific J. D. Woodward ... 19

Rail Making Walter Shirlaw .... 39

Loop and Great Trestle near Hagerman's, on

THE Colorado Midland Railway J. D. Woodward ... 51

Portal of a Tunnel in Process of Construc-
tion Otto Stark 65

At Work in a Pneumatic Caisson — Fifty Feet

below THE Surface of the Water Walter Shirlaw .... 73

Below the Brooklyn Bridge J. H. Twachtman ... 83

The St. Louis Bridge during Construction . . M. E. Sands & R. Blum . 95

A Typical American Passenger Locomotive . . From a photograph . .111

Interior of a Round-house M. J. Burns 130

View in Locomotive Erecting Shop J. D.Woodward &R. Blum 135

xiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Title. Designer. Page

Diagram Used in Making Railway Time-Tables i6i

The General Despatcher M. J. Burns 165

Mantua Junction, West Philadelphia, showing

A Complex System of Interlacing Tracks . . W. C. Fitler .... 169

Danger Ahead ! A. B. Frost . . . . 189

Interlocking Apparatus for Operating Switches
and Signals by Compressed Air, Pittsburg

Yards, Pennsylvania Railroad From a photograph . .211

Pullman Vestibuled Cars From a photograph . . 247

In a Baggage-room W. C. Broughton . . . 255

"Show Your Tickets!" Walter Shirlaw . . . . 261

Freight Yards of the New York Central &
Hudson River Railroad, West Sixty - fifth
Street, New York W. C. Fitler 285

Freight from all Quarters — Some Typical
Trains W^ C. Fitler 291

At A Way-station — The Postmaster's Assistant . Herbert Denman . . .321

Transfer of Mail at the Grand Central Sta-
tion, New York Herbert Denman . . . 327

Sorting Letters in Car No. i— The Fast Mail . . Herbert Denman . . .333

A Breakdown on the Road A. B. Frost 405

In the Waiting Room of a Country Station . A. B. Frost 413

The Trials of a Baggage-master A. B. Frost 417

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xv

ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT.

PAGE

First Locomotive 2

Locomotive of To-day 3

A Sharp Curve — Manhattan Elevated Railway, i loth Street, New York 7

A Steep Grade on a Mountain Railroad 8

A Switchback o

Plan of Big Loop 10

Profile of the Same 10

Engineers in Camp 14

Royal Gorge Hanging Bridge, Denver and Rio Grande, Colorado 16

Veta Pass, Colorado 17

Sections of Snow-sheds (3 cuts) 18

Making an Embankment 21

Steam Excavator 21

Building a Culvert 22

Building a Bridge Abutment 22

Rock Drill 23

A Construction and Boarding Train 24

Bergen Tunnels, Hoboken, N. J. . . : 25

Beginning a Tunnel 26

Old Burr Wooden Bridge 28

Kinzua Viaduct ; Erie Railway 30

Kinzua Viaduct.

View of Thomas Pope's Proposed Cantilever (1810) 34

Pope's Cantilever in Process of Erection 35

General View of the Poughkeepsie Bridge 36

Erection of a Cantilever 37

Spiking the Track 38

Track Laying 41

Temporary Railway Crossing the St. Lawrence on the Ice 44

View Down the Blue from Rocky Point, Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad ;

showing successive tiers of railway 49

Denver and Rio Grande Railway Entering the Portals of the Grand River Canon,

Colorado 54

The Kentucky River Cantilever, on the Cincinnati Southern Railway 55

Truss over Ravine, and Tunnel, Oroya Railroad, Peru 56

The Nochistongo Cut, Mexican Central Railway 57

The Mount Washington Rack Railroad 58

Trestle on Portland and Ogdensburg Railway, Crawford Notch, White Mountains. . 58

A Series of Tunnels ". 59

XVI LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

Tunnel at the Foot of Mount St. Stephen, on the Canadian Pacific 60

Pena de Mora on the La Guayra and Caracas Railway, Venezuela 61

Perspective View of St. Gothard Spiral Tunnels, in the Alps 62

Plan of St. Gothard Spiral Tunnels 63

Profile of the Same •. 63

Portal of a Finished Tunnel ; showing Cameron's Cone, Colorado 64

Railway Pass at Rocky Point in the Rocky Mountains 67

Bridge Pier Founded on Piles 68

Pneumatic Caisson 70

Transverse Section of Pneumatic Caisson 71

Pier of Hawkesbury Bridge, Australia 75

Foundation Crib of the Poughkeepsie Bridge 76

Transverse Section of the Same 76

Granite Arched Approach to Harlem River Bridge in Process of Construction 77

The Old Portage Viaduct, Erie Railway, N. Y 78

The New Portage Viaduct 79

The Britannia Tubular Bridge over the Menai Straits, North Wales 80

Old Stone Towers of the Niagara Suspension Bridge 82

The New Iron Towers of the Same 82

Truss Bridge of the Northern Pacific Railway over the Missouri River at Bismarck,

Dak. — Testing the Central Span 87

Curved Viaduct, Georgetown, Col. ; the Union Pacific Crossing its own Line 88

The Niagara Cantilever Bridge in Progress 90

The Niagara Cantilever Bridge Completed 91

The Lachine Bridge, on the Canadian Pacific Railway, near Montreal, Canada 92

The 510-feet Span Steel Arches of the New Harlem River Bridge, New York, during

Construction 97

London Underground Railway Station 98

Conestoga Wagon and Team loi

Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, 1830-35 loi

Boston & Worcester Railroad, 1835 102

Horatio Allen 103

Peter Cooper's Locomotive, 1830 104

" South Carolina," 1831, and Plan of its Running Gear 105

The " De Witt Clinton," 1831 105

" Grasshopper " Locomotive 106

The " Planet " 107

John B. Jervis's Locomotive, 1831, and Plan of its Running Gear 108

Campbell's Locomotive 109

Locomotive for Suburban Traffic no

Locomotive for Street Railway no

Four-wheeled Switching Locomotive 113

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xvii

Transverse Section.

PAGE

Driving Wheels, Frames, Spurs, etc. , of American Locomotive 114

Longitudinal Section of a Locomotive Boiler 115

Rudimentary Injector 116

Injector Used on Locomotives 117

Sections of a Locomotive Cylinder 118

Eccentric

Eccentric and Strap

Valve Gear

Turning Locomotive Tires

Six-wheeled Switching Locomotive

Mogul Locomotive

Ten-wheeled Passenger Locomotive

Consolidation Locomotive (unfinished)

Consolidation Locomotive

Decapod Locomotive

" Forney " Tank Locomotive

* ' Hudson " Tank Locomotive

Camden & Amboy Locomotive, 1 848

Cab End of a Locomotive and its Attachments

Interior of Erecting Shop, showing Locomotive Lifted by Travelling Crane

Forging a Locomotive Frame

Mohawk & Hudson Car, 1831

Early Car

Early Car on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad

Early American Car, 1 834

Old Car for Carrying Flour on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad

Old Car for Carrying Firewood on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad

Old Car on the Ouincy Granite Railroad

Janney Car Coupler, showing the Process of Coupling

Mould and Flask in which Wheels are Cast

Cast-iron Car Wheels

Section of the Tread and Flange of a Car Wheel

Allen Paper Car Wheel

Modern Passenger-car and Frame

Snow-plough at Work

A Type of Snow-plough

A Rotary Steam Snow-shovel in Operation

Railway-crossing Gate

Signal to Stop

Signal to Move Ahead

Signal to Move Back

xviii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

Signal that the Train has Parted 1 63

Entrance Gates at a Large Station 167

Central Switch and Signal Tower 168

Interior of a Switch-tower, showing the Operation of Interlocking Switches 171

Stephenson's Steam Driver-brake, patented 1833 192

Driver-brake on Modern Locomotive 192

English Screw-brake, on the Birmingham and Gloucester Road, about 1840 193

English Foot-brake on the Truck of a Great Western Coach, about 1840 193

Plan and Elevation of Air-brake Apparatus 196

Dwarf Semaphores and Split Switch 202

Semaphore Signal with Indicators 203

Section of Saxby & Farmer Interlocking Machine 204

Diagram of a Double- track Junction with Interlocked Switches and Signals 205

Split Switches with Facing-point Locks and Detector-bars 206

Derailing Switch 207

Torpedo Placer 213

Old Signal Tower on the Philadelphia & Reading, at Phoenixville 214

Crossing Gates worked by Mechanical Connection from the Cabin 217

Some Results of a Butting Collision — Baggage and Passenger Cars Telescoped 218

Wreck at a Bridge 219

New South Norwalk Drawbridge. Rails held by Safety Bolts 220

Engines Wrecked during the Great Wabash Strike 222

Link-and-pin Coupler 224

Janney Automatic Coupler applied to a Freight Car 224

Signals at Night 225

Stockton & Darlington Engine and Car 229

Mohawk & Hudson Train 231

English Railway Carriage, Midland Road. First and Third Class and Luggage

Compartments 232

One of the Earliest Passenger Cars Built in this Country ; used on the Western Rail-
road of Massachusetts (now the Boston & Albany) 233

Bogie Truck 233

Rail and Coach Travel in the White Mountains 234

Old Time Table, 1843 -35

Old Boston & Worcester Railway Ticket (about 1837) 236

Obverse and Reverse of a Ticket used in 1838, on the New York & Harlem Railroad 236

The ' ' Pioneer." First Complete Pullman Sleeping-car 240

A Pullman Porter ■ 241

Pullman Parlor Car 243

Wagner Parlor Car 244

Dining-car (Chicago, Burlington & Ouincy Railroad) 245

End View of a Vestibuled Car 249

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Xix

PAGE

Pullman Sleeper on a Vestibuled Train 250

Immigrant Sleeping-car (Canadian Pacific Railway) 251

View of Pullman, 111 252

Railway Station at York, England, built on a Curve 257

Outside the Grand Central Station, New York 258

Boston Passenger Station, Providence Division, Old Colony Railroad 259

A Page from the Car Accountant's Book 277

Freight Pier, North River, New York 280

Hay Storage Warehouses, New York Central & Hudson River Railroad, West

Thirty-third Street, New York 282

" Dummy " Train and Boy on Hudson Street, New York 287

Red Line Freight-car Mark 288

Star Union Freight-car Mark 288

Coal Car, Central Railroad of New Jersey 289

Refrigerator-car Mark 289

Unloading a Train of Truck-wagons, Long Island Railroad 290

Floating Cars, New York Harbor 295

Postal Progress, 1 776-1 876 313

The Pony Express — The Relay 314

The Overland Mail Coach — A Star Route 315

Mail Carrying in the Country 316

Loading for the Fast Mail, at the General Post-Office, New York 324

At the Last Moment 326

Pouching the Mail in the Postal Car 329

A Very Difficult Address — known as a " Sticker." 331

Distributing the Mail by States and Routes 332

Pouching Newspapers for California — in Car No. 5 335

Catching the Pouch from the Crane 339

George Stephenson 345

J . Edgar Thomson 349

Thomas A. Scott 350

Cornelius Vanderbilt 352

John \V. Garrett 355

Albert Fink 366

Charles Francis Adams 367

Thomas M. Cooley 369

" Dancing on the Carpet " 386

Trainman and Tramps 387

Braking in Hard Weather 389

Flagging in Winter 391

Coupling 392

The Pleasant Part of a Brakeman's Life .395

XX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

At the Spring 297

Just Time to Jump 403

Timely Warning 407

The Passenger Conductor 409

Station Gardening 416

In the Yard at Night 419

A Track-walker on a Stormy Night 421

A Crossing Flagman 423

A Little Relaxation 424

MAPS.

Mileage compared with Area 429

Railways, 1830, 1840, 1850, and i860 430

Railways, 1870 431

Railways, 1 880 432

Railways, 1 889 433

Five Eailway Systems 434, 435

CHARTS.

Principal Railway Countries 425

Mileage to Area in New Jersey 426

Total Mileage and Increase, 1 830-1 888 429

Mileage by States, 1870 431

Mileage by States, 1880 432

Mileage by States, 1888 433

Largest Receipts, 1888 435

Largest Net Results, 1888 435

Freight Rates of Thirteen Trunk Lines, 1870-1888 436

Wheat Rates, by Water and by Rail, 1870-1888 438

The Freight Haul, 1882-1888. 439

East-bound and West-bound Freight, 1 877-1 888 439

Freight Profits, 1870-1888 44°

Passenger Rates, 1870-1888 441

Passenger Travel, 1882-1888 442

Passenger Profits, 1870-1888 442

Average Dividends, 1 876-1 888 443

Net Earnings and Mileage Built, 1876-1888 444

Increase of Population, Mileage, and Freight Traffic, 1 870-1 888 446

INTRODUCTION.

By THOMAS M. COOLEY.

The railroads of the United States, now aggregating a
hundred and fifty thousand miles and having several hun-
dred different managements, are frequently spoken of com-
prehensively as the railroad system of the country, as
though they constituted a unity in fact, and might be re-
garded and dealt with as an entirety, by their patrons and
by the public authorities, whenever the conveniences they
are expected to supply, or the conduct of managers and
agents, come in question. So far, however, is this from being
the case, that it would be impossible to name any other in-
dustrial interest where the diversities are so obvious and
the want of unity so conspicuous and so important. The di-
versities date from the very origin of the roads ; they have
not come into existence under the same laws nor subject to
the same control. It was accepted as an undoubted truth in
constitutional law from the first that the authority for the
construction of railroads within a State must come from the
State itself, which alone could empower the promoters to
appropriate lands by adversary proceedings for the pur-
pose. The grant of corporate power must also come from

xxii INTR OD UCTION.

the State, or, at least, have State recognition and sanction ;
and where the proposed road was to cross a State boundary,
the necessary corporate authority must be given by every
State through or into which the road was to run. It was
conceded that the delegated powers of the General Govern-
ment did not comprehend the granting of charters for the
construction of these roads within the States, and even in
the Territories charters were granted by the local legislat-
ures. The case of the transcontinental roads was clearly
exceptional ; they were to be constructed in large part over
the public domain, and subsidies were to be granted by
Congress for the purpose. They were also, in part at least,
to be constructed for governmental reasons as national
agencies; and invoking State authority for the purpose
seemed to be as inconsistent as it would be inadequate.
But, though these were exceptional cases, the magnitude
and importance of the Pacific roads are so immense that
the agency of the General Government in making provision
for this method of transportation must always have promi-
nence in railroad history and railroad statistics.

Not only have the roads been diverse in origin, but the
corporations which have constructed them have differed
very greatly in respect to their powers and rights, and also
to the obligations imposed by law upon them. The early
grants of power were charter-contracts, freely given, with
very liberal provisions ; the public being more anxious that
they be accepted and acted upon than distrustful of their
abuse afterward. Many of them were not subject to altera-
tion or repeal, except with the consent of the corporators ;
and some of them contained provisions intended to exclude

INTRODUCTION. xxiii

or limit competition, so that, within a limited territory, some-
thing in the nature of a monopoly in transportation would
be created. The later grants give evidence of popular ap-
prehension of corporate abuses ; the legislature reserves a
control over them, and the right to multiply railroads in-
definitely is made as free as possible, under the supposition
that in this multiplication is to be found the best protection
against any one of them abusing its powers. In very many
cases the motive to the building of a new road has been
antagonism to one already in existence, and municipalities
have voted subsidies to the one in the hope that, when con-
structed, it would draw business away from the other. The
anomaly has thus been witnessed of distrust of corporate
power being the motive for increasing it ; and the multiplica-
tion of roads has gone on, without any general supervision
or any previous determination by competent public author-
ity that they were needed, until the increase has quite out-
run in some sections any proper demand for their facilities.
Roads thus brought into existence, without system and
under diverse managements, it was soon seen were capa-
ble of being so operated that the antagonism of managers,
instead of finding expression in legitimate competition,
would be given to the sort of strife that can only be prop-
erly characterized by calling it, as it commonly is called, a
war. From such a war the public inevitably suffers. The
best service upon the roads is only performed when they
are operated as if they constituted in fact parts of one har-
monious system ; the rates being made by agreement, and
traffic exchanged with as little disturbance as possible, and
without abrupt break at the terminals. But when every

XXIV INTR OD UCTION.

management might act independently, it sometimes hap-
pened that a company made its method of doing business
an impediment instead of a help to the business done over
other roads, recognizing no public duty which should pre-
clude its doing so, provided a gain to itself, however in-
direct or illegitimate, was probable. Many consolidations
of roads have had for their motive the grettinof rid of this
power to do mischief on the part of roads absorbed.

In nothing is the want of unity so distinctly and mis-
chievously obvious as in the power of each corporation to
make rates independently. It may not only make its own
local rates at discretion, but it may join or refuse to join
with others in making through rates ; so that an inconsid-
erable and otherwise insignificant road may be capable of
being so used as to throw rates for a large section of the
country into confusion, and to render the making of profit
by other roads impossible. It is frequently said in railroad
circles that roads are sometimes constructed for no other
reason than because, through this power of mischief, it will
be possible to levy contributions upon others, or to compel
others, in self-protection, to buy them up at extravagant
prices. Cases are named in which this sort of scheming is
supposed to have succeeded, and others in which it is now
being tried.

Evils springing from the diversities mentioned have
been cured, or greatly mitigated, by such devices as the
formation of fast-freight lines to operate over many roads ;
by allowing express companies to come upon the roads
with semi-independence in the transportation of articles,
where, for special reasons, the public is content to pay an

INTR on UCTION. xxv

extra price for extra care or speed ; and by arrangements
with sleeping-car companies for special accommodations in
luxurious cars to those desiring them. These collateral
arrangements, however, have not been wholly beneficial ;
and had all the roads been constructed as parts of one sys-
tem and under one management, some of them would
neither have been necessary nor defensible. They exist
now, however, with more or less reason for their exist-
ence ; and they tend to increase the diversities in railroad
work.

The want of unity which has been pointed out tended
to breed abuses specially injurious to the public, and gov-
ernmental regulation was entered upon for their correction.
Naturally the first attempts in this direction were made
by separate States, each undertaking to regulate for itself
the transportation within its own limits. Such regulation
would have been perfectly logical, and perhaps effectual,
had the roads within each State formed a system by them-
selves ; but when State boundaries had very little impor-
tance, either to the roads themselves or to the traffic done
over them, unless made important by restrictive and ob-
structive legislation, the regulation by any State must nec-
essarily be fragmentary and imperfect, and diverse reg-
ulation in different States might be harmful rather than
beneficial. It must be said for State regulation that it has
in general been exercised in a prudent and conservative
way, but it is liable to be influenced by a sensitive and ex-
citable public opinion ; and as nothing is more common
than to find gross abuses in the matter of railroad transpor-
tation selfishly defended in localities, and even in consid-

XXVI INTRODUCTION.

erable sections, which are supposed to receive benefits from
them, it would not be strange if the like selfishness should
sometimes succeed in influencing the exercise of power
by one State in a manner that a neighboring State would
regard as unfriendly and injurious.

The Federal Government recently undertook the work of
regulation, and in doing so accepted the view upon which
the States had acted, and so worded its statute that the
transportation which does not cross State lines is supposed
to be excluded. The United States thus undertakes to
regulate interstate commerce by rail, and the States regu-
late, or may regulate, that which is not interstate. It was
perhaps overlooked at first that, inasmuch as Government
control may embrace the making of classifications, prescrib-
ing safety and other appliances, and naming rates, any con-
siderable regulation of State traffic and interstate traffic sep-
arately must necessarily to some extent cause interference.
The two classes of traffic flow on together over the same
lines in the same vehicles under the management of the
same agencies, with little or no distinction based on State
lines ; the rates and the management influenced by consid-
erations which necessarily are of general force, so that sep-
arate regulation may without much extravagance be com-
pared to an attempt in the case of one of our great rivers to
regulate the flow of the waters in general, but without, in
doing so, interfering with an independent regulation of
such portion thereof as may have come from the Springs
and streams of some particular section. This is one of
many reasons for looking upon all existing legislation as
merelv tentative.

INTRODUCTION. xxvil

No doubt the time will come when the railroads of the
country will constitute, as they do not now, a system.
There are those who think this may, sufficiently for prac-
tical purposes, be accomplished by the legalization of some
scheme of pooling ; but this is a crude device, against which
there is an existing prejudice not easily to be removed.
Others look for unity through gradual consolidations, the
tendency to which is manifest, or through something in the
nature of a trust, or by means of more comprehensive and
stringent national control. Beyond all these is not infre-
quently suggested a Government ownership.

Of the theories that might be advanced in this direction,
or the arguments in their support, nothing further will be
said here ; the immediate purpose being accomplished
when it is shown how misleading may be the term system,
when applied to the railroads of the country as an aggre-
gate, as now owned, managed, and controlled.

Every man in the land is interested daily and con-
stantly in railroads and the transportation of persons and
property over them. The price of whatever he eats, or
wears, or uses, the cost and comfort of travel, the speed
and convenience with which he shall receive his mail and
the current intelligence of the day, and even the intimacy
and extent of his social relations, are all largely affected
thereby. The business employs great numbers of persons,
and the wages paid them affect largely the wages paid in
other lines of occupation. The management of the busi-
ness in some of its departments is attended by serious dan-
gers, and thousands annually lose their lives in the service.

xxviii INTRODUCTION.

Other thousands annually are either killed or injured in
being transported ; the aggregate being somewhat start-
ling, though unquestionably this method of travel is safer
than any other. The ingenuity which has been expended
in devices to make the transportation rapid, cheap, and
safe may well be characterized as marvellous, and some
feats in railroad engineering are the wonder of the world.
With all these facts and many others to create a public in-
terest in the general subject, the editor of Scribner s Maga-
zine, some little time ago, applied to writers of well-known
ability and competency to prepare papers for publication
therein upon the various topics of principal interest in the
life and use of railroads, beginning with the construc-
tion, and embracing the salient facts of management and
service. He was successful in securing a series of papers
of high value, the appearance of which has been welcomed
from month to month, beginning with June, 1888, with con-
stant and increasing interest. These papers have a perma-
nent value ; and, in obedience to a demand for their sepa-
rate publication in convenient form for frequent reference,
the publishers now reproduce them with expansions and
additions. A reference to the several titles will convince
anyone at all familiar with the general subject that the
particular topic is treated in every instance by an expert,
entitled as such to speak with authority.

THE BUILDING OF A RAILWAY.

By THOMAS CURTIS CLARKE.

Roman Tramways of Stone — First Use of Iron Rails — The Modern Railway created by
Stephenson's "Rocket" in 1830 — Early American Locomotives — Key to the Evolu-
tion of the American Railway — Invention of the Swivelling Truck, Equalizing
Beams, and the Switchback — Locating a Road — Work of the Surveying Party —
Making the Road-bed — How Tunnels are Avoided — More than Three Thousand
Bridges in the United States — Old Wooden Structures — The Howe Truss — The
Use of Iron — Viaducts of Steel — The American System of Laying Bridge Founda-
tions under Water — Origin of the Cantilever — Laying the Track — How it is Kept
in Repair — Premiums for Section Bosses — Number of Railway Em-
ployees in the United States — Rapid Railway Construction — Radical
Changes which the Railway will Effect.

'HE world of to-day differs from that of Napo-
leon Bonaparte more than his world differed
from that of Julius Caesar ; and this change has
chiefly been made by railways.

Railways have been known since the days
of the Romans. Their tracks were made of two
lines of cut stones. Iron rails took their place about one hundred
and fifty years ago, when the use of that metal became extended.
These roads were called tram-roads, and were used to carry coal
from the mines to the places of shipment. They were few in num-
ber and attracted little attention.

The modern railway was created by the Stephensons in 1830,
when they built the locomotive " Rocket." The development of
the railway since is due to the development of the locomotive.
Civil engineering has done much, but mechanical engineering has
done more.

The invention of the steam-engine by James Watt, in 1773,
attracted the attention of advanced thinkers to a possible steam

THE BUILDING OF A RAILWAY.

locomotive. Erasmus Darwin, in a poem published in 1781, made
this remarkable prediction :

"Soon shall thy arm, unconquered steam! afar
Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car."

The first locomotive of which we have any certain record was
invented, and put in operation on a model circular railway in

London, in 1804, by Richard Tre-

First Locomotive.

vithick, an erratic genius, who in-
vented many things but perfected
few. His locomotive could not
make steam, and therefore could
neither go fast nor draw a heavy
load. This was the fault of all its
successors, until the competitive
trial of locomotives on the Liver-
pool and Manchester Railway, in
1829. The Stephensons, father and son, had invented the steam
blast, which, by constantly blowing the fire, enabled the " Rocket,"
with its tubular boiler, to make steam enough to draw ten passen-
ger cars, at the rate of thirty-five miles an hour.

Then was born the modern giant, and so recent is the date of
his birth that one of the unsuccessful competitors at that memo-
rable trial. Captain John Ericsson, was until the present year
(1889) living and actively working in New York. Another en-
gineer, Horatio Allen, who drove the first locomotive on the first
trip ever made in the United States, in 1831, still lives, a hale
and hearty old man, near New York.

The earlier locomotives of this country, modelled after the
" Rocket," weighed five or six tons, and could draw, on a level,
about 40 tons. After the American improvements, which we
shall describe, were made, our engines weighed 25 tons, and
could draw, on a level, some sixty loaded freight cars, weighing
1,200 tons. This was a wonderful advance, but now we have the
" Consolidation " locomotive, weighing 50 tons, and able to draw,
on a level, a little over 2,400 tons.

And this is not the end. Still heavier and more powerful
engines are being designed and built, but the limit of the strength

EUROPEAN LOCOMOTIVES. 3

of the track, according to its present forms, has nearly been
reached. It is very certain we have not reached the Hmit of the
size and power of engines, or the strength of the track that can
be devised.

After the success of the " Rocket," and of the Liverpool and
Manchester Railway, the authority of George Stephenson and his
son Robert became absolute and unquestioned upon all subjects
of railway engineering. Their locomotives had very little side
play to their wheels, and could not go around sharp curves.
They accordingly preferred to make their lines as straight as pos-
sible, and were willing to spend vast sums to get easy grades.
Their lines were taken as models and imitated by other engineers.
All lines in England were made with easy grades and gentle
curves. Monumental bridges, lofty stone viaducts, and deep cuts
or tunnels at every hill marked this stage of railway construction
in England, which was imitated on the European lines.

As it was with the railway, so it was with the locomotive.
The Stephenson type, once fixed, has remained unchanged (in
Europe), except in detail, to the present day. European loco-
motives have increased in weight and power, and in perfection of

Locomotive of To-day.

material and workmanship, but the general features are those
of the locomotives built by the great firm of George Stephenson
& Son, before 1840.

When we come to the United States we find an entirely dif-
ferent state of things. The key to the evolution of the American
railway is the contempt for authority displayed by our engineers,
and the untrammelled way in which they invented and applied

4 THE BUILDING OF A RAILWAY.

whatever they thought would answer the best purpose, regardless
of precedent. When we began to build our railways, in 1831,
we followed English patterns for a short time. Our engineers
soon saw that unless vital changes were made our money would
not hold out, and our railway system would be very short. Neces-
sity truly became the mother of invention.

The first, and most far-reaching, invention was that of the
swivelling truck, which, placed under the front end of an engine,
enables it to run around curves of almost any radius. This
enabled us to build much less expensive lines than those of Eng-
land, for we could now curve around and avoid hills and other
obstacles at will. The illustration opposite shows a railroad curv-
ing around a mountain and supported by a retaining wall, in-
stead of piercing through the mountain with a tunnel, as would
have been necessary but for the swivelling truck. The swivelling
truck was first suggested by Horatio Allen, for the South Carolina
Railway, in 1831 ; but the first practical use of it was made on the
Mohawk and Hudson Railroad, in the same year. It is said to
have been invented by John B. Jervis, Chief Engineer of that
road.

The next improvement was the invention of the equalizing
beams or levers, by which the weight of the engine is always
borne by three out of four or more driving-wheels. They act like
a three-legged stool, which can always be set level on any irreg-
ular spot. The original imported English locomotives could not
be kept on the rails of rough tracks. The same experience ob-
tained in Canada when the Grand Trunk Railway was opened, in
1854-55. The locomotives of English pattern constantly ran off
the track; those of American pattern hardly ever did so. Finally,
all their locomotives were changed by having swivelling trucks
put under their forward ends, and no more trouble occurred. The
equalizing levers were patented in 1838, by Joseph Harrison, Jr.,
of Philadelphia.

These two improvements, which are absolutely essential to the
success of railways in new countries, and have been adopted in
Canada, Australia, Mexico, and South America,* to the exclusion

* It is proper here to say that English engineers now appreciate the merits of the American swivel-
ling truck or bogie. In the article on Railways in the last edition of the " Encyclopaedia Britannica,"

Alpine Pass. Avoidance of a Tunnel.

MERITS OF AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES. 7

of English patterns, are also of great value on the smoothest and
best possible tracks. The flexibility of the American machine in-
creases its adhesion and enables it to draw greater loads than its

A Sharp Curve— Manhattan Elevated Railway, iioth Street, New York

English rival. The same flexibility equalizes its pressure on the
track, prevents shocks and blows, and enables it to keep out of
the hospital and run more miles in a year than an English loco-
motive.*

Equally valuable improvements were made in cars, both for
passengers and freight. Instead of the four-wheeled English car,
which on a rough track dances along on three wheels, we owe
to Ross Winans, of Baltimore, the application of a pair of four-
wheeled swivelling trucks, one under each end of the car, thus en-
abling it to accommodate itself to the Inequalities of a rough track
and to follow its locomotive around the sharpest curves. There

speaking of locomotives, the author of the article, who is an English engineer of high authority, says :
"American practice, many years since, arrived at two leading types of locomotive for passenger, and
for goods traffic. The passenger locomotive has eight wheels, of which four m front are framed in a
bogie, and the four wheels behind are coupled drivers. This is the type to which English practice has
been approximating." The italics are ours.

* The statistics of ten leading English and ten leading American lines, given by Dorsey, show the fol-
lowing results : i. The cost per year of the rations, wages, fuel of an American locomotive is $5.59° I of
an English locomotive, $3,080. 2. Average yearly number of train-miles run by American locomotive,
23,928; English locomotive, 17,539. 3- Yearly earnings : American locomotive, $14,860; English loco-
motive, $10,940, although the English freight charges are much greater than those of the United States.

THE BUILDING OF A RAILWAY.

A Steep Grade on a Mountain Railroad.

are, on our main lines, curves
of less than 300 feet radius,
while, on the Manhattan Ele-
vated, the largest passenger
traf¥ic in the world is conduct-
ed around curves of less than
100 feet radius. There are
few curves of less than 1,000
feet radius on European rail-
ways.

The climbing capabilities of
a locomotive upon smooth rails

were not known until, in 1852, Mr. B. H. Latrobe, Chief Engineer
of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, tried a temporary zigzag gra-
dient of 10 per cent. — that is 10 feet rise in 100 feet length, or 528
feet per mile — over a hill about two miles long, through which the
Kingwood Tunnel was being excavated. A locomotive weighing
28 tons on its drivers took one car weighing 15 tons over this line
in safety. It was worked for passenger traffic for six months.
This daring feat has never been equalled. Trains go over 4 per
cent, gradients on the Colorado system, and there is one short
line, used to bring ore to the Pueblo furnaces, which is worked by
locomotives over a 7 per cent, grade. These are believed to be
the steepest grades worked by ordinary locomotives on smooth
rails.

Another American invention is the switchback. By this plan

USES OF THE SWITCHBACK. 9

the length of line required to ease the gradient is obtained by run-
ning backward and forward in a zigzag course, instead of going
straight up the mountain. As a full stop has to be made at the
end of every piece of line, there is no danger of the train running
away from its brakes. This device was first used among the hills
of Pennsylvania over forty years ago, to lower coal cars down into
the Nesquehoning Valley. It was afterwards used on the Callao,
Lima, and Oroya Railroad in Peru, by American engineers, with
extraordinary daring and skill. It was employed to carry the
temporary tracks of the Cascade Division of the Northern Pacific
Railroad over the " Stampede" Pass, with grades of 297 feet per
mile, while a tunnel 9,850 feet long was being driven through the
mountains.

With the improvement of brakes and more reliable means of

A Switchback.

stopping trains upon steep grades, came a farther development of
the above device, which was first applied on the Denver and Rio
Grande Railroad in Colorado, and has since been applied on a
grand scale on the Saint Gothard road, the Black Forest railways
of Germany, and the Semmering line in the Tyrol. This device is
to connect the two lines of the zigzag by a curve at the point

THE BUILDING OF A RAILWAY.

where they come together, so that the train, instead of going al-
ternately backward and forward, now runs continuously on. It
becomes possible for the line to return above itself in spiral form,
sometimes crossing over the lower level by a tunnel, and some-
times by a bridge. A notable instance of this kind of location is
seen on the Tehachapi Pass of the Southern Pacific, where the line

ascends 2,674
feet in 25 miles,
with eleven tun-
nels, and a spi-
ral 3,800 feet

PLAN.

SfLVDlPlUMI

GEORGETOWN.

tVyWTitF'firu dtmli Rod,, c[ Cunt uiFia.

Plan OT Big Loop.

long.

The " Big Loop," as it is called, on the Georgetown branch of
the Union Pacific, in Colorado, between Georgetown and a mining
camp called Silver Plume, has been chosen to illustrate this point.
The direct distance up the valley is i^ miles and the elevation 600
feet, requiring a gradient of 480 feet per mile. But by curving the
line around in a spiral, the length of the line is increased to 4 miles
and the gradient reduced to 150 feet per mile. Zigzags were used
first for foot-paths, then for common roads, lastly for railways.
Their natural sequence, spirals, was a railway device entirely, and
confirms the saying of one of our engineers : " Where a mule can
go, I can make a locomotive go." This may be called the poetry
of engineering,
as it requires
both imagina-
tion to conceive
and skill to ex-
ecute.

There is one
thincf more

SllVERPLUME

Profile of the Same.

which distin-
guishes the American railway from its English parent, and that is
the almost uniform practice of getting the road open for traffic in
the cheapest manner and in the least possible time, and then com-
pleting it and enlarging its capacity out of its surplus earnings, and
from the credit which these earnings give it.

THE PRELIMINARY SURVEY. 1 3

The Pennsylvania Railroad between Philadelphia and Harris-
burg is a notable example of this. Within the past few years it has
been rebuilt on a grand scale, and in many places relocated, and
miles of sharp curves and heavy gradients, originally put in to save
expense, have been taken out. This system has been followed
everywhere, except on a few branch lines, and upon one monumen-
tal example of failure — the West Shore Railroad, of New York.
The projectors of that line attempted in three years to build a
double-track railroad up to the standard of the Pennsylvania road,
which had been forty years in reaching its present excellence.
Their money gave out, and they came to grief.

II.

We have thus briefly reviewed the development of our railways
to show what they are, and how they came to be what they are,
before describing the processes of building, in order that the
reasons may be clearly understood why we do certain things, and
why we fail to do other things which we ought to do.

In the building of a railway the first thing is to make the sur-
veys and locate the position of the intended road upon the ground,
and to make maps and sections of it, so that the land may be
bought and the estimates of cost be ascertained. The engineer's
first duty is to make a survey by eye without the aid of instruments.
This is called the " reconnoissance." By this he lays down the
general position of the line, and where he wants it to go if possi-
ble. Great skill, the result of long experience, or equally great
ignorance may be shown here. After the general position of the
line, or some part of it, has been laid down upon the pocket map,
the engineer sends his party into the field to make the preliminary
survey with instruments.

In an old-settled country the party may live in farm-houses and
taverns, and be carried to their daily work by teams. But a sur-
veying party will make better progress, be healthier and happier, if
they live in their own home, even if that home be a travelling camp
of a few tents. With a competent commissary the camp can be
well supplied with provisions, and be pitched near enough to the
probable end of the day's work to save the tired men a long walk.

THE BUILDING OF A RAILWAY.

Engineers in Camp

When they get to camp and, after a wash in the nearest creek,
find a smoking-hot supper ready — even though it consist of fried
pork and potatoes, corn-bread and black coffee — their troubles are
all forgotten, and they feel a true satisfaction which the flesh-pots
of Delmonico's cannot give. One greater pleasure remains — to
fill the old pipe, and recline by the camp-fire for a jolly smoke.
A full surveying party consists of the front flag-man, with his

QUALIFICATIONS OF A CIVIL ENGINEER. 1 5

corps of axe-men to cut away trees and bushes ; the transit-man,
who records the distances and angles of the Hne, assisted by his
chain-men and flag-men ; and lastly the leveller, who takes and
records the levels, with his rod-men and axe-men. The chief of
the party exercises a general supervision over all, and is some-
times assisted by a topographer, who sketches in his book the
contours of the hills and direction and size of the watercourses.

One tent contains the cook, the commissary, and the provi-
sions ; another tent or two the working party, and another the supe-
rior engineers, with their drawing instruments and boards. In a
properly regulated party the map and profile of the day's work
should be plotted before going to bed, so as to see if all is right.
If it turns out that the line can be improved and easier grades got,
or other changes made, now is the time to do it.

After the preliminary lines have been run, the engineer-in-chief
takes up the different maps and lays down a new line, sometimes
coinciding with that surveyed, and sometimes quite different. The
parties then go back into the field and stake out this new line,
called the "approximate location," upon which the curves are all
run in. In difficult country the line may be run over even a third
or fourth time ; or in an easy country, the " preliminary " surveys
may be all that is wanted.

The life of an engineer, while making surveys, is not an easy
one. His duties require the physical strength of a drayman and
the mental accuracy of a professor, both exerted at the same time,
and during heat and cold, rain and shine.

An engineer, once on a time, standing behind his instrument,
was surrounded by a crowd of natives, anxious to know all about
it. He explained his processes, using many learned words, and
flattered himself that he had made a deep impression upon his
hearers. At last, one old woman spoke up, with an expression of
great contempt on her face, " Wall ! If I knowed as much as you
do, I'd quit ingineerin' and keep a grocery ! "

A large part of the financial difficulties of our railways results
from not taking time enough to properly locate the line. It must
be remembered that a cheaply constructed line can be rebuilt, but
with a badly located line nothing can be done except to abandon
it entirely.

THE BUILDING OF A RAILWAY.

Royal Gorge Hanging Br -.^ _

and Rio Grande, Colorado.

It is well therefore to consider carefully what is the true prob-
lem of location. It is so to place and build a line of railway that it
shall get the greatest amount of business out of the country through
which it passes, and at the same time be able to do that business
at the least cost, including both expenses of operating and the
fixed charges on the capital invested. The mere statement of this
problem shows that it is not an easy one. Its solution is different

LOCATION IN NEW COUNTRIES.

in a new and unsettled country from that in an old-settled re-
gion. In the new country, the shortest, cheapest, and straightest
line possible, consistent with the easiest gradients that the to-

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TTWTW^

fcr-J-" KgpjnteSIP' wg3^".-N.i-it|r.i -laffi

Veta Hdi,, (^

pography of the land will allow, is the P^

best. The towns will spring up after

the road is built, and will be built on

its line, and generally at the places where stations have been fixed.

In a mountainous country, like Colorado, the problem is how
to reach the important mining camps, regardless of the crooked-
ness and increased length given to the line. The Denver and
Rio Grande has been compared to an octopus. This is really a
compliment to its engineers. It sucks nutriment from every place
where nutriment is to be found. To do this it has been forced to
climb mountains, where it was thought locomotives could never
climb. In one place, called the Royal Gorge, the difficulties of
blasting a road-bed into the side of the mountain were so great that
it was thought expedient to carry the track upon a bridge, and
this bridge was hung from two rafters, braced against the sides of
the gorge. In surveying some parts of the lines the engineers
were suspended by ropes from the top of the mountains and made
their measurements swinging in mid-air.

The problem of location is different in an old-settled country,
where the position of the towns as trade-centres has been fixed by
natural laws that cannot be overruled. In this case the best thing
the engineer can do is to get the easiest gradient possible consist-

THE BUILDING OF A RAILWAY.

Sections of Snow-sheds.

ent with the topography of the country, and let the curves take
care of themselves ; always to strike the important towns, even if
the line is made more crooked and longer thereby ; to so place
the line in these towns as to accommodate the public, and
still be able to buy plenty of land ; also to locate
for under or over, rather than grade crossings.

In all countries, old and new, moun-
tainous and level, the rule should be to
keep the level of track well
above the surface of the
ground, in order to insure
good drainage and freedom
from snow-drifts.
The question of avoidance of obstruction by snow is a very seri-
ous one upon the Rocky Mountain lines, and they could not be
worked without the device of snow-sheds — another purely Ameri-
can invention. There
are said to be six miles
of stanchly built snow-
sheds on the Cana-
dian Pacific and sixty
miles on the Central
Pacific Railway. The
quantity of snow fall-
ing is enormous, sometimes amounting to 250,000 cubic yards,
weio-hino- over 100,000 tons, in one slide. It is stated by the en-
gineers of the Canadian Pacific, that the force of the air set in

motion by these ava-
lanches has mown
down large trees, not
struck by the snow
itself. Their trunks, from one to two feet in diameter, remain,
split as if struck by lightning.

After the railway line has been finally located, the next duty of
the engineers is to prepare the work for letting. Land-plans are
made, from which the right of way is secured. From the sections,
the quantities are taken out. Plans of bridges and culverts arg

MAKING THE ROAD-BED.

Making an Embankment.

made ; and a careful specification of all the works on the line is
drawn up.

The works are then let, either to one large contractor or to
several smaller ones, and the labor of construction begins. The
duties of the engineers are to stake out the work for the contrac-
tors, make monthly returns of its progress, and see that it is well
done and accordinsf

to the specifications
and contract. The
line is divided into
sections, and an en-
gineer, with his as-
sistants, is placed
in charge of each.
Where the works
are heavy, the con-
tractors build shan-
ties for their men

and teams near the heavy cuttings or embankments,
torn to take out heavy cuttings by means of the machine called a
steam shovel, which will dig as many yards in a day as 500 men.

Steam Excavator.

It is the cus-

THE BUILDING OF A RAILWAY.

On the prairies of the West the road-bed is thrown up from
ditches on each side, either by men with wheelbarrows and carts,
or by means of a ditching-machine, which can move 3,000 yards of
earth daily. In this case
the track follows immedi-
ately after the embank-
ment, and the men live
in cars fitted up as board-
ing-shanties, and moved
forward as fast as requir-
ed. If the country con-
tains suitable stone, the
culverts and bridgfe abut-
ments are built by gangs

-^H^^,^

Building a Culvert.

of masons and stone-cut-
ters, who move from point
to point. But the general
practice is to put in tem-
porary trestle-work of
timber resting upon piles,
which trestle-work is re-
newed in the shape of
stone culverts covered
by embankments, or iron
bridges resting on stone abutments and built after the road is run-
ning.

The pile-driver plays a very important part therefore in the
construction of our railroads, and has been brought to great per-
fection. It is worked by a small boiler and engine, and gives its
blows with great rapidity. It drags the piles up to leaders and

SHARP CURVES TO AVOW TUNNELS.

lifts them into place by steam-power, so that it is worked by a
small gang of men. Finally, it is as portable as a pedler's cart,
and as soon as it has finished one job it is taken to pieces, packed
upon wagons, and
moved on to the next
job.

Tunnels are neither
so long nor so frequent
upon American rail-
ways as upon those of
Europe. The longest
are from two to two
and a half miles long,
except one, the Hoosac, about
four miles. Sometimes they
are unavoidable.

The ridofe called Ber-
gen Hill, west of Ho-
boken, N. J., is a case
in point. This is
pierced by the tunnels
of the West Shore, of
the Delaware, Lacka-
wanna, and Western,
and of the Erie, the
last two of which, as
shown on page 25, are
placed at different lev-
els to enable one road
to pass over the other.
It is by our system of using sharp curves that we avoid tun-
nels. It may be said, in general terms, that American engineers
have shown more skill in avoiding the necessity of tunnels than
could possibly be shown in constructing them. When we are

Rock Drill.

THE BUILDING OF A RAILWAY.

obliged to use tunnels, or to make deep cuttings in rocks, our
labors are greatly assisted by the use of power-drills worked by
compressed air and by the use of high explosives, such as dyna-

A Constiuction and Boarding Train.

mite, giant powder, rend-rock,
etc. Rocks can now be removed in less than half the time for-
merly required, when ordinary blasting-powder was used in hand-
drilled holes.*

III.

From data furnished by Mr. D. J. Whittemore, chief engineer
of the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul system (which had a to-
tal length of 5,688 miles on January i, 1888), the length of open
bridges on these lines was 1 1 5YyQ- miles, and of culverts covered
over with embankment, 39yV miles. " Everything," says Mr.
Whittemore, "not covered with earth, except cattle guards, be the
span 10 or 400 feet, is called a bridge. Everything covered with
earth is called a culvert. Wherever we are far removed from
suitable quarries, we build a wooden culvert in preference to a
pile bridge, if we can get six inches of filling over it. These cul-

* The writer has obtained many of the statistics used in this article from A. M. Wellington's
" Economic Theory of Railway Location," a perfect mine of valuable information upon all such matters.

CULVERTS OF LOGS.

verts are built of roughly
squared logs, and are large
enough to draw an iron
pipe through them of suffi-
cient diameter to take care
of the water. We do this
because we believe that we
lessen the liability to acci-
dent, and that the culvert
can be maintained after decay has begun, much longer than a piled
bridge with stringers to carry the track. Had we good quarries
along our line, stone would be cheaper. Many thousands of dollars
have been spent by this company in building masonry that after
twenty to twenty-five years shows such signs of disintegration that

Bergen Tunne's, Hoboken, N. J.

26 THE BUILDING OF A RAILWAY.

we confine masonry work now only to stone that we can procure
from certain quarries known to be good."

Mr. Whittemore is an engineer of great experience, skill, and

Beginning a Tunnel.

judgment, and there is food for much reflection in these words of
his : First — that it is better to use temporary wooden structures,
to be afterward renewed in good stone, rather than to build of the
stone of the locality, unless first-class. Second — that a structure
covered with earth is much safer than an open bridge ; which, if
short and apparently insignificant, may be, through neglect, a most
serious point of danger, as was shown in the dreadful accident of
1887 on the Toledo, Peoria, and Western road in Illinois, where
one hundred and fifty persons were killed and wounded, and by
the equally avoidable accident on the Florida and Savannah line,
in March, 1888. Had these little trestles been changed to culverts
covered with earth, many valuable lives would not have been lost.
It was safely estimated that there were, in 1888, 208,749
bridges of all kinds, amounting in length to 3,213 miles, in the
United States.*

*The amount of permanent wood and iron truss bridges, and of temporary wooden trestles on the
Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul is as follows :

Truss bridges, 700 spans, average 93 feet, 12 Vo miles.
Trestle " 7,196 " " 77 " 103710 "

Total, 7,896 iiS'/io "

The approximate total number of bridges in the United States was in i£

WOODEN TRUSS-BRIDGES. 27

The wooden bridge and the wooden trestle are purely Ameri-
can products, although they were invented by Leonardo da Vinci
in the sixteenth century. From the above statistics it will be seen
how much our American railways owe to them, for without them
over 150,000 miles could never have been built.

The art of building wooden truss-bridges was developed by
Burr & Wernwag, two Pennsylvania carpenters, some of whose
works are still in use after eighty years of faithful duty (p. 28).
A bridge built by Wernwag across the Delaware in 1803 was
used as a highway bridge for forty-five years, was then strength-
ened and used as a railway bridge for twenty-seven years more,
and was finally superseded by the present iron bridge in 1875.

These old bridge-builders were very particular about the qual-
ity of their timber, and never put any into a bridge less than two
years old. But when we began to build railways, everything was
done in a hurry, and nobody could wait for seasoned timber. This
led to the invention of the Howe truss, by the engineer of that
name, which had the advantage of being adjustable with screws
and nuts, so that the shrinkage could be taken up, and which
had its parts connected in such a way that they were able to bear
the heavy concentrated weight of locomotives without crushing.
This bridge was used on all railways, new and old, from 1840 to
about 1870. Had it been free from liability to decay and burn up,
we should probably not be building iron and steel bridges now,
except for long spans of over 200 feet ; and as the table oppo-
site shows, the largest number of our spans are less than 100 feet
long.

The Howe truss forms an excellent bridge, and is still used in
the West on new roads, with the intention of substituting iron
trusses after the roads are opened.

After 1870, the weights both of locomotives and other rolling
stock began to be increased very rapidly. This, together with

Iron and wood truss bridges, 61,562 spans, 1,086 miles.
Wooden trestles, 147.187 2,127 "

Total, 208,749 3,213 "

Probably three-fourths of the truss bridges are now of iron or steel, and may be considered perfectly
safe so long as the trains remain upon the rails and do not strike the side trusses. The wooden trestles
are a constant source of danger from decay or burning or from derailed trains, and should be replaced
by permanent structures as fast as time and money will allow.

THE BUILDING OF A RAILWAY.

Old Burr Wooden Budge.

the development of the manufacture of iron, and especially the in-
vention of rolled beams and of eye-bars, gave a great impetus to
the construction of iron bridges. At first cast-iron was used for
the compression members, but the development of the rolling-
mill soon enabled us
to make all parts of
rolled iron sections at
no greater cost, and
rolled iron, being a
less uncertain materi-
al, has replaced cast-
iron entirely. Iron
bridges came in direct
competition with the
less costly Howe truss,
and during the first
decade of their con-
struction every at-
tempt was made to build them with as few pounds of iron as
would meet the strains.

S. Whipple, C.E., published a book in 1847 which was the
first attempt ever made to solve the mathematical questions upon
which the due proportioning of iron truss-bridges depends. This
work bore fruit, and a race of bridge designers sprang up. The
first iron bridges were modelled after their wooden predecessors,
with high trusses and short panels. Riveted connections were
avoided, and every part was so designed that it might be quickly
and easily erected upon staging or false works, placed In the river.
This was very necessary, for our rivers are subject to sudden
freshets, and if we had adopted the English system of riveting to-
gether all the connections, the long time required before the bridge
became self-sustaining would have been a serious element of
danofer.

Following the practice of wooden bridge building, iron bridges
were contracted for by the foot, and not by the pound as is now
the custom. To this accidental circumstance is greatly due the
development of the American Iron bridge. The engineer repre-
senting the railway company fixed the lengths of spans, and other

THE BEST IRON TRUSSES. 29

general dimensions, and also the loads to be carried and the maxi-
mum strains to be allowed. The contractine emjineer was left
perfectly free to design his bridge, and he strained every nerve
to find the form of truss and the arrangement of its parts that
should give the required strength with the least number of pounds
weight per foot, so that he could beat his competitors. When the
different plans were handed in, an expert examined them and re-
jected those whose parts were too small to meet the strains. Of
those found to be correctly proportioned, the lowest bid took the
work.

By the rule of the survival of the fittest all badly designed
forms of trusses disappeared and only two remained : one the
original truss designed by Mr. Whipple, and the other, the well-
known triancrular, or "Warren" o-irder, so called after its Enelish
inventor.

It speaks well for the skill and honesty of American bridge en-
gineers that many of their old bridges are still in use, designed for
loads of 2,500 pounds per lineal foot, and now daily carrying loads
of 4,000 pounds and over per foot. Sometimes the floor has been
replaced by a stronger one, but the trusses still remain and do good
service. The writer may be permitted to point to the bridge over
the Mississippi River at Quincy, 111., built in 1869, as an example.
Most bridofe-accidents can be traced to derailed trains strikino- the
trusses and knocking them down. Engineers (both those specially
connected with bridge works, and those in charge of railways)
know much better now what is wanted, and the managers of rail-
ways are willing to pay for the best article. The introduction of
mild steel is a great step in advance. This material has an ultimate
strength, in the finished piece, of 63,000 to 65,000 pounds per
square inch, or forty per cent, more than iron, and it is tough
enough to be tied in a knot, or punched into the shape of a bowl,
while cold. With this material it is as easy to construct spans of
500 feet as it was spans of 250 feet in iron.

Bridges are now designed to carry much heavier loads than
formerly. The best practice adopts riveted connections except at
the junction of the chord-bars and the main diagonals, where pins
and eyes are still very properly used. Plate girders below the
track are preferred up to 60 or 70 feet long, then riveted lattice up

THE BUILDING OF A RAILWAY.

to 125 feet. The wind
strains also are now
provided for with a
considerable excess of
material, amounting in
very long spans to
nearly as much as the
strains due to gravity.
Observing the rule
that no bridge can be
stronger than its weak-
est part, a vast deal of
care and skill has been ap-
plied in perfecting the con-
nections of the parts of a
truss, and many valuable ex-
periments have been made
which have greatly enlarged
our knowledge of this diffi-
cult subject. The introduc-
tion of riveting by the power
of steam or compressed air
is another very great im-
provement.*

Valleys and ravines are
now crossed by viaducts of
iron and steel, of which the
Kinzua viaduct, illustrated
here, is an example. A
branch line from the Erie, connecting that system with valuable
coal-fields, strikes the valley of the Kinzua, a small creek, about
15 miles southwest of Bradford, Pa. At the point suitable for
crossing, this ravine is about half a mile wide and over 300 feet
deep. At first it was proposed to run down and cross the creek
at a low level by some of the devices heretofore illustrated in this
article. But finally the engineering firm of Clarke, Reeves & Co.
agreed to build the viaduct, shown above, for a much less sum than

* See following article on " Feats of Railroad Engineering," page 86.

Kinzua Viaduct ; Erie Railway.

HO IV TO BUILD SAFE BRIDGES.

any other method of crossing would have cost. This viaduct was
buih in four months. It is 305 feet high and about 2,400 feet long.
The skeleton piers were first erected by means of their own posts,
and afterward the girders were placed by means of a travelling
scaffold on the top, projecting over about 80 feet. No stao-ino- of
any kind was used, nor even ladders, as the men climbed up the
diagonal rods of the piers, as a cat will run up a tree.

The Manhattan Elevated Railway, about 34 miles long, is noth-
ing but a long viaduct, and is as strong and durable as iron via-
ducts on railways usually are, while from the slower speed of its
trains it is much safer.

It may not be out of place for the writer to state here what, in
his belief, is the next series of steps to be taken to insure safety in
travelling over our bridges : Replace, wherever possible, all tem-
porary trestles by wood or stone culverts covered with earth.
Where this cannot be done, build strong iron or steel bridges and
viaducts with as short spans as possible and having no trusses
above the
track where
it can possi-
bly be help-
ed. Cover
these and all
new bridges
with a solid
deck of roll-
ed-steel cor-
r u g a t e d
plates, coat-
ed with as-
phalt to pre-

vent rustmcr.

Place on

this broken

stone ballast, and bed the ties in it as in the ordinary form of

road-bed.

By this means the usual shock felt in passing from the elastic
embankment to the comparatively solid bridge will be done away.

Kinzua Viaduct.

32 THE BUILDING OF A RAILWAY.

Has a crack formed in a wheel or axle, this shock generally de-
velops it into a break, the car or engine is derailed, and if it strikes
the truss the bridge is wrecked. The cost of this proposed safety
floor is insignificant, compared with the security resulting from it.

The improvements in the processes of putting in the foundations
of bridges have been as great as those above water. All have
shortened greatly the time necessary, and have made the results
more certain. The American system may briefly be described as
an abandonment of the old engineering device of coffer-dams, by
which the bed of the river is enclosed by a water-tight fence and
the water pumped out. For this we substitute driving piles and
sawing them off under water ; or sinking cribs down to a hard
bottom through the water. In both cases we sink the masonry,
built in a great water-tight box (called a caisson) with a thick
bottom of solid timber, until it finally rests on the heads of the piles
sawn to a level, or on the top of a crib which is filled with stone,
dumped out of a barge. Sometimes it is filled with concrete
lowered through the water by special apparatus.*

Another process, developed wnthin the last twenty years, is to
sink cribs through soft or unreliable material to a harder stratum
by compressed air. This is an improvement on the old diving-bell.
The air, forced into the bell-shaped cavity, expels the water and
allows the men to work and remove the material, which is taken
up by a device called an air-lock. The crib slowly sinks, carrying
the masonry on its top.

By this means the foundations of the Brooklyn bridge and of
the St. Louis bridge were sunk a little over lOO feet below water.
A recent invention is that of a German engineer, Herr Poetsch,
who freezes the sand by inserting tubes filled with a freezing mixt-
ure, and then excavates it as if it were solid rock.

The process of sinking open cribs through the water by weight-
ing them and dredging out the material was followed at the new
bridge recently built over the Hudson at Poughkeepsie, where
the cribs were sunk 130 feet below water, and at the bridge building
over the Hawkesbury River, in Australia. The Hawkesbury piers
are sunk to a depth of 175 feet below water, and are the deepest

* For fuller description of work in a caisson see " Feats of Railway Engineering," page 69.

ORIGIN OF THE CANTIIEVER. H

foundations yet put in. The writer (who derives his knowledge
from being one of the designing and executive engineers of both
these bridges) sees no difficulty in putting down foundations by
this process of open dredging to even much greater depths. The
compressed-air process is limited to about i lo feet in depth.

IV.

The most notable invention of latter days in bridge construc-
tion is that of the cantilever bridge, which is a system devised to
dispense with staging, or false works, where from the great depth,
or the swift current, of the river, this would be difficult, or, as in the
case of the Niagara River, impossible to make. The word canti-
lever is used in architecture to signify the lower end of a rafter,
which projects beyond the wall of a building, and supports the roof
above. It is from an Italian word, taken from the Latin canti-
labrum (used by Vitruvius), meaning the lip of the rafter. If two
beams were pushed out from the shores of a stream until they met
in the centre, and these two beams were long enough to run back
from the shores until their weight, aided by a few stones, held them
down, we should have a primitive form of the cantilever, but one
which in principle would not differ from the actual cantilever
bridges. This is another American invention, although it has been
developed by British engineers — Messrs. Fowler & Baker — in their
huo"e brido-e now buildinof across the Forth, in Scotland, of a size
which dwarfs everything hitherto done in this country, the Brook-
lyn bridge not excepted.

The first design of which we have any record was that of a
bridge planned by Thomas Pope, a ship carpenter of New York,
who, in 1810, published a book giving his designs for an arched
bridge of timber across the North River at Castle Point, of 2,400
feet span. Mr. Pope called this an arch, but his description clearly
shows it to have been what we now call a cantilever. As was the
fashion of the day, he indulged in a poetical description :

" Like half a Rainbow rising on yon shore,
While its twin partner spans the semi o'er,
And makes a perfect whole that need not part
Till time has furnish'd us a nobler art."

THE BUILDING OF A RAILWAY.

View of Thomas Pope's Proposed Cantilever (1810).

The first railway cantilever bridge in the world was built by
the late C. Shaler Smith, C.E., one of our most accomplished
bridge engineers. This was a bridge over the deep gorge of the
Kentucky River. "^^ The next was a bridge on the Canadian
Pacific, in British Columbia, designed by C. C. Schneider, C.E.
A very similar bridge is that over the Niagara River, designed
by the same engineer in conjunction with Messrs. Field & Hayes,
Civil Engineers. This bridge was the first to receive the distinc-
tive name of cantilever.

The new bridge at Poughkeepsie has three of these cantilevers,
connected by two fixed spans, as shown in the illustration (pg. 36).
The fixed spans have horizontal lower chords, and reall}'^ extend
beyond each pier and up the inclined portions, to where the bot-
tom chord of the cantilever is horizontal. At these points the
junctions between the spans are made, and arranged in such a way,
by means of movable links, that expansion and contraction due to
changes of temperature can take place. The fixed spans are 525
feet long. Their upper chord, where the tracks are placed, is 212
feet above water. These spans required stagings to build them
upon. These stagings were 220 feet above water, and rested on
piles, driven through 60 feet of water and 60 feet of mud, making
the whole height of the temporary staging 332 feet, or within 30
feet of the height of Trinity Church steeple, in New York. The

* See " Feats of Railway Engineering," page 55.

IfOJJ' CANTILEVERS ARE ERECTED.

time occupied in building- one of these stagings and then erecting
the steel-work upon it was about four months.

The cantilever spans were erected, as shown in the illustration
on page 2>1^ without any stagings at all below, and entirely from
the two overhead travellinor scaffolds, shown in the eneravine.
These scaffolds were moved out daily from the place of begin-
ning over the piers, until they met in the centre. The workmen
hoisted up the different pieces of steel from a barge in the river
below and put them into place, using suspended planks to walk
upon. The time saved by this method was so great that one of
these spans of 548 feet long was erected in less than four weeks,
or one-seventh of the time which would have been required if
stagings had been used.

At the Forth Bridge, all the projecting cantilevers will be built
from overhead scaffolds, 360 feet above the water. It contains
two spans of 1,710 feet each. When spans of this length are used,
the rivets become very long — seven inches — and it would be im-
possible to make a good job by hand riveting. Hence a power-
riveter is used in riveting the work upon the staging. A steam-
engine raises up a heavy mass of cast-iron, called "the accumu-
lator ; " the
weight of
this in de-
scendinor is
transmitted
t h r o u or h
tubes of wat-
er, and its

P O W e 1 m- Pope s Cantilever in Process o* Erection. (From his " Treatise on Bridge Arcnitecture. ' )

creased by

contracting the area of pressure, until some twenty tons can be
applied to the head of each rivet. One rivet per minute can be
put in with this tool.

It will be seen that most of the great saving of time in modern
construction of bridges and other parts of railways is due to im-
proved machinery. The engineer of to-day is probably not more
skilful than his ancestor, who, in periwig and cue, breeches and

THE BUILDING OF A RAILWAY.

General View of the Poughkeepsie Bridge.

silk stockings, is represented in old prints supervising a gang of
laborers, who slowly lift the ram of a pile-driver by hauling on one
end of a rope passed over a pulley-wheel. The modern engineer
has that useful servant, steam, and the history of modern engineer-
ing is chiefly the history of those inventions by which steam has
been able to supersede manual labor — such as pile-drivers, steam-
shovels, steam-dredo-es, and other similar tools.

After the road-bed of a railway is completed and covered with
a good coat of gravel or stone-ballast, and after all the temporary
structures have been replaced by permanent ones, that part of the
work may be said to be done, requiring only that the damages of
storms should be repaired. But the track of a railway is never
done. It is always wearing out and always being replaced.

Some of the early English engineers, not appreciating this, en-
deavored to lay down solid stone walls coped with stone cut to a
smooth surface, on which they laid their rails. They called this
"permanent way," as distinguished from the temporary track of
rails and cross-ties used by contractors in building the lines. But
experience soon showed that the temporary track, if supported by

INVENTION OF BESSEMER STEEL.

a bed of broken stone, always kept itself drained and was always
elastic, and remained in much better order than the more expensive
so-called " permanent way." When the increase in the weight of
our rolling stock began to take place, dating from about 1870, iron
rails were found to be wearing out very fast. Some railway men
declared that the railway system had reached its full developmxent.
But in this world the supply generally equals the demand. When
a thing is very much wanted, it is sure to come, sooner or later.
The process of making steel invented by, and named after, Henry
Bessemer, of England, and perfected by A. L. Holley, of this
country, gave us a steel rail which at the present time costs less
than one of iron, and has a life five or six times as long, even

Erectmn of a Cantilever

under the heavy loads of to-day. We are now approaching very
near the limit of what the rail will carry, while the joints are be-
coming less able to do their duty. Bad joints mean rough track.
Rough track means considerably greater expenditure both for its
maintenance and that of all the rolling stock, as the blows and

THE BUILDING OF A RAILWAY.

shocks do reciprocal damage, both to the rails and to that which
runs on them. Hence all railway managers are now devoting
more care and attention to their tracks.

In laying track on a new railway, if it be in an old-settled coun-
try where other railroads are near and the highways good, the ties
are delivered in piles along the line where wanted, and the haul of

the rails is comparatively short.
C5<-^ The ties are laid down, spaced
and bedded, adzed off to a true

SpiUing the TracPc.

bearing, and the rails laid
upon them ; the workmen be-
ing divided into gangs, each
doing a different part of the
work. After the track is laid, the ballast-trains come along and
cover the roadbed with gravel. The track is raised, the gravel
tamped well under the ties, and the track is ready for use.

The road is then divided into sections about five miles lone.
On each section there is a section-boss, with four to six laborers.
Their duty is to pass over the track at least twice a day in their
hand-car, to examine every joint, and where one is found low or
out of line, to bring it back to its true position by tamping gravel
under it and moving the track. They have also to see that all

PREMIUMS FOR SECTION-MEN.

ditches are kept clear of water, a most essential point, as without
good drainage the ground under gravel ballast becomes soft, and

Track Laying,

the mud is churned up into the gravel, and the whole soon gets
into bad order.

They have to see that the fences are all right, that trees and
telegraph poles do not fall across the track, that wooden bridges
do not burn down, that iron and stone bridges are not undermined
by freshets, and always to set up danger signals to warn the trains.

It is admitted by competent judges, that the track of the Penn-
sylvania Railroad is the best in this country, and one of the best
in the world. It is kept up to its high standard of excellence by a
system of competitive examinations.

About the first of November, in each year, after the season's
work has been done, a tour of inspection is made over all the lines,
on a train of cars expressly prepared, consisting of two or more
cars not unlike ordinary box cars with the front end taken out.
Each car is pushed in front of an engine, and goes slowly over the
line, by daylight only, so that the inspecting party may have a full
view of the road.

The Pennsylvania road is divided into Grand Divisions, Super-
intendents' Divisions, of about 100 miles long. Supervisors' Divi-
sions, of about 30 miles, and Subdivisions, oi 2\ miles.

The examining committee for each Supervisor's Division con-
sists of the supervisors of other divisions. As they pass along,
they mark on a card. One sub-committee marks the condition of
the alignment and surfacing of the rails ; another the condition of

42 THE BUILDING OF A RAILWAY.

the joints and the spacing of the ties ; another the ballast, switches,
and sidings ; another the ditches, road-crossings, station grounds.
The marks range from i to lo, o being very bad, 5 medium, and
10 perfection. When the trip is done these reports are all collected
and the average is taken for each division.

As an inducement to the supervisors and the foremen of the
Subdivisions to excel on their division, premiums are given as
follows :

$100 to the supervisor having the best yard on his Grand Division.

$100 each to the supervisors having the best Supervisor's Division on each Superin-
tendent's Division of loo miles.

$75 to the foreman having the best subdivision of il miles on each Grand Division.

$60 to each foreman having the best subdivision on his Superintendent's Division,
including yards.

$50 to the foreman having the best subdivision on each Supervisor's Division.

In addition to the above there are two premiums of honor given
by the general manager, which bring into competition with each
other those parts of the main line lying on either side of Philadel-
phia, viz. :

$100 to the supervisor having the best line and surface between Pittsburg and Jersey
City.

$50 to the second best ditto.

If a supervisor or foreman of subdivision receives one of the
higher premiums, he is not allowed to be a competitor for any
others premiums, except the premiums of honor.

The advantages of these inspections and premiums are these :
Every man knows exactly what the standard of excellence is, and
strives to have his section reach it. Under the old system, a man
never got off of his own section, and had no means of comparison,
and like all untravelled persons, became conceited.

The standard of excellence becomes higher and higher every
year. Perfect fairness prevails, as the mien themselves are the
judges. The officers of the road make no marks, but usually
look on and see that there is fair play.

This brings the officers and men nearer together, and shows
the men how all are working for the common good. An agreeable
break is made in the monotony of the men's lives. They have
something to look forward to better than a spree.

THE COST OF TRANSPORTATION: 43

It is by the adoption of such methods as these that strikes will
be prevented in the future. It encourages an esprit de corps
among the men, and educates them in every way.

This system was first devised and put in operation on the
Pennsylvania Railroad in 1879, by Mr. Frank Thomson, General
Manager, to whom the credit of it is justly due.

I HAVE thus endeavored to trace the history of the building of
a railway ; and it must have been seen, from what has been said,
that the evolution of the railway and of its rolling stock follows the
same laws which govern the rest of the world : adaptation to cir-
cumstances decides what is fittest, and that alone survives. The
scrap-heap of a great railway tells its own story.

Our railways have now reached a development which is won-
derful. The railways of the United States, if placed continuously,
would reach more than half-way to the moon. Their bridges
alone would reach from New York to Liverpool. Notwithstand-
ing the number of accidents that we read of in the daily papers,
statistics show that less persons are killed annually on railways
than are killed annually by falling out of windows.

Railways have so cheapened the cost of transportation that,
while a load of wheat loses all of its value by being hauled one
hundred miles on a common road, meat and flour enough to sup-
ply one man a year can, according to Mr. Edward Atkinson, be
hauled 1,500 miles from the West to the East for one day's wages
of that man, if he be a skilled mechanic. If freight charges are
diminished in the future as in the past, this can soon be done for
one day's wages of a common laborer.

The number of persons employed in constructing, equipping,
and operating our railways is about two millions.

The combined armies and navies of the world, while on peace
footing, will draw from gainful occupations 3,455,000 men.

Those create wealth — these destroy it. Is it any wonder that
America is the richest country in the world ?

The rapidity with which it is possible to build railways over
the prairies of the West is extraordinary. It is true that the

THE BUILDING OF A RAILWAY.

Temporary Railway Crossmg the St. Lawrence on the Ice.

amount of earth necessary to

be moved is much less than

on the railways of the East.

In Iowa and Wisconsin, the

amount runs from 20,000 to

25,000 yards per mile, while

in Dakota it is only 12,000 to

15,000 yards per mile. After making all due allowance for this,

the result is still remarkable.

The Manitoba system was extended in 1887 through Dakota
and Montana a distance of 545 miles. A small army of 10,000
men, with about 3,500 teams, commanded by General D. C. Shep-
ard, of St. Paul, a veteran engineer and contractor, did it all be-
tween April 2 and October 19. All materials and subsistence
had to be hauled to the front, from the base of supplies. The
army slept in its own tents, shanties, and cars. The grading was
cast up from the side ditches, sometimes by carts, and sometimes
by the digging machine.

Everything was done with military organization, except that
what was left behind was a railway and not earth-work lines of de-
fence. Assuming that this railway, ready for its equipment, cost
$15,100 per mile, or $8,175,000, and if it be true, as statisticians
tell us, that every dollar expended in building railways in a new
country adds ten to the value of land and other property, then this
six months' campaign shows a solid increase of the wealth of our

J^AILIVAYS AND DEMOCRACY. 45

country of over eighty millions of dollars. Had it been necessary
for our Government to keep an army of observation of the same
size on the Canadian frontier, there would have been a dead loss
of over eight millions of dollars, and the only result would have
been a slight reduction of the Treasury surplus.

It must be remembered that this railway was built after the
American system : when the rails were laid, so as to carry trains,
it was not much more than half finished ; the track had to be bal-
lasted, the temporary wooden structures replaced by stone and
iron, and many buildings and miles of sidings were yet to be con-
structed. But it began to earn money from the very day the last
rail was laid, and out of its earnings, and the credit thereby ac-
quired, it will complete itself.

And this is only one instance out of many. The armies of
peace are working all over our country, increasing our wealth, and
binding all parts into a common whole. We have here the true
answer to the Carlyles and the Ruskins who ask: "What is the
use of all this ? Is a man any better who goes sixty miles an hour
than one who went live miles an hour? " " Were we not happier
when our fields were covered with their golden harvests, than
now, when our wheat is brought to us from Dakota ? "

The grand function of the railway is to change the whole basis
of civilization from military to industrial. The talent, the energy,
the money, which is expended in maintaining the whole of Europe
as an armed camp is here expended in building and maintaining
railways, with their army of two millions of men. Without the
help of railways the rebellion of the Southern States could never
have been put down, and two great standing armies would have
been necessary. By the railways, aided by telegraphs, it is easy
to extend our Federal system over an entire continent, and thus
dispense forever with standing armies.

The moral effect of this upon Europe is great, but its physical
effect is still greater. American railways have nearly abolished
landlordism in Ireland, and they will one day abolish it in Eng-
land, and over the continent of Europe. So long as Europe was
dependent for food upon its own fields, the owner of those fields
could fix his own rental. This he can no longer do, owing to the
cheapness of transportation from Australia and from the prairies of

4-6 THE BUILDING OF A RAILWAY.

America, due to the inventions of Watt, the Stephensons, Besse-
mer, and Holley.

With the wealth of the landlord his political power will pass
away. The government of European countries will pass out of
the hands of the great landowners, but not into those of the
rabble, as is feared. It will pass into the same hands that govern
America to-day — the territorial democracy, the owners of small
farms, and the manufacturers and merchants. When this comes to
pass, attempts will be made to settle international disputes by ar-
bitration instead of war, following the example of the Geneva arbi-
tration between the two o-reatest industrial nations of the world.
Whether our Federal system will ever extend to the rest of the
world, no one knows, but we do know that without railways it
would be impossible.

When we consider the effects of all these wonderful changes
upon the sum of human happiness, we must admit that the engineer
should justly take rank with statesmen and soldiers, and that no
ofreater benefactors to the human race can be named than the
Stephensons and their American disciples — Allen, Rogers, Jervis,
Winans, Latrobe, and Holley.

FEATS OF RAILWAY ENGINEERING.

By JOHN BOGART.

Development of the Rail — Problems for the Engineer-r— How Heights are Climbed — The
Use of Trestles — Construction on a Mountain Side — Engineering on Rope Ladders —
Through the Portals of a Canon — Feats on the Oroya Railroad, Peru — Nochistongo
Cut — Rack Rails for Heavy Grades — Difficulties in Tunnel Construction — Bridge
Foundations — Cribs and Pneumatic Caissons — How Men work under Water — The
Construction of Stone Arches — Wood and Iron in Bridge-building — Great Suspen-
sion Bridges — The Niagara Cantilever and the enormous Forth Bridge — Elevated
and Underground Roads— Responsibilities of the Civil Engineer.

'HERE are one hundred and fifty
thousand miles of railway in the
United States : three hundred thou-
sand miles of rails — in length enough
to make twelve steel girdles for the
earth's circumference. This enormous
length of rail is wonderful — we do not
really grasp its significance. But the
rail itself, the little section of steel, is
'' ^' an engineering feat. The change of its form

from the curious and clumsy iron pear-head of thirty years ago to
the present refined section of steel is a scientific development. It
is now a beam whose every dimension and curve and angle are
exactly suited to the tremendous work it has to do. The loads it
carries are enormous, the blows it receives are heavy and con-
stant, but it carries the loads and bears the blows and does its duty.
The locomotive and the modern passenger and freight cars are
great achievements ; and so is the little rail which carries them all.
The railway to-day is one of the matter-of-fact associations of
our active life. We use it so constantly that it requires some little
effort to think of it as a wonderful thing; a creation of man's inge-

48 FEATS OF RAILWAY ENGINEERING.

nuity, which did not exist when our grandfathers were young. Its
long bridges, high viaducts, and dark tunnels may be remarked and
remembered by the traveller, but the narrow way of steel, the road
itself, seems but a simple work. And yet the problem of location,
the determination, foot by foot and mile by mile, of where the line
must go, calls in its successful solution for the highest skill of the
eno-ineer, whose profession before the railway was created hardly
existed at all. Locomotives now climb heights which a few years
ago no vehicle on wheels could ascend. The writer, with some
engineer friends, was in the mountains of Colorado during the
summer of 1887, and saw a train of very intelligent donkeys loaded
with ore from the mines, to which no access could be had but by
those sure-footed beasts. Within a year one of that party of en-
gineers had located and was building a railway to those very
mines. No heights seem too great to-day, no valleys too deep, no
canons too forbidding, no streams too wide ; if commerce demands,
the engineer will respond and the railways will be built.

The location of the line of a railway through difficult country
requires the trained judgment of an engineer of special experience,
and the most difficult country is not by any means that which might
at first be supposed. A line through a narrow pass almost locates
itself. But the approach to a summit through rolling country is
often a serious problem. The rate of grade must be kept as light
as possible, and must never exceed the prescribed maximum. The
cuttings and the embankments must be as shallow as they can be
made — the quantities of material taken from the excavations should
be just about enough to make adjacent embankments. The curves
must be few and of light radius — never exceeding an arranged
limit. The line must always be kept as direct as these consider-
ations will allow — so that the final location will give the shortest
practicable economical distance from point to point. Many a mile
of railway over which we travel now at the highest speed has been
a weary problem to the engineer of location, and he has often ac-
complished a really greater success by securing a line which seems
to closely fit the country over which it runs without marking itself
sharply upon nature's moulding, than if he had with apparent bold-
ness cut deep into the hills and raised embankments and viaducts
high over lowlands and valleys.

MOUNTAIN RAILROADING.

But roads must run through
many regions where very differ-
ent measures must be taken to
secure a location practicable for
traffic. For instance, a line at
a high elevation approaches a
wide valley which it must cross.
The rate of descent is fixed by
the established maximum grade,
and the sides of the valley are
much steeper than that rate.
Then the engineer must gain

distance — that is to

say,

must make the line long enough

View Down the Blue fiom Rucky Point, Denver, South Park
and Pacific Railroad; showing successive tiers of railway.

to overcome the vertical height. This can often be accomplished
by carrying it up the valley on one side and down on the other.

50 FEATS OF RAILWAY ENGINEERING.

Tributary valleys can be made use of if necessary, and the desired
crossing thus accomplished. But at times even these expedients
will not suffice. Then the line is made to bend upon itself and
wind down the hillside upon benches cut into the earth, or rock,
curving at points where nature affords any sort of opportunity, and
reaching the valley at last in long convolutions like the path of a
great serpent on the mountain side. These lines often show sev-
eral tiers of railway, one directly above the other, as may be seen
in the illustrations on pages 49 and 51.

The long trestle shown in the illustration opposite is an example
of an expedient often of the greatest service in railway construction.
These trestles are built of wood, simply but strongly framed to-
frether, and are entirely effective for the transport of traffic for a
number of years. Then they must be renewed, or, what is better,
be replaced by embankment, which can be gradually made by
depositing the material from cars on the trestle itself The trestle
illustrated is interesting as conforming to the curve of the line,
which in that country, the mountains of Colorado, w^as probably a
necessity of location.

Where the direct turning of a line upon itself may not be ne-
cessary, there may and often must be bold work done in the con-
struction of the road upon a mountain side. It must be supported
where necessary by walls built up from suitable foundations, often
only secured at a great depth below the grade of the road. Pro-
jecting points of rock must be cut through, and any practicable
natural shelf or favorable formation must be made use of, as in the
picture on page 61. In some of the mountain locations, galleries
have been cut directly into the rock, the cliff overhanging the road-
way, and the line being carried in a horizontal cut or niche in the
solid wall.

The Oroya and the Chimbote railways in South America
demanded constant locations of this character. At many points
it was necessary to suspend the persons making the preliminary
measurements from the cliff above. The engineer who made these
locations told the writer that on the Oroya line the galleries were
often from 100 to 400 feet above the base of the cliff, and were gener-
ally reached from above. Rope ladders were used to great advan-

SURVEYING ON ROPE LADDERS. 53

tage. One 64 feet long and one 106 feet long covered the usual
practice, and were sometimes spliced together. The side ropes
were f and i^ inches in diameter, and the rounds of wood \\ inches
in diameter, and 16 inches and 24 inches long. These were notched
at the ends and passed through the ropes, to which they were after-
ward lashed. These ladders could be rolled up and carried about
on donkeys or mules. When swung over the side of a cliff and
secured at the top, and when practicable at the bottom, they formed
a very useful instrument in location and construction. For simple
examination of the cliff, and for rough or broken slopes not exceed-
ing 70 to 80 degrees, an active fellow would, after some experience,
walk up and down such a slope simply grasping the rope in his
hands. If required to do any work he would secure the rope
about his body, or wind it around his arm, leaving his hands com-
paratively free for light work.

The boatswain's chair — consisting of a wooden seat 6 inches
wide and two feet long, through the ends of which pass the side
ropes, looped at the top, and having their ends knotted— is a par-
ticularly convenient seat to use where cliffs overhang to a slight
degree. The riggers were generally Portuguese sailors, who
seemed to have more agility and less fear than any other men to
be found. At Cuesta Blanca, on the Oroya, a prominent discolora-
tion on the cliff served as a triangulation point for locating the chief
gallery. Men were swung over the side of the cliff in a cage about
2\ feet by 6 feet, open at the top and on the side next the rock.
This was a peculiar cliff about 1,000 feet high, rising from the river
at a general slope of about 70 degrees. The grade line of the road
was 420 feet above the river. The Chileno miners climbed up a
rope ladder to a large seam near the grade, where they lived ; pro-
visions, water, etc., being hoisted up to them. The first men sent
over the cliff to begin the preliminary work were lowered in a cage
and took their dinners with them, for fear they would not return to
the work, and that unless a genuine start was made others could
not be induced to take their places. It is safe to say that 80 per
cent, of the sixty odd tunnels on the Oroya and the seven tunnels.
on the Chimbote lines were located and constructed on lines
determined by triangulation, and the results were so satisfactory
that the method may be depended upon as the best system for

FEATS OF RAILWAY ENGINEERING.

determining- topo-
graphical data or
for locating and
constructing the
lines in any simi-
lar locality.

Where the
rocks close in to-
orether, as in some
of the canons of
our Southwest,
the railway curves
about them and
finds its way often
where one would
hardly suppose a
decent wagon
road could be
built. The por-
tals of the Grand
River Canon, as
here shown, pre-
sent such a line,
passing through
narrow gateways of rock rising precipitously on either side to
enormous heights.

Denver and Rio Grande Ra

GREAT BRIDGES OVER CANONS AND VALLEYS.

When such a canon or a narrow valley directly crosses the line
of the road, it must be spanned by a bridge or viaduct. The Ken-
tucky River Bridge, shown below, is an instance. The Verrugas
Bridge, on the Lima and Oroya Railroad in Peru, is another. This
bridge is at an elevation of 5,836 feet above sea-level. It crosses a

The Kentucky River Cantilever, on the Cincinnati Soutnern Rail

ravine at the bottom of which is a small stream. The bridge is
575 feet long, in four spans, and is supported by iron towers, the
central one of which is 252 feet in height. The construction was
accomplished entirely from above, the material all having been
delivered at the top of the ravine, and the erection was made by
lowering each piece to its position. This was done by the use of
two wire-rope cables, suspended across the ravine from temporary
towers at each end of the bridge.

On the line of the same Oroya Railroad is a striking example
of the difficulties encountered in such mountain country and of the
method by which they have been overcome. A tunnel reaches a
narrow gorge, a truss is thrown across, and the tunnel continued.

FEATS OF RAILWAY ENGINEERING.

Truss over Ravine, and Tunnel, Oroya Railroad, Peru.

Nature's wildest scenery, the deep ravine, the mountain diffs,
and the graceful truss carrying the locomotive and train safely over
what would seem an impossible pass, here combine to give a vivid
illustration of an eneineerine feat.

The location of a part of the Mexican Central Railway through
the cut of Nochistongo is peculiarly interesting. Far underneath
the level of this line of railway there was skilfully constructed, in
1608, a tunnel which at that period was a very bold piece of engin-

THE LARGEST CUT EVER MADE.

eering. It was designed to drain the Valley of Mexico, which has
no natural outlet. This tunnel was more than six miles lono- and
ten feet wide. It was driven through the formation called tepetaie,

The Nochistongo Cut, Mexican Central Railway.

a peculiar earth with strata of sand and marl. It was finished in
eleven months. At first excavated without a lining, it was after-
ward faced with masonry. It was not entirely protected when a
great flood came, the dikes above gave way, and the tunnel became
obstructed. The City of Mexico was flooded, and it was decided
that, instead of repairing the tunnel an open cut should be made.
The engineer who had constructed the tunnel, Enrico Martinez,
was put in charge of this enormous undertaking, and others took
his place after his death. The cut is believed to be the largest ever
made in the world. For more than a century the work was con-
tinued. Its greatest depth is now 200 feet. It was cut deeper, but
has partially filled with the washings from the slopes. The cost
was enormous, more than 6,000,000 dollars in silver having been
actually disbursed ! Wages for workmen were then from 9 to 1 2
cents a day. All convicts sentenced to hard labor were put at work
in the great cut. The loss of life was very great. Writers of the
time state that more than 100,000 Indians perished while engaged
in the work.

FEATS OF RAILWAY ENGINEERING.

Mount W<.shington Rack Railrc=.

When a line of rail-
way encountered a
grade too steep for as-
cent by the traction
of the locomotive, the
earlier engineers adopted the
inclined plane. Such planes were
in use at important points during
many years. Notable instances
were those by which traffic was
carried across the Alleghany
Mountains, connecting on
each side with the Pennsyl-
vania railway lines. These
old planes are still visible
from the present Pennsyl-
vania Railroad where it
crosses the summit west of Altoona. The planes were operated
by stationary engines acting upon cables attached to the cars.
These cables passed around drums at the head of the planes, the
weight of the cars on one track partially
balancinof those on the other. Similar
planes were in use also at Albany,
Schenectady, and
other places. "~

Another effective -
expedient is the cen-
tral rack rail. No
better or more suc-
cessful example of
this method of con-
struction can be giv-
en than the Mount
Washington Railway,
illustrated above.
The road was com-
pleted in 1869. Its

lengtn is 2,'^ miles and Trestle on P&rtland and Ogdensburg Railway, Crawford Notch, White Mountains.

RACK RAILWAYS FOR MOUNTAIN CLIMBING. 59

its total rise 3,625 feet. Its steepest grade is about i foot rise in
every 3 feet in lengtli ; the average grade is i in 4. It is built of
heavy timber, well bolted to the rock. Low places are spanned by
substantial trestle work. The gauge of the road is 4 feet 7^ inches,
and it is provided with the two ordinary rails and also the cen-
tral rack rail, which is really like an iron ladder, the sides being ot
angle iron and the cross-pieces of round iron \\ inches in diameter
and 4 inches apart. Into these plays the central cog-wheel on the
locomotive, which thus climbs this iron ladder with entire safety.
Very complete arrangements are made to control the descent of the
train in case of accident to the machinery. The locomotive is always
below the train, and pushes it up the mountain. Many thousands
of passengers have been transported every year without accident.

The rack railroad ascending the Righi, in Switzerland, was
copied after the Mount Washing-
ton line. Some improvements in
the construction of the rack rail
and attachments have been intro-
duced upon mountain roads in
Germany, and this system seems
very advantageous for use in ex-
ceptionally steep locations.

When a line of railway meets
in its course a barrier of rock, it is
often best to cut directly through.
If the grade is not too far below
the surface of the rock, the cut is
made like a oreat trench with the
sides as steep as the nature of a senes of Tunnels.

the material will allow. Very deep

cuts are, however, not desirable. The rains bring down upon
their slopes the softer material from above, and the frost detaches
pieces of rock which, falling, may result in serious accidents to
trains. Snow lodges in these deep cuts, at times entirely stop-
ping traffic, as in the blizzard near New York, in March, 1888.
A tunnel, therefore, while perhaps greater in first cost than a mod-
erately deep cut, is really often the more economical expedient.

FEATS OF RAILWAY ENGINEERING.

Tunnel at the Foot of Mount St. Stephen, on the Canadian Pacific.
(The glacier 8,200 feet above the Railway.)

And here is as good a place, perhaps, as any other in this
chapter, to say that true engineering is the economical adaptation
of the means and opportunities existing, to the end desired. Civil
engineering was defined, by one of the greatest of England's engi-
neers, as " the art of directing the great sources of power in nature
for the use and convenience of man," and that definition was
adopted as a fundamental idea in the charter of the English Insti-
tution of Civil Engineers. But the development of engineering-
works in America has been effected successfully by American en-

THE TEST OF GOOD ENGINEERING.

gineers only because they have appreciated another side of the
problem presented to them. A past president of the American
Society of Civil Engineers, a man of rare judgment and remark-
able executive ability, the late Ashbel Welch, said, in discussing a
great undertaking proposed by an eminent Frenchman : " That is
the best engineering, not which makes the most splendid, or even
the most perfect, work, but that which makes a work that answers
the purpose well, at the least cost." And it may be remarked, as
to the project which he was then
discussing, that after a very large
expenditure and an experience of
eight years since that discussion,
the plans of the work were modi-
fied and the identical suggestions
made by Mr. Welch of a radical
economical change were adopted
in 1888.* Another emi-
nent Ameri-
can engineer,
whose prac-
tical experi-
e n c e h a s
been gained
in the con-
struction and
engineering
supervision
of more than
five thousand
miles of rail-
way, said, in
his address
as President
of the Ameri-
can Society

of Civil Encrineers : "The hio-h object of our profession is to consider
and determine the most economic use of time, power, and matter.

'Reference is made to the substitution of locks in the Panama Canal for the original project of a
canal at the sea-level.

Peha de Mora

on the La Guayra and CarScas Railway,

Venezuela.

FEATS OF RAILWAY ENGINEERING,

Petspective View of St. Gothard Spiral Tunnels, in the
Alps.

That true economy, which
finally secures in a completed
work the best results from the
investment of capital, in first
cost and continued maintenance, is an essential element in the con-
sideration of any really great engineering feat.

The difficulties involved in the construction of a tunnel, after
the line and dimensions have been determined, depend generally
upon the nature of the material found as the work advances. Solid
rock presents really the fewest difficulties, but it is seldom that
tunnels of considerable leneth occur without meetinor material
which requires special provision for successful treatment. In some
cases great portions of the rock, where the roof of the tunnel is to
be, press downward with enormous weight, being detached from
the adjacent mass by the occurrence of natural seams.

At other places soft material may be encountered, and the pas-
sage then is attended with great difficulty. Temporary supports,
generally of timber, and of great strength, have often to be used
at every foot of progress to prevent the material from forcing its
way into the excavation already made.

In long tunnels the ventilation is a difficult problem, although
the use of compressed air drills has aided greatly in its solution.

Among the great tunnels which have been excavated, the St.

ST. GOTHARD SPIRAL TUNNELS.

Plan of St. Gothard Spiral Tunnels.

Gothard is the most remarkable. It is 9^ miles long, with a sec-
tion 26i feet wide by 19I feet high. The work on this tunnel was
continuous, and it required 9^
years for its completion.

The Mont Cenis tunnel, 8^
miles in length, was completed
in 12 years.

The Hoosac Tunnel, 4f
miles in length, 26 feet wide
and 2\\ feet high, was not pros-
ecuted continuously ; it was
completed in 1876. These tunnels are notable chiefly on account
of their great length ; there are others of more moderate extent
which have peculiar features ; one, illustrated on the preceding
page, is unique. This tunnel is a portion of the St. Gothard Rail-
way, and not very far distant from the great tunnel referred to
above. In the descent of the mountain it was absolutely necessary

to secure a longer distance than a straight
line or an ordinary curve would give ; the
line was therefore doubly curved upon itself
It enters the mountain at a high elevation,
describes a circle through the rock and,
constantly descending, reappears under it-
self at the side ; still descending, it enters
the mountain at another point and con-
tinues in another circular tunnel
until it finally emerges again,
under itself, but at a compara-
tively short horizontal distance
from its first entry, having gained
the required descent by a con-
tinued grade through the tunnels.
The profile above shows the de-
scent, upon a greatly reduced
scale, the heavy lines marking
where the line is in the tunnel.
The remarkable success achieved by engineers in securing
suitable foundations at great depths is, of course, hardly known to

Profile of the Same.

FEATS OF RAILWAY ENGINEERING.

Portal of a Finished Tunnel ; showing Canaeron's Cone, Colorado.

the thousands who constantly see the structures supported on
those foundations, but in any fair consideration of such engineering
achievements this must not be omitted. The beautiful bridge
built by Captain Eads over the Mississippi River at St. Louis,
bold in its design and excellent in its execution, is an object of ad-

Portal of a Tunnel in Process of Construction.

BRIDGE FOUNDATIONS UNDER WATER.

miration to all who visit it, but the impression of its importance
would be greatly magnified if the part below the surface of the
water, which bears the massive towers, and which extends to a

Railway Pass at Rocky Point in the Rocky Mountains.

depth twice as great as the height of the pier above the water,
could be visible.

The simplest and most effective foundation is, of course; on
solid rock. In many localities reliable foundations are built upon
earth, when it exists at a suitable depth and of such a character as
properly to sustain the weight. Foundations under water, when
rock or good material occurs at moderate depth, are constructed
frequently by means of the coffer-dam, which is simply an enclos-
ure made water-tight and properly connected with the bottom of
the stream. The water is then pumped out and the foundation
and masonry built within this temporary dam. When the mate-
rial is not of a character to sustain the weight, the next expedient
is the use of piles, which are driven into the ground, often to a
very considerable depth, and sustain the load placed upon them by
the friction upon the sides of the piles of the material in which they
are driven. It is seldom that dependence is placed upon the load
being transferred from the top to the point of the pile, even though
the point may have penetrated to a comparatively solid material.
Wood is generally used for piles, and where the ground is per-
manently saturated there seems to be hardly any known limit to

FEATS OF RAILWAY ENGINEERING.

its durability. The substructure of foundations, where it is cer-
tain that they will always be in contact with water, can be, and
generally is, of wood, and the permanency of such foundations
is well established. An exception to this, however, occurs in
salt-water, particularly in warmer countries, where the ravages of
the minute Teredo Navalis, and of the still more minute Limnoria
Terebrans, destroy the wood in a very short period of time.
These insects, however, do not work below the ground-line or bed
of the water. In many special cases hollow
iron piles are used successfully.

The ordinary method of forcing a pile into
the ground is by repeated blows of a hammer
of moderate weight ; better success being ob-
tained by frequent blows of the hammer, lifted
to a slight elevation, than results from a greater
fall, there being danger also in the latter case
of injuring the material of the pile. The use
of the water-jet for sinking piles, particularly in
sand, is interesting. A tube, generally
of ordinary gas-pipe, open at the lower
end, is fastened to the pile ; the upper
end is connected by a hose to a power-
ful pump and, the pile being placed in
position on the surface of the sand,
water is forced through the tube and
excavates a passage for the pile, which,
by the application of very light pressure,
descends rapidly to the desired depth.
The stream of water must be continu-
ous, as it rises along the side of the pile
and keeps the sand in a mobile state.
Immediately upon the cessation of pump-
ing, the sand settles about the pile, and
it is sometimes quite impossible to after-
ward move it. The water-jet is used in
sinking iron piles by conducting the
water through the interior of the hollow pile and out of a hole at
its j)oint. The piles of the great iron pier at Coney Island were

Bridge Pier Founded on Piles.

THE PNEUMATIC CAISSON, 69

sunk with great celerity in this way. The illustration opposite
shows one of the piers of a bridge founded upon wooden piling.

In many cases it would be impossible to drive piling in such a
way as to insure the durability of the structure above it. This is
particularly true of the foundations of structures crossing many of
our rivers, where the bottom is of material which, in time of flood,
sometimes scours to very remarkable depths ; the material often
being replaced when the flood has subsided. The expedient
adopted is the pneumatic tube, or the caisson. Both are merely
applications of the well-known principle of the diving-bell. In the
former case hollow iron tubes, open at the bottom, are sunk to
considerable depths, the water being expelled by air pumped into
the tubes at a pressure sufficient to resist the weight of the water.
Entrance to the tubes is obtained by an air-lock at the top, the
material is excavated from the inside, and sufficient weight placed
upon the tube to force it gradually to the desired depth. When
that depth is attained, the tubes are filled with concrete, and thus
solid pillars of hydraulic concrete, surrounded by cast-iron tubing,
are obtained.

The pneumatic caisson is an enlargement of this idea of the div-
ing-bell. The caisson is simply a great chamber or box, open at
the bottom ; the outside bottom edges are shod and cased with
iron so as to give a cutting surface ; the roof and sides are made
of timber, thoroughly bolted together, and of such strength as to
resist the pressure of the structure to be finally founded upon it.
The chamber in the open bottom is of sufficient height to enable
the laborers to work comfortably in it. This caisson is generally
constructed upon the shore in the vicinity of the structure and
towed to the point where the foundation is to be sunk. Air is sup-
plied by powerful pumps and is forced into the working cham-
ber. The pressure of the air of course increases constantly as
the caisson descends ; it must always be sufficient to overbalance
the weight of the water and thus prevent the water from enter-
ing the chamber.

Descent to the caisson is made through a tube, generally of
wrought iron, and having, at a suitable point, an air-lock, which is
substantially an enlargement of the tube, forming a chamber, and
of sufficient size to accommodate a number of men. This air-lock

FEATS OF RAJLJVAY ENGINEERING.

is provided with doors or valves at the top and at the bottom, both
opening downward, and also with small tubes connecting the air-
lock with the chamber below and with the external air above.

"-U— ^;- Cancntt

Pneumatic Caisson.

Entrance to the caisson is effected through this air-lock. The
lower door, or valve, being at the bottom, closes and is kept closed
by the pressure of the air in the caisson below. After the air-lock
is entered the upper door or valve is shut, and held shut a few
moments, and the tube connecting with the outer air is closed; a
small valve in the tube connecting with the caisson is then opened
gradually and the pressure in the air-lock becomes the same as
that in the chamber below ; as soon as this is effected the valve,
or door, at the bottom of the air-lock falls open and the air-lock
becomes really a part of the caisson.

A sufficient force of men is employed in the chamber to gradu-
ally excavate the material from its whole surface and from under
the cutting edge, and the masonry structure is founded upon the
top of the caisson and built gradually, so as to give constantly a
sufficient weight to carry the whole construction down to its final
location upon the stable foundation, which may be the bed-rock or
may be some strata of permanent character.

The problem of lighting the chamber was until recently of con-
siderable difficulty. The rapid combustion under great pressure
made the use of lamps and candles very troublesome, particularly
on account of the dense smoke and large production of lampblack.

The introduction of the electric light has greatly aided in the
more comfortable prosecution of pneumatic foundation work.

THE EADS SAND-PUMP.

The removal of rock, or any large mass, from the caisson is ef-
fected through the air-chamber ; but the removal of finer material,
as sand or earth, is accomplished by the sand pump or by the
pressure of the air. A tube, extending from the top of the ma-
sonry and kept above the surface by additions, as may be required,
enters the working chamber and is controlled by proper valves.
Lines of tubing and hose extend to all portions of the chamber.
A slight excavation is made and kept filled with water. The bot-
tom of the tube, or the hose connected with it, is placed in this
excavation, and, the material being agitated so as to be in suspen-
sion in the water, the valve is opened, and the pressure of the air
throws the water and the material held in suspension to the sur-
face, through the tube, from the end of which it is projected with
great velocity and may be deposited at any desired adjacent point.
This method, however, exhausts the air from the caisson too rap-
idly for continuous service. The Eads sand-pump is therefore
generally used. This is an ingenious apparatus, somewhat the

Transverse Section of Pneumatic Caisson,

same in principle as the injector which forces water into steam-
boilers. A stream of water is thrown by a powerful pump through
a tube which, at a point near the inlet for the excavated material,

T2 FEATS OF RAILWAY ENGINEERING.

is enlarged so as to surround another tube. The water is forced
upward with great velocity into the second tube, through a conical
annular opening, and, expelling the atmosphere, carries with it to
the surface a continuous stream of sand and water from the bottom
of the excavation.

This system has been used successfully in the foundations of
piers and abutments of bridges in all parts of the world. The
rapidity of the descent of the caisson varies with the material
through which it has to pass. The speed with which such founda-
tions are executed is remarkable, when one remembers with what
delicacy and intelligent supervision they have to be balanced and
controlled. In some instances it has been necessary to carry them
to great depths, one at St. Louis being 107 feet below ordinary
water level in the river.

The pressure of air in caissons at these depths is very great ;
at no feet below the surface of the water it would be 50 pounds
to the square inch. Its effect upon the men entering and working
in the caisson has been carefully noted in various works, and these
effects are sometimes very serious ; the frequency of respiration is
increased, the action of the heart becomes excited, and many per-
sons become affected by what is known as the " caisson disease,"
which is accompanied by extreme pain and in some cases results
in more or less complete paralysis. The careful observations of
eminent physicians who have given this disease special attention
have resulted in the formulation of rules which have reduced the
danger to a minimum.

The execution of work within a deep pneumatic caisson is worth
a moment's consideration. Just above the surface of the water
is a busy force engaged in laying the solid blocks of masonry
which are to support the structure. Great derricks lift the stones
and lay them in their proper position. Powerful pumps are forcing
air, regularly and at uniform pressure, through tubes to the cham-
ber below. Occasionally a stream of sand and water issues with
such velocity from the discharge pipe that, in the night, the friction
of the particles causes it to look like a stream of living fire. Far
below is another busy force. Under the great pressure and ab-
normal supply of oxygen they work with an energy which makes
it impossible to remain there more than a few hours. The water

CRIBS FOR BRIDGE FOUNDATIONS.

from without is only kept from entering by the steady action of the
pumps far above and beyond their control. An irregular settle-
ment might overturn the structure. Should the descent of the
caisson be arrested by any solid under
its edge, immediate and judicious action
must be taken. If the obstruction be a
log, it must be cut off outside the edge
and pulled into the chamber. Boulders
must be undermined and often must be
broken up by blasting. The excavation
must be systematic and regular. A con-
stant danorer menaces the lives of these
workers, and the wonderful success with
which they have accomplished what they
have undertaken is entitled to notice and
admiration.

Another process, which has succeeded '=^= z:
in carrying a foundation to greater depths J
than is possible with compressed air, is —
by building a crib or caisson, with cham-
bers entirely open at the top, but having
the alternate ones closed at the bottom
and furnished with cutting edges. These
closed chambers are weighted with stone
or gravel until the structure rests upon
the bottom of the river ; the material is
then excavated from the bottom throuofh
the open chambers, by means of dredges,
thus permitting the structure to sink by

its weight to the desired depth. When that depth is reached, the
chambers which have been used for dredo-ino- are filled with con-
Crete, and the masonry is constructed upon the top of this struct-
ure. The use of this system has enabled the engineer to place
foundations deeper than has been accomplished by any other de-
vice, one recently built in Australia being 175 feet below the sur-
face of the water. The illustrations above and on page 76 show
this method of construction.

Even more remarkable than the pneumatic caisson is this

Pier of Hawkesbury Bridge, Australia.

FEATS OF RAILWAY ENGINEERING.

in ]i[ 1 ]ic :i[ :t. .r^rr

J u

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Jl E.

Jl a.

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[1 ji[ ]i[ ]ir ¥ iir 1 i]i

method of sinking these great foundations. The removal of ma-
terial must be made with such systematic regularity that the struct-
ure shall descend even-
ly and always maintain
its upright position.
The dredo-e is handled
and operated entirely
from the surface. The
very idea is startling,
of managing an exca-
vation more than a
hundred feet below the
operator, entirely by
means of the ropes
which connect with the dredge, and doing it with such delicacy
that the movement of an enormous structure, weighing many tons,
is absolutely controlled. This is one of the latest and most inter-
esting advances of engineering skill.

While it is true that the avoidance of large expenditure, when
possible, is a mark of the best engineering, yet great structures
often become absolutely necessary in the development of railway
communication. Wide rivers must be crossed, deep valleys must
be spanned, and much study has been given to the best methods
of accomplishing these

JOOFeet

Foundation Crib of the Poughkeepsie Bridge.

■mymivxvm^A

■fm'MmiM

mwMm.

'/V/lKiimiKA

results. In the early
history of railways in
Europe substantial
viaducts of brick and
stone masonry, were
generally built ; and in
this country there are
notable instances of
such constructions.
The approach to the
depot of the Pennsyl-
vania Railroad, in the city of Philadelphia, is an excellent example.
Each street crossed by the viaduct is spanned by a bold arch of

OOF'eet.

Transverse Section of the same.

MASONRY ARCHES AND CULVERTS.

Granite Accned Appioacn to Harlem River
Bridge in Process of Construction.

brick. Upon a
number of our railways there
are heavy masonry arches and culverts,
and at some places these are of a very
interesting character. The arches in
the approach to the bridge over the
Harlem Valley (recently completed) are shown above. They
are of granite, having a span of 60 feet. The illustration shows
also the method of supporting the stone work of such arches dur-
ino- construction. Braced timbers form what is called the centre,
and support the curved frame of plank upon which the masonry
is built, which, of course, cannot be self-supporting until the key-
stone is in place ; then the centre is lowered by a loosening of the
wedges which support it, and the stone work of the arch is per-
mitted to assume its final bearing. It is generally considered that
where it is practicable to construct masonry arches under railways
there is a fair assurance of their permanency, but some engineers
of great experience in railway construction advance the theory that
the constant jar and tremor produced by passing railway trains is
really more destructive to masonry work than has been supposed,
and that it may be true that the elements of the best economy will
be found in metal structures rather than in masonry. It is a fact
that repairs and renewals of metal bridges are much more easily
accomplished than of masonry constructions.

FEATS OF RAILWAY ENGINEERING.

The Old Portage Viaduct, Erie Railway, N. Y.

In this country
the wooden bridge
has been an impor-
tant, in fact an essential ele-
ment in the successful build-
ing of our railways.

Timber is also used exten-
sively in railroad construction
in the form of trestles ; one
example of which has been
alluded to on page 50. There were also constructed, years ago,
some very bold viaducts in wood. One of the most interesting is
shown above, being the viaduct at Portage, N. Y. This con-
struction was over 800 feet long, and 234 feet high from the bed of
the river to the rail. The masonry foundations were 30 feet high,
the trestles 190 feet, and the truss 14 feet ; it contained more than a
million and a half feet, board measure, of timber. The timber piers,
which were 50 feet apart, are formed by three trestles, grouped to-
gether. It was framed so that defective pieces could be taken out
and replaced at any time. This bridge was finished in 1852 and
was completely destroyed by fire in 1875. The new metal struct-
ure which took its place is shown on the opposite page, and is an

THE AMERICAN METAL VIADUCT

interesting example of the American method of metal viaduct con-
struction, an essential feature of that construction being the concen-
tration of the material into the least possible number of parts. This
bridge has ten spans of 50 feet, two of 100 feet, and one of 1 18 feet.
The trusses are of what is called the Pratt pattern, and are supported

The New Portage Viaduct.

by wrought-iron columns, two pairs of columns forming a skeleton
tower 20 feet wide and 50 feet long on the top. There are six of
these towers, one of which has a total height from the masonry to
the rail of 203 feet 8 inches. There are over 1,300,000 pounds of
iron in this structure.

The fundamental idea of a bridge is a simple beam of wood.
If metal is substituted it is still a beam with all superfluous parts
cut away. This results in what is called an I beam. When
greater loads have to be carried, the I beam is enlarged and
built up of metal plates riveted together and thus becomes a plate
girder. These are used for all short railway spans. For greater
spans the truss must be employed.

Before referring, however, to examples of truss bridges, a de-
scription should be given of the Britannia Bridge, built by Robert

FEATS OF RAILWAY ENGINEERING.

enai Straits, Noah Wales.

Stephenson in 1850, over the Menai Straits. This g-reat con-
struction carries two Hnes of rails and is buih of two square tubes,
side by side, each being continuous, 1,511 feet long, supported at
each extremity and at three intermediate points, and having two
spans of 460 feet each and two spans of 230 feet each. The tow-
ers which support this structure are of very massive masonry, and
rise considerably above the top of the tubes. These tubes are
each 27 feet high and 14 feet 8 inches wide ; they are built up of
plate iron, the top and bottom being cellular in construction, and
the sides of a single thickness of iron. The tubes for the long
spans were built on shore and floated to the side of the bridge and
then lifted by hydraulic presses to their final position. The rapid
current, and other considerations, made the erection of false works
for these spans impracticable. The beautiful suspension bridge,
built by Telford in 1820, over the Menai Straits, is only a mile
away from this Britannia Bridge, but, at the time of the construc-
tion of the latter, it was not deemed possible by English engineers
to erect a suspension bridge of sufficient strength and stability to
accommodate railway traffic.

The Victoria Bridsfe at Montreal is of the same o-eneral char-

REPAIRING THE NIAGARA SUSPENSION BRIDGE. 8 1

actcr of construction as the Britannia Bridge, but is built only for
a single line of rails ; this bridge also was built by Mr. Stephen-
son, in 1859. These two structures were enormous works ; their
strength is undoubted, but they lack that element of permanent
economy which has been spoken of in this article ; their cost was
very great, and the expense of maintenance is also very great. A
very large amount of rust is taken from these tubes every year ;
they require very frequent painting, and there are on the Victoria
Bridge 30 acres of iron surface to be thus painted.

A remarkable and interesting contrast to these heavy tubes of
iron is the Niagara Falls railway suspension bridge, completed in
March, 1855. The span of this bridge is 821 feet, and the track
is 245 feet above the water surface. It is supported by 4 cables
which rested on the tops of two masonry towers at each end of the
central span, the ends of the cables being carried to and anchored
in the solid rock. The suspended superstructure has two floors,
one above the other, connected together at each side by posts and
truss rods, inclined in such a manner as to form an open trussed
tube, not intended to support the load, but to prevent excessive
undulations. The floors are suspended from the cables by wire
ropes, the upper floor carrying the railroad track, and the lower
forming a foot and carriage way. Each cable has 3,640 iron wires.
This bridge carried successfully a heavy traffic for 26 years ; it was
then found that some repairs to the cable were required at the an-
chorage, the portions of the cables exposed to the air being in ex-
cellent condition. These repairs were made, and the anchorage
was substantially reinforced. At the same time it was found that
the wooden suspended superstructure was in bad condition, and
this was entirely removed and replaced by a structure of iron, built
and adjusted in such a manner as to secure the best possible re-
sults. For some time it had been noticed that the stone towers
which supported the great cables of the bridge showed evidences
of disintegration at the surface, and a careful engineering examina-
tion in 1885 showed that these towers were in a really dangerous
condition. The reason for this was that the saddles over which
the cables pass on the top of the towers had not the freedom of
motion which was required for the action of the cables, caused by
differences of temperature and by passing loads. These saddles

FEATS OF RAILWAY ENGINEERING.

Old Stone Towers of the Niagaia Suspension Bridge.

had been placed upon rollers but, at some period, cement had been
allowed to be put between these rollers, thus preventing their free

motion. The result was a bend-
ing strain upon the towers which
was too great for the strength
and cohesion of the stone.
A most interesting and suc-
cessful feat was accomplish-
ed in the substitution of iron
towers for these stone tow-
ers, without interrupting
the traffic across the bridge.
This was accomplished with-
in a year or two by building
a skeleton iron tower out-
side of the stone tower, and
transferring the cables from the stone to the iron tower by a most
ingenious arrangement of hydraulic jacks. The stone towers were
then removed. Thus, by the renewal of its suspended structure
and the replacing of its towers, the bridge has been given a new
lease of life and is in excellent condition to-day.

This Niagara railway
suspension bridge has
been so lone in successful
operation that it is difficult
now to appreciate the gen-
eral disbelief in the possi-
bility of its success as a
railway bridge, when it
was undertaken. It was
projected and executed by
the late John A. Roebling.
Before it was finished, Rob-
ertStephenson said to him,
" If your bridge succeeds,

mine is a magnificent blunder." The Niagara bridge did succeed.

We are so familiar with the great suspension bridge between

New York and Brooklyn, that only a simple statement of some of

The New Iron Towers of the Same.

Below the Brooklyn Bridge.
From a painting by J. H. Twachtman.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE STEEL TRUSS BRLDGE. 85

its characteristic features will be given. Its clear span is i,595i
feet. With its approaches its length is 3,455 feet. The clear
waterway is 135 feet high. The towers rise 272 feet above high
water and extend on the New York side down to rock 78 feet be-
low. The four suspension cables are of steel wire and support six
parallel steel trusses, thus providing two carriage ways, two lines
of railway, and one elevated footway. The cables are carried to
bearing anchorages in New York and in Brooklyn. The cars on
the bridge are propelled by cables, and the amount of travel is
now so orreat as to demand some radical chano-es in the methods
for its accommodation, which a few years ago were supposed to
be ample.

Except under special circumstances of location or length of
span, the truss bridge is a more economical and suitable structure
for railway traffic than a suspension bridge.

The advance from the wood truss to the modern steel structure
has been through a number of stages. Excellent bridges were
built in combinations of wood and iron, and are still advocated
where wood is inexpensive. Then came the use of cast iron for
those portions of the truss subject only to compressive strains,
wrought iron being used for all members liable to tension. Many
bridges of notable spans were built in this way and are still in use.
The form of this combination truss varied with the designs of dif-
ferent engineers, and the spans extended to over three hundred
feet. The forms bore the names of the designers, and the Fink,
the Bollman, the Pratt, the Whipple, the Post, the Warren, and
others had each their advocates. The substitution of wrought for
cast iron followed, and until quite recently trusses built entirely of
wrought iron have been used for all structures of great span. The
latest step has been made in the use of steel, at first for special
members of a truss and latterly for the whole structure. The art
of railway bridge building has thus, in a comparatively few years,
passed through its age of wood, and then of iron, and now rests in
the application of steel in all its parts.

Two distinct ways of connecting the different parts of a struct-
ure are in common use, riveting and pin connections.

In riveted connections the various parts of the bridge are fast-
ened at all junctions by overlapping the plates of iron or steel and

S6 FEATS OF RAILWAY ENGINEERING.

inserting rivets into holes punclied through all the plates to be
connected. The rivets are so spaced as to insure the best result
as to strength. The pieces of metal are brought together, either
in the shop or at the structure during erection, and the rivets,
which are round pieces of metal with a head formed on one end,
are heated and inserted from one side, being made long enough to
project sufficiently to give the proper amount of metal for forming
the other head. This is done while the rivet is still hot, either by
hammering or by the application of a riveting machine, operated
by steam or hydraulic pressure. Ingenious portable machines are
now manufactured which are hung from the structure during erec-
tion and connected by flexible hose with the steam power, by the
use of which the rivet heads can be formed in place with great
celerity. The connections of plates by rivets of proper dimensions
and properly spaced give great strength and stiffiiess to such
joints.

In pin connections the members of a structure are assembled
at points of junction and a large iron or steel pin inserted in a pin-
hole running through all the members. This pin is made of such
diameter as to withstand and properly transmit all the strains
brought upon it. Joints made with such pin connections have flex-
ibility, and the strains and stresses can be calculated with great
precision. Eye-bars are forged pieces of iron or steel, generally
flat, and enlarged at the ends so as to give a proper amount of
metal around the pin-hole or eye, formed in those ends.

Structures connected by pins at their principal junctions have,
of course, many parts in which riveting must be used.

The elements which are distinctively American in our railway
bridges are the concentration of material in few members and the
use of eye-bars and pin connections in place of riveted connec-
tions. The riveted methods are, however, largely used in con-
nection with the American forms of truss construction.

An excellent example of an American railway truss bridge is
shown on the opposite page. This structure spans the Missouri
River at its crossing by the Northern Pacific Railroad. It has three
through spans of 400 feet each and two deck spans of 1 13 feet each.
The bottom chords of the long spans are 50 feet above high water,
which at this place is 1,636 feet above the level of the sea. The

A TYPICAL TRUSS BRIDGE.

foundations of the mason-
ry piers were pneumatic
caissons. The trusses of
the through spans, 400
feet long-, are 50 feet deep
and 22 feet between cen-
tres. They are divided
into 16 panels of 25 feet
each. The truss is of the
double system Whipple
type, with inclined end
posts. The bridge is pro-
portioned to carry a train
weighing 2,000 pounds
per lineal foot, preceded
by two locomotives weigh-
ing 150,000 pounds in a
length of 50 feet. The
pins connecting the mem-
bers of the main truss are
5 inches in diameter.

This bridge is a char-
acteristic illustration of the
latest type of American
methods. The extreme
simplicity of its lines of
construction, the direct
transfer of the strains aris-
ing from loads, through
the members, to and from
the points where those
strains are concentrated in
the pin connections at the
ends of each member, are
apparent even to the un-
technical eye. The ap-
parent lightness of con-
struction arising from the

FEATS OF RAILWAY ENGINEERING.

Curved Viaduct, Georgetown, Col. ; the Union Pacific crossing its own Line.

concentration of the material in so small a number of members,
and the necessarily great height of the truss, give a grace and
elegance to the structure, and suggest bold and fine development
of the theories of mechanics.

An interesting viaduct is shown in the above illustration, where
the railway crosses its own line on a curved truss.

The truss bridges which have been mentioned as types of the
modern railway bridge are erected by the use of false works of
timber, placed generally upon piling or other suitable foundation,
between the piers or abutments, and made of sufficient strength to
carry each span of the permanent structure until it is completed
and all its parts connected, or, as is technically said, until the span
is swung. Then the false works are removed and the span is left
without intermediate support. But there are places where it
would be impossible or exceedingly expensive to erect any false
works. A structure over a valley of great depth, or over a river
with very rapid current, are instances of such a situation.

A suspension bridge would solve the problem, but in many
cases not satisfactorily. The method adopted by Colonel C. Sha-

THE KENTUCKY RIVER CANTILEVER. 89

ler Smith at the Kentucky River Bridg-e [p. 55] shows ingenuity
and boldness worthy of special remark. The Cincinnati Southern
Railroad had here to cross a canon 1,200 feet wide and 275 feet
deep. The river is subject to freshets every two months, with a
range of 55 feet and a known rise of 40 feet in a single night.
Twenty years before, the towers for a suspension bridge had been
erected at this point. The design adopted for the railroad bridge
was based upon the cantilever principle. The structure has three
spans of 375 feet each, carrying a railway track at a height of 276
feet above the bed of the river. At the time of its construction
this was the highest railway bridge in the world, and it is still the
highest structure of the kind with spans of over 60 feet in length.
The bridge is supported by the bluffs at its ends and by two inter-
mediate iron piers resting upon bases of stone masonry. Each
iron pier is 177 feet high, and consists of four legs, having a base
of 71^ X 28 feet, and terminating at its top in a turned pin 12
inches in diameter under each of the two trusses. Each iron pier
is a structure complete in itself, with provision for expansion and
contraction in each direction through double roller beds interposed
between it and the masonry, and is braced to withstand a gale of
wind that would blow a loaded freight-train bodily from the bridge.

The trusses were commenced by anchoring them back to the
old towers, and were then built out as cantilevers from each bluff
to a distance of one-half the length of the side spans, and at this
point rested upon temporary wooden supports. Thence they were
again extended as cantilevers until the side spans were com-
pleted and rested upon the iron piers. This cantilever principle is
simply the balancing of a portion of the structure on one side of a
support by the portion on the opposite side of the same support.
Similarly the halves of the middle span were built out from the
piers, meeting with exactness in mid-air. The temporary support
used first at the centre of one side span and then at the other, was
the only scaffolding used in erecting the structure, none whatever
being used for the middle span.

When the junction was made at the centre of the middle span,
the trusses were continuous from bluff to bluff, and, had they beer^
left in this condition, would have been subjected to constantly
varying strains resulting from the rise and fall of the iron piers

FEATS OF RAILWAY ENGINEERING.

The Niagara Cantilever Bridge in Progress,

due to thermal
changes. This
Habihty was ob-
viated by cut-
ting" the bottom chords
of the side spans and
converting them into shding joints
at points 75 feet distant from the
iron piers. This done, the bridge
consists of a continuous girder 525 feet long, covering the middle
span of 375 feet, and projecting as cantilevers for 75 feet beyond
each pier, each cantilever supporting one end of a 300-foot span,
which completes the distance to the bluff on each side.

A most interesting example of cantilever construction is the rail-
way bridge built several years ago at Niagara, only a few rods from
the suspension bridge and a short distance below the great falls. It
is shown in the illustrations above and on page 91. The floor of
the bridge is 239 feet above the surface of the water, which at that
point has a velocity in the centre of 16^ miles per hour and forms
constant whirlpools and eddies near the shores. The total length
of the structure is 910 feet, and the clear span over the river be-
tween the towers is 470 feet. The shore arms of the cantilever,
that is to say, those portions of the structure which extend from
the top of the bank to the top of the tower built from the foot of
the bank, are firmly anchored at their shore ends to a pier built

THE NIAGARA CANTILEVER.

upon the solid rock. These shore-arms were constructed on
wooden false works, and serve as balancing weights to the other
or river arms of the lever, which project out over the stream.
These river-arms were built by the addition of metal, piece by
piece, the weight being always more than balanced by the shore-
arms. The separate members of the river-arms were run out on
the top of the completed part and then lowered from the end by
an overhanging travelling derrick, and fastened in place by men
working upon a platform suspended below. This work was con-
tinued, piece by piece, until the river-arm of each cantilever was
complete, and the structure was then finished by connecting these
river-arms by a short truss suspended from them directly over the
centre of the stream. This whole structure was built in eight
months, and is an example both of a bold engineering work and of
the facility with which a pin-connected structure can be erected.
The materials are steel and iron. The prosecution of this work
by men suspended on a platform, hung by ropes from a skeleton

The Niagara Cantilever Bridge Completed.

Structure projecting, without apparent support, over the rushing
Niagara torrent, was always an interesting and really thrilling
spectacle.

FEATS OF RAILWAY ENGINEERING.

The Lachine Bridge recently built over the St. Lawrence near
Montreal, illustrated below, has certain peculiar features. It has a
total length of 3,514 feet. The two channel spans are each 408 feet
in length and are through spans. The others are deck spans.

Through spans are
those where the train
passes between the
side trusses. Deck
spans are those
where the train
passes over the top
of the structure.
These two channel

Tne Lachine Bridge, on the Canadian Pacific Railway, near Montreal, Canada.

spans and the two spans next them form cantilevers, and the chan-
nel spans were built out from the central pier and from the adjacent
flanking spans without the use of false works in either channel.
A novel method of passing from the deck to the through spans has
been used, by curving the top and bottom chords of the channel
spans to connect with the chords of the flanking spans. The ma-
terial is steel.

This structure, light, airy, and graceful, forms a strong contrast
to the dark, heavy tube of the Victoria Bridge just below.

The enormous cantilever Forth Bridge, with its two spans of
1,710 feet each, is in steady progress of construction and will when

FEATURES OF THE ST. LOUIS BRIDGE. 93

completed mark a long step in advance in the science of bridge
construction.

Of entirely different design and principle from all these trusses
are the beautiful steel arches of the St. Louis Bridge [p. 95], the
great work of that remarkable genius, James B. Eads. This
structure spans the Mississippi at St. Louis. Difficult problems
were presented in the study of the design for a permanent bridge
at that point. The river is subject to great changes. The varia-
tion between extreme low and high water has been over 41 feet.
The current runs from 2| to 8i miles per hour. It holds always
much matter in suspension, but the amount so held varies greatly
with the velocity. The very bed of the river is really in constant
motion. Examination by Captain Eads in a diving-bell showed
that there was a moving current of sand at the bottom, of at least
three feet in depth. At low water, the velocity of the stream is
small and the bottom rises. When the velocity increases, a
" scour " results and the river-bed is deepened, sometimes with
amazing rapidity. In winter the river is closed by huge cakes of
ice from the north, which freeze together and form great fields of
ice.

It was decided to be necessary that the foundations should go
to rock, and they were so built. The general plan of the super-
structure, with all its details, was elaborated gradually and care-
fully, and the result is a rea.1 feat of engineering. There are three
steel arches, the centre one having a span of 520 feet and each
side arch a span of 502 feet. Each span has four parallel arches
or ribs, and each arch is composed of two cylindrical steel tubes,
18 inches in exterior diameter, one acting as the upper and the
other as the lower chord of the arch. The tubes are in sections,
each about twelve feet long, and connected by screw joints. The
thickness of the steel forming the tubes runs from \^-^ to 2^ inches.
These upper and lower tubes are parallel and are 12 feet apart,
connected by a single system of diagonal bracing. The double
tracks of the railroad run through the bridge adjacent to the side
arches at the elevation of the highest point of the lower tube. The
carriage road and footpaths extend the full width of the bridge and
are carried, by braced vertical posts, at an elevation of twenty-
three feet above the railroad. The clear headway is 55 feet above

94 FEATS OF RAILWAY ENGINEERING. *

ordinary high water. The approaches on each side are masonry
viaducts, and the railway connects with the City Station by a tun-
nel nearly a mile in length. The illustration shows vividly the
method of erection of these great tubular ribs. They were built
out from each side of a pier, the weight oi> one side acting as a
counterpoise for the construction on the other side of the pier.
They were thus gradually and systematically projected over the
river, without support from below, till they met at the middle of
the span, when the last central connecting tube was put in place
by an ingenious mechanical arrangement, and the arch became
self-supporting.

The double arch steel viaduct recently built over the Harlem
Valley in the city of New York [p. 97] has a marked difference
from the St. Louis arches in the method of construction of the
ribs. These are made up of immense voussoirs of plate steel,
forming sections somewhat analogous to the ring stones of a ma-
sonry arch. These sections are built up in the form of great I
beams, the top and bottom of the I being made by a number of
parallel steel plates connected by angle pieces with the upright
web, which is a single piece of steel. The vertical height of the
I is 13 feet. The span of each of these arches is 510 feet.
There are six such parallel ribs in each span, connected with each
other by bracing. These great ribs rest upon steel pins of 18
inches diameter, placed at the springing of the arch. The arches
rise from massive masonry piers, which extend up to the level of
the floor of the bridge. This floor is supported by vertical posts
from the arches and is a little above the highest point of the rib.
It is 152 feet above the surface of the river — -having an elevation
fifty feet greater than the well-known High Bridge, which spans
the same valley within a quarter of a mile. The approaches to
these steel arches on each side are granite viaducts carried over
a series of stone arches. The whole structure forms a notable
example of engineering construction. It was finished within two
years from the beginning of work upon its foundations, the energy
of its builders being worthy of special commendation.

In providing for the rapid transit of passengers in great cities
the two types of construction successfully adopted are represented

ELEVATED AND UNDERGROUND ROADS.

by the New York Ele-
vated and the London
Underground railways.
The New York Elevated
• is a continuous metal via-
duct, supported on col-
umns varying in height so
as to secure easy grades.
The details of construction
differ greatly at various
parts of the elevated lines,
those more recently built
being able to carry much
heavier trains than the
earlier portions. The
roads have been very suc-
cessful in providing the
facilities for transit so ab-
solutely necessary in New
York. The citizens of
that city are alive to the
present necessity of add-
ing very soon to those
facilities, and it is now
only a question of the
best method to be adopt-
ed to secure the lareest
results in a permanent
manner.

The London Under-
ground road has also been
very successful. Its con-
struction was a formidable
undertaking. Its tunnels
are not only under streets
but under heavy buildings.
Its daily traffic is enor-
mous. The difficult ques-

FEATS OF RAILWAY ENGINEERING.

London Underground Railway Station.

tion in its management is, as in all long tunnels, that of ventila-
tion, but modern science will surely solve that, as it does so many
other problems connected with the active life of man.

Many broad questions of general policy, and innumerable mat-
ters of detail are involved in the development of railway engineer-
ing. In the determination, for instance, of the location, the rela-
tions of cost and construction to future business, the possibilities
of extensions and connections, the best points for settlements and
industrial enterprises, the merits and defects of alternative routes
must be weighed and decided.

Where structures are to be built, the amount and delicacy of
detail requisite in their design and execution can hardly be de-
scribed. Final pressures upon foundations must be ascertained
and provided for. Accurate calculations of strains and stresses,
involving the application of difficult processes and mechanical theo-

THE ENGINEER'S RESPONSIBILITIES. 99

ries, must be made. The adjustment of every part must be se-
cured with reference to its future duty. Strength and safety must
be assured and economy not forgotten. Every contingency must,
if possible, be anticipated, while the emergencies which arise dur-
ing every great construction demand constant watchfulness and
prompt and accurate decision.

The financial success of the largest enterprises rests upon such
practical application of theory and experience. Even more weighty
still is the fact that the safety of thousands of human lives depends
daily upon the permanency and stability of railway structures.
Such are some of the deep responsibilities which are involved in
the active work ofthe Civil Engineer.

AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES AND CARS.

By M. N. FORNEY.

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1830 — Evolution of the Car from the Conestoga
Wagon — Horatio Allen's Trial Trip — The First Locomotive used in the United
States — Peter Cooper's Race \vith a Gray Horse — The " De Witt Clinton,"
" Planet," and other Early Types of Locomotives — Equalizing Levers — How Steam
is Made and Controlled — The Boiler, Cylinder, Injector, and Valve Gear — Regula-
tion of the Capacity of a Locomotive to Draw — Increase in the Number of Driving
W^heels — Modern Types of Locomotives — Variation in the Rate of Speed — The
Appliances by which an Engine is Governed — Round-houses and Shops — Develop-
ment of American Cars — An Illustration from Peter Parley — The Survival of Stage
Coach Bodies — Adoption of the Rectangular Shape — The Origin of Eight-wheeled
Cars — Improvement in Car Coupling — A Uniform Type Recommended — The
Making of Wheels — Relative Merits of Cast and Wrought Iron, and Steel — The
Allen Paper Wheel — Types of Cars, with Size, Weight, and Price — The Car-
Builder's Dictionary — Statistical.

MONG the readers of this vokime there
will be some who have reached the sum-
mit of the " divide " which separates the
spring and summer of life from its autumn
and winter, and whose first information about
railroads was received from Peter Parley's " First

'^ Book of History," which was used as a school-

book forty or fifty years ago. In his chapter on Mary-

land, he says

But the most curious thing at Baltimore is the railroad. I must tell you that there is
a great trade between Baltimore and the States west of the Alleghany Mountains. The
western people buy a great many goods at Baltimore, and send in return a great deal of
western produce. There is, therefore, a vast deal of travelling back and forth, and hun-
dreds of teams are constantly occupied in transporting goods and produce to and from
market.*

Now, in order to carry on all this business more easily, the people are building what

* An engraving of a team and of a " Conestoga " wagon — which was used in this traffic — taken from
a photograph of one which has survived to the present day, is given opposite (Fig. i).

RAILROADING FIFTY YEARS AGO.

lOI

is called a railroad. This consists of iron bars laid along the ground, and made fast, so
that carriages with small wheels may run along upon them with facility. In this way,
one horse will be able to draw as much as ten horses on a common road. A part of this

Fig. I. — Conestoga Wagon and Team. (Fronn a recent photograph.)

railroad is already done, and if you choose to take a ride upon it, you can do so. You
will mount a car something like a stage, and then you will be drawn along by two horses,
at the rate of twelve miles an hour.

The picture reproduced below (Fig. 2) of a car drawn by
horses was given with the above description of the Baltimore &
Ohio Railroad. The mutilated copy of the book from which the
engraving and extract were copied does not give the date when it
was written or published. It was probably some time between the
years 1830 and 1835. That the car shown in the engraving was
evolved from the Conestoga wagon is obvious from the illus-
trations.

This engraving and description, made for children, more than
fifty years ago, will give some idea of the state of the art of rail-
roading at that time ; and it is
a remarkable fact that the pres-
ent wonderful development and
the improvements in railroads
and their equipments in this
country have been made during
the lives of persons still living.

In the latter part of 1827,
the Delaware & Hudson Canal
Company put the Carbondale
Railroad under construction.
The road extends from the head of the Delaware & Hudson Canal
at Honesdale, Pa., to the coal mines belonging to the Delaware &
Hudson Canal Company at Carbondale, a distance of about sixteen

Fig. 2. — Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, 1830-35.

I02

AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES AND CARS.

Fig. 3. — Boston & Worcester Railroad, 1835.

miles. This line was opened, probably in 1829, and was operated
partly by stationary engines, and partly by horses. The road is
noted chiefly for being the one on which a locomotive was first

used in this country.
This was the " Stour-
bridge Lion," which
was built in England
under the direction of
Mr. Horatio Allen,
who afterward was
president of the Nov-
elty Works in New York, and who is still (1889) living near
New York at the ripe age of eighty-seven. Before the road
was opened, he had been a civil engineer on the Carbondale
line. In 1828 Mr. Allen went to England, the only place where
a locomotive was then in daily operation, to study the subject
in all its practical details. Before leaving this country he was
intrusted by the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company with the
commission to have rails made for that line, and to have three
locomotives built on plans to be decided by him when in Eng-
land. This, it must be remembered, was before the celebrated
trial of the "Rocket" on the Liverpool & Manchester Rail-
way, which was not made until 1829. Previous to that trial, it
had not been decided what type of boiler was the best for
locomotives. The result of Mr. Allen's investigations was to
produce in his mind a decided confidence in the multitubular
boiler which is now universally used for locomotives. Other
persons of experience recommended a boiler with small riveted
flues of as small diarheter as could be riveted. An order was
therefore eiven to Messrs. Foster, Rastrick & Co., at Stour-
brido-e, for one enorine whose boiler was to have riveted flues of
comparatively large size, and another order was given to Messrs.
Stephenson & Co., of Newcastle-on-Tyne, for two locomotives
with boilers having small tubes. The engine built by Foster,
Rastrick & Co was named the "Stourbridge Lion," It was sent
to this country and was tried at Honesdale, Pa., on August 9,
1829. On its trial trip it was managed by Mr. Allen, to whom
belongs the distinction of having run the first locomotive that

ALLEN'S TRLAL TRIP OF THE STOURBRIDGE LION. 103

was ever used in this country. In 1884 he wrote the following
account of this trip :

When the time came, and the steam was of the right pressure, and all was ready,
I took my position on the platform of the locomotive alone, and with my hand on the
throttle-valve handle said : " If there is any danger in this ride it is not necessary that
the life and limbs of more than one should be subjected to that danger."

The locomotive, having no train behind it, answered at once to the movement of the
hand ; . . . soon the straight line was run over, the curve was reached and passed
before there was time to think as to its not being passed safely, and soon I was out of
sight in the three miles' ride alone in the woods of Pennsylvania. I had never run a
locomotive nor any other engine before ; I have never run one since.

The two engines contracted for with Messrs. Stephenson &
Co. were made by them, and Mr. Allen has informed the writer
that they were built on substan-
tially the same plans that were
afterward embodied in the famous
" Rocket." They were shipped

to New York and for a time were ; ^ ,^_

stored in an iron warehouse on *'' ""^

the east side of the city, where
they were exhibited to the public.
They were never sent to the Del-
aware & Hudson Canal Com-
pany's road, and it is not now
known what ever became of them.

If they had been put to work on Ho-at.o Anon.

their arrival here the use of en-
gines of the " Rocket" type would have been anticipated on this
side the Atlantic.

The first railroad which was undertaken for the transportation
of freight and passengers in this country, on a comprehensive
scale, was the Baltimore & Ohio. Its construction was begun in
1828. The laying of rails was commenced in 1829, and in May,
1830, the first section of fifteen miles from Baltimore to Ellicott's
Mills was opened. It was probably about this time that the ani-
mated sketch of the car given by Peter Parley was made. From
1830 to 1835 many lines were projected, and at the end of that
year there were over a thousand miles of road in use.

Whether the motive power on these roads should be horses or

I04

AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES AND CARS.

kzz^zslly

h I

Fig. 4. — Peter Cooper's Locomotive.
1830.

Steam was for a long time an open question. The celebrated trial
of locomotives on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, in England,
was made in 1829. Reports of these trials, and of the use of loco-
motive engines on the Stockton & Darlington line, were published
in this country, and, as Mr. Charles Francis Adams says, "The
country, therefore, was not only ripe to accept the results of the
Rainhill contest, but it was anticipating them with eager hope."

In 1829 Mr. Horatio Allen, who had been
in England the year before to learn all that
could then be learned about steam locomo-
^^^ tion, reported to the South Carolina Railway
Company in favor of steam instead of horse
power for that line. The basis of that re-
port, he says, " Was on the broad ground
that in the future there was no reason to
expect any material improvement in the
breed of horses, while, in my judgment, the
man was not living who knew what the breed of locomotives was
to place at command."

As early as 1829 and 1830, Peter Cooper experimented with a
little locomotive on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (Fig. 4). At
a meeting- of the Master Mechanics' Association in New York, in
1875 — at the Institute which bears his name — he related with great
glee how on the trial trip he had beaten a gray horse, attached to
another car. The coincidence that one of Peter Parley's horses is
a gray one might lead to the inference that it was the same horse
that Peter Cooper beat, a deduction which perhaps has as sound a
basis to rest on as many historical conclusions of more importance.
The undeveloped condition of the art of machine construction
at that time is indicated by the fact that the flues of the boiler of
this engine were made of gun-barrels, which were the only tubes
that could then be obtained for the purpose. The boiler itself is
described as about the size of a flour-barrel. The whole machine
was no larger than a hand-car of the present day.

In the same year that Peter Cooper built his engine, the South
Carolina Railway Company had a locomotive, called the " Best
Friend," built at the West Point Foundry for its line. In 1831 this
company had another engine, the "South Carolina" (Fig. 5),

AN EARLY EIGHT-WHEELED LOCOMOTIVE.

105

Fig. 5. — "South Carolina," 1831, and Plan of its Running Gear.

which was designed by Mr. Horatio Allen, built at the same shop.
It was remarkable in having eight wheels, which were arranged in
two trucks. One pair of driving-wheels, D D and D D' , and a
pair of leading-wheels, L L
and L' L' , were attached to
frames, c d e f and g h i j,
which were connected to the
boiler by kingbolts, K K',
about which the trucks could
turn. Each pair of driving-
wheels had one cylinder, C
C . These were in the mid-
dle of the engine and were
connected to cranks on the
axles A and B.

The " De Witt Clinton "
(Fig. 6) was built for the Mohawk & Hudson Railroad, and was
the third locomotive made by the West Point Foundry Association.
The first excursion trip was made with passengers from Albany to
Schenectady, August 9, 1831. This is the engine shown in the
silhouette eneravine of the "first* railroad train in America"
which in recent years has been so widely distributed as an adver-
tisement.

In 1 83 1 the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company offered a
premium of $4,000 " for the most approved engine which shall be

delivered for trial upon the road on or
before the ist of June, 1831; and $3,500
for the engine which shall be adjudged
the next best." The requirements were
as follows :

The engine, when in operation, must not exceed three
and one-half tons weight, and must, on a level road, be
capable of drawing day by day fifteen tons, inclusive
Fig, 6.-The " De Witt cimton," 1831. of the weight of wagons, fifteen miles per hour.

In pursuance of this call upon American genius, three loco-
motives were produced, but only one of these was made to answer

* It was not really the first train, as the Baltimore & Ohio and the South Carolina roads were in
operation earlier.

io6

AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES AND CARS.

any useful purpose. This engine, the " York," was built at York,.
Pa., and was brought to Baltimore over the turnpike on wagons.
It was built by Davis & Gartner, and was designed by Phineas.

Fig. 7. — "Grasshopper" Locomotive. (From an old photograph.)

Davis, of that firm, whose trade and business was that of a watch
and clock maker. After undergoing certain modifications, it was
found capable of performing what was required by the company.
After thoroughly testing this engine, Mr. Davis built others, which
were the progenitors of the " grasshopper" engines (Fig. 7) which
were used for so many years on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.
It is a remarkable fact that three of these are still in use on that
road, and have been in continuous service for over fifty years.
Probably there is no locomotive in existence which has had so
long an active life.

In August, 183 T, the locomotive "John Bull," which was built
by George & Robert Stephenson & Company, of Newcastle-upon-
Tyne, was received in Philadelphia, for the Camden & Amboy
Railroad & Transportation Company. This is the old engine
which was exhibited by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company at
the Centennial Exhibition in 1876. After the arrival of the "John
Bull " a very considerable number of locomotives which were built

SWIVELLING TRUCKS FOR LOCOMOTIVES.

107

by the Stephensons were imported from England. Most of them
were probably of what was known as the " Planet" class (Fig. 8),
which was a form of engine that succeeded the famous " Rocket."
The following quotation is from "The Early History of Loco-
motives in this Country," issued by the Rogers Locomotive &
Machine Works :

These locomotives, which were imported from England, doubtless to a very consider-
able extent, furnished the types and patterns from which those which were afterward built
here were fashioned. But American designs very soon began to depart from their British
prototypes, and a process of adaptation to the existing conditions of the railroads in this
country followed, which afterward " differentiated" the American locomotives more and
more from those built in Great Britain. A marked feature of difference between Ameri-
can and English locomotives has been the use of a "truck" under the former.

In all of the locomotives which have been illustrated, excepting
the " South Carolina," the axles were held by the frames so that
the former were always parallel to each other. In going around
curves, therefore, there was somewhat the same difficulty that there
would be in turning a corner with an ordinary wagon if both its
axles were held parallel, and the
front one could not turn on the
kingbolt. The plan of the wheels
and running gear of the "South
Carolina" shows the position that
they assumed on a curved track
(Fig. 5). It will be seen that, by
reason of their connection to the
boiler by kingbolts, K K', the
two pairs of wheels could adjust
themselves to the curvature of

the rails. This principle was afterward applied to cars, and nearly
all the rolling-stock in this country is now constructed on this plan,
which was proposed by Mr. Allen in a report dated May 16, 1831,
made to the South Carolina Canal & Railroad Company ; and an
engine constructed on this principle was completed the same year.

In the latter part of the year 183 1 the late John B. Jervis in-
vented what he called " a new plan of frame, with a bearing-carriage
for a locomotive eneine," for the use of the Mohawk & Hudson
Railroad. Jervis's engine is shown by Figure 9. In a letter

Fig. 8.— The " Planet."

io8

AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES AND CARS.

published in the American Railroad Journal oi July 27, 1833, he
described the objects aimed at in the use of the truck as follows :

The leading objects I had in view, in the general arrangement of the plan of the en-
gine, did not contemplate any improvement in the power over those heretofore con-
structed by Stephenson & Company,* but to make an engine that would be better

adapted to railroads of less strength than
are common in England ; that would travel
with more ease to itself and to the rail on
curved roads ; that would be less affected
by inequalities of the rail, than is attained
by the arrangement in the most approved
engines.

In Jervis's locomotive the
main driving-axle, A, shown in
the plan of the wheels and run-
ning gear, was rigidly attached
to the engine-frame, abed, and
only one truck, or " bearing-car-

Fig. 9.-John B. Jervis|s^Locom^tiv^e. 1831, and Plan of its j-iage," 6 f g II, COnslstiug of the

two pairs of small wheels at-
tached to a frame, was used. This was connected to the main
engine-frame by a kingbolt, K, as in Allen's engine.

The position of its wheels on a curve, and the capacity of the
truck, or " bearing-carriage," to adapt itself to the sinuosities of
the track are shown in the plan. The effectiveness of the single
truck for locomotives, in accomplishing what Mr. Jervis intended it
for, was at once recognized, and its almost general adoption on
American locomotives followed.

In 1834, Ross Winans, of Baltimore, patented the application
of the principle which Mr. Allen had proposed and adopted for
locomotives " to passenger and other cars." He afterward brought
a number of actions at law against railroads for infringement of his
patent, which was a subject of legal controversy for twenty years.
Winans claimed that his invention originated as far back as 1831,
and was completed and reduced to practice in 1834. The dispute
was finally carried to the Supreme Court of the United States, and
was decided against the plaintiff, after an expenditure of as much
as $200,000 by both sides. It involved the principle on which

* The truck was first applied by Mr. Jervis to an engine built by R. Stephenson & Co. , of England.

THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVE OF THE MODERN TYPE. 109

nearly all cars in this country are now and were then built ; and,
as one of the counsel for the defendants has said, " It was at one
time a question of millions, to be assured by a verdict of a jury."

In 1836, Henry R. Campbell, of Philadelphia, patented the use
of two pairs of driving-wheels and a truck, as shown in Figure 10.
The driving-wheels were coupled by rods, as may be seen below.
This plan has since been so generally adopted in this country that
it is now known as the "American type" of locomotive, and is the
one almost universally used here for passenger, and to a consider-
able extent for freight, service. An example of a modern locomo-
tive of this type is represented by Figure 1 1.

From these comparatively small beginnings, the magnificent
equipment of our railroads has grown. From Peter Cooper's loco-
motive, which weighed less than a ton, with a boiler the size of a
flour-barrel, and which had difficulty in beating a gray horse, we now
have locomotives which will easily run sixty and can exceed seventy
miles an hour, and others which weigh seventy-five tons and over.
A comparison of the engraving of Peter Cooper's engine with that
of the modern standard express passenger locomotive (^Fig. 11)
shows vividly the progress which has been made since that first
experiment was tried — little more than half a century ago. In that
period there have been many modifications in the design of loco-
motives to adapt them to the changed conditions of the various
kinds of traffic of to-day. An
express train travelling at a high
rate of speed requires a locomo-
tive very different from one which
is designed for handling heavy
freight trains up steep mountain-
grades. A special class of en-
gines is built for light trains
making frequent stops, as on the
elevated railroads in New York,
and those provided for suburban
traffic (Fig. 12) — and still others for street railroads (Fig. 13), for
switching cars at stations (Fig. 14), etc. [Pp. 110 and 113]. The pro-
cess of differentiation has gone on until there are now as many dif-
erent kinds of these machines as there are breeds of dogs or horses.

Fig. 10. — Campbell's Locomotive.

AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES AND CARS.

Fig. 12. — Locomotive for Suburban Traffic. By the Baldwin Locomotive Works, Philadelphia,

Nearly all the early locomotives had only four wheels. In some
cases one pair alone was used to drive the engine, and in others
the two pairs were coupled together, so that the adhesion of all
four could be utilized to draw loads. The four-wheeled type is
still used a great deal for moving cars at stations, and other pur-
poses where the speed is comparatively slow. But to run around

Fig. 13. — Locomotive for Street Railway. By the Baldwin Locomotive Works.

sharp curves the wheels of such engines must be placed near to-
gether, just as they are under an ordinary street-car. This makes
the wheel-base very short, and such engines are therefore very un-

NECESSITY FOR FLEXIBLE RUNNING-GEAR.

113

steady at high speeds, so that they are unsuited for any excepting
slow service. They have the advantage, though, that the whole
weight of the machine may be carried on the driving-wheels, and

Fig. 14. — Four-wheeled Switching Locomotive. By the Baldwin Loconnotive Works, Philadelphia.

can thus be useful for increasing their friction, or adhesion to the
rails. This gives such engines an advantage for starting and mov-
ing heavy trains, at stations or elsewhere, which is the kind of ser-
vice in which they are usually employed.

If the front end of the engine is carried on a truck, as in Camp-
bell's plan (Fig. 10) — which is the one that has been very generally
adopted in this country — the wheel-base can be extended and at the
same time the front wheels can adjust themselves to the curvature
of the track. This gives the running-gear lateral flexibility. But
as the tractive power of a locomotive is dependent upon the fric-
tion, or adhesion of the wheels to the rails, it is of the utmost im-
portance that the pressure of the wheels on the rails should be uni-
form. For this reason the wheels must be able to adjust them-
selves to the vertical as well as the horizontal inequalities of the
track.

Figure 15 shows the driving-wheels, axles, journal-boxes, and
part of the frame and springs of an American type of engine — the

114

AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES AND CARS.

circumference of the wheels only being shown. The axles A A
each have ournal-boxes or bearings, B B, in which they turn.

These boxes
are held be-
tween the jaws

7 77 y of the

frames, and can
slide vertically
in the spaces c

Fig. 15. — Driving: Wheels, Frames, Spurs, etc., of American Locomotive. C C C DCtWeen

the jaws. The
frames are suspended on springs, S S, which bear on the boxes ^.5.
The vertical motion of the boxes and the flexibility of the springs
allow the wheels to adjust themselves to some extent to the un-
evenness of the track. But, in order to distribute the weight equally
on the two wheels, the springs 6" S on each side of the engine
are connected together by an equalizing lever, E E. These levers
each have a fulcrum, E, in the middle, and are connected by iron
straps or hangers, Ji //, to the springs. It is evident that any strain
or tension on one spring is transferred by the equalizing lever to
the other spring, and thus the weight is equalized on both wheels.

But to give perfect vertical adjustment of such an engine to the
track, still another provision must be made. Everyone has ob-
served that a three-legged stool will always stand firm on any sur-
face, no matter how irregular, but one with four legs will not.
Now if the back end of a locomotive should rest on the fulcrums
of the equalizing levers, as shown in Figure 15, and the front end
should rest on the two sides of the truck, it would be in the con-
dition of the four legged stool. Therefore, instead of resting on
the two sides of the truck, locomotives are made to bear on the
centre of it, so that they are carried on it and on the two fulcrums
of the equalizing levers, which gives the machine the adjustability
due to the three-legged principle. When more than four driving-
Avheels are used the springs are connected together by equalizing
levers, as shown in Figure 29 (p. 124), which represents a consol-
idation engine as it appears before the wheels are put under it.

Having a vehicle which is adapted to running on a railroad track,
it remains to supply the motive power. This, in all but some very

CONSTRUCTION OF A LOCOMOTIVE BOILER.

115

few exceptional cases, is the expansive power of steam. What the
infant electricity has in store for us it would be rash to predict, but
for locomotives its steps have been thus far weak and uncertain,
and when we want a giant of steel or a race-horse of iron our only
sure reliance is steam. This is the breath of life to the locomotive,
which is inhaled and exhaled to and from the cylinders, which act
as lungs, while the boiler fulfils functions analogous to the digestive
organs of an animal. A locomotive is as dependent on the action
of its boiler for its capacity for doing work as a human being on that
of his stomach. The mechanical appliances of the one and the
mental and physical equipment of the other are nugatory without a
good digestive apparatus.

A locomotive boiler consists of a rectangular fireplace or fire-
box, as shown at A, in Figure 16, which is a longitudinal section, and
Figure 17 a transverse section through the fire-box. The fire-box is
connected with the smoke-box i^ by a large number of small tubes,
a a, through which the smoke and products of combustion pass from
the fire-box to the smoke-box, and from the latter they escape up

Fig. 16. — Longitudinal Section of a Locomotive Boiler.

Fig. 17 — Transverse
Section.

the chimney D. The fire-box and tubes are all surrounded with
water, so that as much surface as possible is exposed to the action
of the fire. This is essential on account of the large amount of
water which must be evaporated in such boilers. To create a
strong draught, the steam which is exhausted from the cylinders
is discharged up the chimney through pipes, and escapes at e.

ii6

AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES AND CARS.

This produces a partial vacuum in the smoke-box, which causes a
current of air to flow through the fire on the grate, into the fire-box,
through the tubes, and thence to the smoke-box and up the chim-
ney. Probably many readers have noticed, that of late years the
smoke-boxes of locomotives have been extended forward in front
of the chimneys. This has been done to give room for deflectors
and wire netting inside to arrest sparks and cinders, which are col-
lected in the extended front and are removed by a door or spout,
L, below.

To get the water into the boiler against the pressure of steam
a very curious instrument, called an injector, has been devised.
Formerly force-pumps were used, but these are now being aban-
doned. The illustration (Fig. i8) shows what maybe called a rudi-
mentary injector. ^ is a boiler and E a conical tube open at its
lower end — and connected to a water-supply tank by a pipe, C. A
pipe, A, is connected with the steam-space of the boiler and termi-
nates in a contracted mouth, F, inside of the cone ^5^. If steam is
admitted to A, it flows through the pipe and escapes at F. In doing
so it produces a partial vacuum in E, and water is consequently
drawn up the pipe C from the tank. The current of steam now

carries with it the water, and they
escape at G. After flowing for a
few seconds the water has a high
velocity and the steam, mingling
with the water, is condensed.
The momentum of the water soon
becomes sufficient to force the
valve H down against the press-
ure below it, and the jet of water
then flows continuously into the
boiler. A very curious phenom-
enon of this somewhat mysterious
instrument is that if steam of a low pressure is taken from one boiler
it will force water into another against a higher pressure. Figure
19 is a section of an actual injector used on locomotives.

Having explained how the steam is generated, it remains to
show how it propels a locomotive. It does this very much as a
person on a bicycle propels it — that is, by means of two cranks

Fig. 18. — Rudimentary Injector,

HOW STEAM GETS INTO THE CYLINDERS.

117

the wheels are made to revolve, and the latter must then either slip
or the vehicle will move. In a locomotive the driving-wheels are
turned by means of two cylinders and pistons, which are connected
by rods to the cranks attached to the driving-
wheels or axles. These cranks are placed at
right angles to each other, so that when one
of them is at the "dead-point" the piston
connected with the other can exert its maxi-
mum power to rotate the wheels. This ena-
bles the locomotive to start with the pistons
in any position ; whereas, if one cylinder only
was used it would be impossible to turn the
wheels if the crank should stop at one of its
dead-points.

It will probably interest a good many
readers to know how the steam gets into the
cylinders and moves the pistons and then
gets out again, and how a locomotive is made
to run either backward or forward at pleasure.

Figure 20 (p. 118) shows a section of a
cylinder, A A' , with the piston B and piston
rod R. The cylinder has two passages, c c and
d d, which connect its ends with a box, U, call-
ed a steam-chest, to which steam is admitted
from the boiler by a pipe, y. The two passages c and d have
another one, g, between them, which is connected with the chim-
ney. These passages are covered by a slide-valve, V, which
moves back and forth in the steam-chest, alternately uncovering the
openings c and d. When the valve is in the position shown in Fig-
ure 20, obviously steam can flow into the front end A of the cylinder
through the passage c, as indicated by the darts. The valve has a
cavity, H, underneath it. When this cavity is over the passage d
and g, it is plain that the steam in the back end A' of the cylinder
can flow through d and g and then escape up the chimney. Under
these circumstances the steam in the front end A of the cylinder
will force the piston B to the back end. When it reaches the back
end of the cylinder the valve is moved into the position shown in
Figure 21, and steam can then enter d and will fill the back endy^'

Fig. 19. — Injector used on Loco-
motives.

ii8

AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES AND CARS.

Figs. 20 (above) and 2 i . — Sections of a Loconnotive Cylinder.

while that in the front end escapes through c and g. The piston
is then forced to the front end by the pressure of the steam behind
it. It will thus be seen that the steam enters and escapes to and

from the cylinder through the
same openings.

From what has been said it
is obvious, too, that ev^ery time
the piston moves from one end
of the cylinder to the other the
valve must also be moved back
and forth in the steam-chest.
This is done by what is called
an eccentric.

An "eccentric" is a disk or
wheel (Fig. 22) with a hole, S,
the size of the axle of the loco-
motive to which it is attached.
The centre n of the outside pe-
riphery of the eccentric is some
distance from S, the centre of the shaft. A metal ring, K K (Fig. 23),
made in two halves, embraces the eccentric, and the latter revolves in-
side of this ring. A rod, Z, is attached to the strap, and is connected
with the valve so that the motion of the eccentric is communicated
to it. It is obvious that if the ec-
centric revolves it will impart a
reciprocating motion to the rod
L, which is communicated to the
valve.

If properly adjusted on the
axle the eccentric will run the
enofine in one direction. To run
the opposite way another eccen-
tric must be provided. Therefore
locomotives always have two ec-
centrics for each cylinder. These, ^ and K, are shown in Figure 24,
which represents the "valve-gear" of a locomotive. 6Ms a section
of the main driving-axle, to which the eccentrics are attached by
keys or screws. C is the eccentric rod of the forward-motion ec-

Fig. 22. — Eccentric

Fig. 23. — Eccentric and Strap.

OPERATION OF THE ECCENTRIC.

119

centric and D that of the one for running backward. As a locomo-
tive must be run either backward or forward, and, as the one ec-
centric moves the valve to run forward and the other to run
backward, we must be able to connect or disconnect the rods to
and from the valve at will. The eccentric
rods of the early locomotives had hooks on
the ends by which they were attached to or
detached from suitable pins connected with
the valves. But these hooks were very un-
certain in their action and therefore were
abandoned, and now what is known as the

Fig. 24. — Valve Gear.

" link-motion " is almost universally used for the valve-gear of loco-
motives. It consists of a "link" {a b. Fig. 24) which has a curved
opening or slot, k, in it in which a block, B, fits accurately, so that
it can slide from end to end of the link. This block has a hole
bored in the middle which receives a pin, c, which is attached to
the end of the arm N of the "rocker " MON. The rocker has a
shaft, O, which can turn in a suitable bearing, and two arms, vl/and
N ; the latter, as explained, is connected to the link by the pin c
and block B. The upper arm I\I has another pin, V, on its end,
which is connected by a rod, v V, to the main slide-valve V. The
rocker-arms, as will be seen, can vibrate about the shaft O.

The link is hung by a pendulous bar,^/^, to the end ^^ of the arm
E, attached to the shaft A. This shaft has another upright arm, F,
which is connected by a rod or bar, G G' , to a lever, H I, called a
reverse lever, whose fulcrum is at /. To save room, in the engrav-
ing this lever and the cylinder G are drawn nearer to the main axle
S than they would be on an engine. The lever is located inside

I20 AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES AND CARS.

the cab of the locomotive, and is indicated by the numbers 17 17' in
Figure 36 on p. 133, which is a view looking from the tender at the
back end of a locomotive. The lever has a trigger (/, Fig. 24)
which is connected by a rod, r, to a latch, /, which engages in the
notches of the sector S S' . This latch holds the lever in any de-
sired position and can be disengaged from the notches by grasping
the upper end of the lever and the trigger.

It is plain that, by moving the upper end of the reverse lever,
the link a b can be raised up or lowered at will. When the link is
down, or in the position represented in the engraving, the forward
eccentric rod imparts its motion to the block B, pin c, and thence to
the rocker and valve, and the engine will run forward. If, however,
the reverse lever is thrown back into the position indicated by the
dotted line y I, the link would then be raised up so that the end e
of the backward-motion rod would be opposite to the block B and
pin c and would communicate its motion to the rocker and valve,
and the wheels would then be turned backward instead of forward.
It will thus be seen how the movement of the reverse lever effects
the reversal of the engine.

A locomotive is started by admitting steam to the cylinders
by means of what is called the "throttle-valve." This is usually
placed in the upper part of the boiler at 7" (Fig. 16). The valve
is worked by a lever at /, which is also shown at 14, 14' (Fig. -^6).
The steam is conveyed to the cylinders by a pipe {s, Fig. 16,

P-II5).

If steam is admitted to the cylinders and the wheels are turned,
one of two results must follow : either the locomotive will move
backward or forward according to the direction of revolution, or
the wheels will slip, as they often do, on the rails. That is, if the
resistance of the cars or train is less than the friction or " adhesion "
of the wheels on the rails, the engine and train will be moved ; if
the adhesion is less than the resistance the wheels will turn without
moving the train.

The capacity of a locomotive to draw loads is therefore depen-
dent on the adhesion, and this is in proportion to the weight or
pressure of the driving-wheels on the rails. The adhesion also
varies somewhat with the weather and the condition of the wheels
and rails. In ordinary weather it is equal to about one-fifth of the

THE WEIGHT WHICH RAILS WILL CARRY.

121

Fig. 25. — Turning Locomotive Tires.

weight which bears on the track ; when perfectly dry, if the rails
are clean, it is about one-fourth, and with the rails sanded about
one-third. In damp or frosty weather the adhesion is often con-
siderably less than a fifth.

It would, then, seem as though all that is needed to increase
the capacity of a locomotive to draw loads would be to add to the
weight on its driving-wheels, and provide engine-power sufficient
to turn them — which is true. But it has been found that if the
weight on the wheels is excessive both the wheels and rails will be
injured. Even when they are all made of steel, they are crushed
out of shape or are rapidly worn if the loads are too great. The
weight which rails will carry without being injured depends some-
what on their size or weight, but ordinarily from 12,000 to 16,000
pounds per wheel is about the greatest load which they should
carry.

For these reasons, when the capacity of a locomotive must be
increased beyond a limit indicated by these data, one or more ad-

122

AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES AND CARS.

ditional pairs of driving-wheels must be used. Thus, if a more
powerful engine was required than that shown in Figure 14 (p. 113),
another pair of wheels would be added, as shown in Figures 26,
27, and 28. Or, if you wanted a more powerful engine than these,
still another pair of driving-wheels would be provided, as shown in
Figure 30. In this way the Mogul, ten- wheeled and consolidation

Fig. 26. — Six-wheeled Switching Locomotive. By the Schenectady Loconnotive Works.

engines have been developed from that shown in Figure 14. The
Mogul locomotive (Fig. 27) has three pairs of driving-wheels, but
only one pair of truck-wheels. The engravings shown in Figures
30 and 31 represent consolidation and decapod types of engines
which have four and five pairs of driving-wheels.

From the illustrations, Figures 28, 30, and 31, it will be seen
that when so many wheels are used, even if they are of small diam-
eter, the wheel-base must necessarily be long, so that a limit is very
soon reached beyond which the number of driving-wheels cannot
be increased.

Improvements in the processes of manufacturing steel, which
resulted in the general use of that material for rails and tires, have
made it possible to nearly double the weight which was carried on
each wheel when they were made of iron. The weight of rails
has also been very much increased since they were first made of
steel. Twenty or twenty-five years ago iron rails weighing 56
pounds per yard were about the heaviest that were laid in this

INCREASED WEIGHT OF RAILS.

123

Fig. 27. — Mogul Locomotive. By the Schenectady Locomotive Works.

country. Now steel rails weighing- 72 pounds are commonly used,
and some weighing 85 pounds have been laid on American roads,
and others weighing 100 pounds have been laid on the Continent
of Europe,

Of late years urban and suburban traffic has created a demand
for a class of locomotives especially adapted to that kind of service.
One of the conditions of that traffic is that trains must stop and
start often, and therefore, to "make fast time," it is essential to

Fig. 28. — Ten-wheeled Passenger Locomotive. By the Schenectady Locomotive Works.

124

AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES AND CARS.

Fig. 29. — Consolidation Locomotive i^Li.-.finjr^cd;,

start quickly. Few persons realize the great amount of force which
must be exerted to start any object suddenly. A cannon-ball, for
example, will fall through 16 feet in a second with no other resist-
ance than the atmosphere. The impelling force in that case is the
weight of the ball. If we want it to fall 32 feet during the first
second, the force exerted on it must be equal to double its weight,
and for higher speeds the increase of force must be in the same
proportion. This law applies to the movement of trains. To start
in half the time, double the force must be exerted. For this reason,
trains which start and stop often require engines with a great deal
of weight on the driving-wheels. In accordance with these condi-
tions a class of engines has been designed which carry all, or nearly
all, the weight of the boiler and machinery, and sometimes the

Fig. 3o. — Consolidation Locomotive. By the Pennsylvania Railroad Company,

^^^^S

ENGINES FOR SUBURBAN TRAFFIC.

125

water and fuel, on the driving-wheels. For suburban traffic, the
speed between stops must often be quite rapid, and consequently
the engine must have a long wheel-base for steadiness, as well as
considerable weight on the wheels for adhesion. Four-wheeled
engines (Fig. 14) have all their weight on the driving-wheels, but
the wheel-base is short.

Fig. 31 — Detapod Locumotive. By tue Baldwin Lu^oniotive Woiks, Plu;adeipMij.

To combine the two features, engines have been built with the
driving-wheels and axles arranged as in Figure 32. The frames are
then extended backward, and the water-tank and fuel are placed on
top of the frames, and their weight is carried by a truck underneath.
This arrangrement leaves the whole weight of the boiler and ma-
chinery on the driving-wheels, and at the same time gives a long
wheel-base for steadiness. This plan of engine was patented by
the author of this article in 1866, and has come into very general
use — since the expiration of the patent. In some cases a two-
wheeled truck is added at the opposite end, as shown in Figure ^Z-
For street railroads, in which the speed is necessarily slow, engines
such as Figure 13 (p. no) are used. To hide the machine from
view, and also to give sufficient room inside, they are enclosed in
a cab large enough to cover the whole machine.

The size and weight of locomotives have steadily been increased
ever since they were first used, and there is little reason for think-
ing that they have yet reached a limit, although it seems probable
that some material change of design is impending which will per-
mit of better proportions of the parts or organs of the larger sizes.

126

AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES AND CARS.

The decapod engines built at the Baldwin Locomotive Works, in
Philadelphia, for the Northern Pacific Railroad, weigh in working
order 148,000 pounds. This gives a weight of 13,300 pounds on
each driving-wheel. Some ten-wheeled passenger engines, built at
the Schenectady Locomotive Works for the Michigan Central Rail-
road, weigh 118,000 pounds, and have 15,666 pounds on each driv-
ing-wheel. Some recent eight-wheeled passenger locomotives for
the New York, Lake Erie & Western Railroad weigh 115,000
pounds, and have 19,500 pounds on each driving-wheel. At the
Baldwin Works, some " consolidation " engines have recently

been built which
are still heavier
than the decapod
engines.

The followinof
table gives dimen-
sions, weight,
price, and price
per pound of loco-
motives at the
present time. If
we were to quote
them at 8 to '^\ cents per pound for heavy engines and 9 to 22^ for
smaller sizes, it would not be much out of the way.

Dimensions, WeigJits, and Approximate Prices of Locomotives.

Fig. 32. — " Forney

Tank Locomotive. By the Rogers Locomotive and Maciiine
Works, Paterson, N. J.

Type.

Cylinders.

" American " Passenger i8 24

'' Mogul " Freight 19 24

" Ten-wheel " Freight 19 24

"Consolidation" Freight.. 20 24

" Decapod " Freight 22 26

Four-wheel Tank Switchingi 15 24
Six-wheel Switching, with

tender , 18 24

" F'orney " N. V. Elevated.. 11 16
Street-car Motor Locomo-
tive I 10 14

Diameter

of
driving-
wheel.

62 to 68
SO to 56
50 to 58

50
42

Weight of
engine in
working or-
der, exclus-
ive of tender

Weight of
engine and
tender with-
out water or
fuel.

Pounds.

92,000
96,000

110,000
116,000

100,000

118,000

120,000
150,000
58,000

132,000

165,000

47,000

84,000

98,000

42 000
22,000

34,000

f
18,000 -I

Approximate
price.

$8,750

9,500

9.750
10,500
13,250

5.500 .

8,500

4,500

$3,500 to.$4, 000

according to

design.

Price per
pound.

Cents.
7-95

8.19
8.26

7-95

8.03

11.70

1323

19 44 to
22 22

THE LAW OF SPEED.

127

'"'g- 33- — " Hudson " Tank Locomotive. By the Baldwin Locomotive Wl

The speed of locomotives, however, has not increased with their
weight and size. There is a natural law which stands in the way
of this. If we double the weight on the driving-wheels, the adhe-
sion, and consequent capacity for drawing loads, is also doubled.
Reasoning in an analogous way, it might be said that it we double
the circumference of the wheels the distance that they will travel in
one revolution, and consequently the speed of the engine, will be in
like proportion. But, if this be done, it will require twice as much
power to turn the large wheels as was needed for the small ones ;
and we then encounter the natural law that the resistance increases
as the square of the speed, and probably at even a greater ratio at
very high velocities. At 60 miles an hour the resistance of a train
is four times as great as it is at 30 miles. That is, the pull on the
draw-bar of the engine must be four times as great in the one case
as it is in the other. But at 60 miles an hour this pull must be ex-
erted for a given distance in half the time that it is at 30 miles, so
that the amount of power exerted and steam generated in a given
period of time must be eight times as great in the one case as in the
other. This means that the capacity of the boiler, cylinders, and
the other parts must be greater, with a corresponding addition to

128 AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES AND CARS.

the weight of the machine. Obviously, if the weight per wheel is
limited, we soon reach a point at which the size of the driving-
wheels and other parts cannot be enlarged ; which means that there
is a certain proportion of wheels, cylinders, and boiler which will
give a maximum speed.

The relative speed of trains here and in Europe has been the
subject of a good deal of discussion and controversy. There ap-
pears to be very little difference in the speed of the fastest trains
here and there ; but there are more of them there than we have.
From 48 to 53 miles an hour, including stops, is about the fastest
time made by our regular trains on the summer time-tables.

When this rate of speed is compared with that of sixty or seventy
miles an hour, which is not infrequent for short distances, there
seems to be a great discrepancy. It must be kept in mind, though,
that these high rates of speed are attained under very favorable
conditions. That is, the track is straight and level, or perhaps de-
scendino- and unobstructed. In ordinarv traffic it is never certain
that the line is clear. A locomotive-runner must always be on the
look-out for obstructions. Trains, ordinary vehicles, a fallen tree
or rock, cows, and people may be in the way at any moment. Let
anyone imagine himself in responsible charge of a locomotive and
he will readily understand that, with the slightest suspicion that the
line is not clear, he would slacken the speed as a precautionary
measure. For this reason fast time on a railroad depends as much
on having a good signal system to assure the locomotive-runners
that the line is clear, as it does on the locomotives. If he is always
liable to encounter, and must be on the look-out for, obstructions at
frequent grade-crossings of common roads, or if he is not certain
whether the train in front of him is out of his way or not, the loco-
motive-runner will be nervous and be almost sure to lose time. If
the speed is to be increased on American railroads, the first steps
should be to carry all streets and common roads either over or un-
der the lines, have the lines well fenced, provide abundant side-
tracks for trains, and adopt efficient systems of signals so that loco-
motive-runners can know whether the line is clear or not.

In what may be called the period of adolescence of railroads
there was a very decided predilection on the part of locomotive en-
gineers for large driving-wheels. Figure 34 represents one of the

RELATION OF STEAM-SUPPLY TO SPEED.

129

engines built as early as 1848 for the Camden & Amboy Railroad,
with driving wheels 8 feet in diameter. Other engines with 6 and
7 feet wheels were not uncommon. In Europe many engines with
very large wheels were made and are still in use. Here, as well
as there, excessively large wheels have, however, been abandoned,
and six feet in diameter is now about the limit of their size in this
country.

So far as locomotives are concerned, fast time, especially with
heavy trains, is generally dependent more upon the supply of steam
than it is on the size of the wheels. Without steam to turn them,
big wheels are useless ; but with an abundant supply there is no
difficulty in turning small wheels at a lively rate. Speed, therefore,
Is to a great extent a question of boiler capacity, and the general
maxim has been formulated that " within the limits of weight and
space to which a locomotive boiler must be confined, it cannot be
made too big." But the maximum speed at which a locomotive
can run when an adequate supply of steam is provided also de-
pends on the perfection of the machinery. At 60 miles an hour a
driving-wheel 5^ feet in diameter revolves five times every second.
The reciprocating parts of each cylinder of a Pennsylvania Railroad
passenger engine, including one piston, piston-rod, cross-head, and

connecting rod,
weigh about 650
pounds. These
parts must move
back and forth a
distance equal to
the stroke, usual-
ly two feet, every
time the wheel
revolves, or in a
fifth of a second.
It starts from a
state of rest at each end of the stroke ot the piston and must ac-
quire a velocity of 32 feet per second, in one-twentieth of a second,
and must be brought to a state of rest in the same period of time.
A piston 18 inches in diameter has an area of 254^ square inches.
Steam of 150 pounds pressure per square inch would therefore
9

^'g- 34- — Camden & Amboy Locomotive, if

THE CAB END OF A LOCOMOTIVE. - 131

exert a force on the piston equal to 38,175 pounds. This force is
apphed alternately on each side of the piston, ten times in a second.
The control of such forces requires mechanism which works with
the utmost precision and with absolute certainty, and it is for this
reason that the speed and the economical working- of a locomotive
depend so much on the proportions of the valves and the " valve-
gear " by which the "distribution" of steam in the cylinders is
controlled.

The engraving (Fig. 2)^^ on p. 133 represents the cab end of a
locomotive of the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad,
looking forward from the tender, and shows the attachments by
which the engineer works the engine.* This gives an idea of
the number of keys on which he has to play in running such a
machine. There is room here for little more than an enumeration
of the parts which are numbered :

1. Engine-bell rope.

2. Train-bell rope.

3. Train-bell or gong.

4. Lever for blowing whistle.

5. Steam-gauge to indicate pressure in boiler.

6. Steam-gauge lamp to illuminate face of gauge.

7. Pressure-gauge for air-brake ; to show pressure in air-reservoirs.

8. Valve to admit steam to air-brake pump.

9. Automatic lubricator for oiling main valves.

10. Cock for admitting steam to lubricator.

11. Handle for opening valves in sand-box to sand the rails.

12. Handle for opening the cocks which drain the water from the cylinders.

13. Valve for admitting steam to the jets which force air into the fire-box.

14. 14'. Throttle-valve lever. This is for opening the valve which admits steam to the
cylinders.

15. Sector by which the throttle-lever is held in any desired position.

16. " Lazy-cock " handle. A " lazy-cock " is a valve which regulates the water-supply
to the pumps and is worked by this handle.

17. 17'. Reverse lever.

18. Reverse-lever sector.

19. 19, 19. Gauge-cocks for showing the height of the water in the boiler ; 19' is a pipe
for carrying away the water which escapes when the gauge-cocks are opened.

20. 20. Oil-cups for oiling the cylinders, f

21. Handle for working steam-valve of injector.

22. Handle for controlling water-jet of the injector.
25. Handle for working water-valve of injector.

* It should be mentioned that this is not one of the most recent types of engines. The arrangement
of parts in the cab has been somewhat simplified in later locomotives.

t This engine had two different appliances for oiling the cylmders, a pair of oil-cups, 20, 20, and
an automatic oiler, 9.

132 AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES AND CARS.

24. Oil-can shelf.

25. Handle for air-brake valve.

26. Valve for controlling air-brake.

27. Pipe for conducting air to brakes under the cars.

28. Pipe connected with air-reservoir.

29. Pipe-connection to air-pump.

30. Handle for working a valve which admits or shuts off the air for driving-wheel
brakes.

31. Valve for driving-wheel brakes.

32. 32'. Lever for moving a diaphragm in smoke-box, by which the draught is regu-
lated.

33. Handle for raising or lowering snow-scrapers in front of truck-wheels.

34. Handle for opening cock on pump to show whether it is forcing water into the
boiler.

35. Lamp to light the water-gauge, 51, 51.

36. Air-hole for admitting air to fire-box.

37. Tallow-can for oiling cylinders.

38. Oil-can.

39. Shelf for warming oil- cans.

40. Furnace door.

41. Chain for opening and closing the furnace door.

42. Handles for opening dampers on the ash-pan.

43. Lubricator for air-pump.

44. Valve for admitting steam to the chimney to blow the fire when the engine is
standing still.

45. Valve for admitting steam to the train-pipes for warming the cars.

46. Valve for reducing the pressure of the steam used for heating cars.

47. Cock which admits steam to the pressure-gauge, 48.

48. Pressure-gauge which indicates the steam-pressure in heater pipes.

49. Pipe for conducting steam to the train to heat the cars.

50. Cock for water-gauge, 51.

51. 51. Glass water-gauge to indicate the height of water in the boiler.

52. Cock for blowing off impurities from the surface of the water in the boiler.

Besides being impressive as a triumph of human ingenuity,
there is much about the construction and working of locomotives
which is picturesque. A shop where they are constructed or re-
paired is always of interest. An engine-house (Fig. 35) especially
at night, is full of weird suggestions and food for the imagination.

Figure 37 (p. 135) is an illustration from a photograph taken
in the erecting shops of the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Phila-
delphia ; and Figure 38 (p. 137) is a view of a similar shop of the
Pennsylvania Railroad at Altoona, which suggests at a glance
many of the processes of construction which go on in these great
works. At Altoona are immense travelling cranes resting on brick
arches and spanning the shop from side to side. These are power-

IMMENSE TRAVELLING CRANES.

"^ZZ

Fig. 36.— Cab End of a Locomotive and its Attachments.

ful enough to take hold of the largest locomotive and lift it bodily
rom the rails and transfer it laterally or longitudinally at will. A
large consolidation engine is shown in Figure ^^^, swung clear of
the rails, and in the act of being moved laterally. The hooks of
the crane are attached to heavy iron beams, from which the loco-

134 AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES AND CARS.

motive is suspended by strong bars. Figure 39 (p. 138) is a view-
in the blacksmiths' shop of the Baldwin Works, showing a steam
hammer and the operation of forging a locomotive frame.

It is quite natural that the engineers, or "runners," as they
generally call themselves, who have the care of locomotives should
take a deep interest in and acquire a sort of attachment for them.
In the earlier days of railroading this was much more the case than
it is now. Then each locomotive had an individuality of its own.
It was rare that two engines were exactly alike. Nearly always
there was some difference in their proportions, or one engine had
some device in it which the other had not. Now, many locomo-
tives are made exactly alike, or as nearly so as the most improved
machinery will permit. There is nothing to distinguish the one
from the other. Therefore Bony Smith can claim no superiority
for his machine which Windy Brown has not the advantage of. In
the old days, too, each engine had its own runner and fireman, and
it seldom fell into the hands of anyone else, and those in charge
of it took as much pride in keeping it bright as the character in
" Pinafore " did " in polishing up the handle of the big front door."
On many roads — particularly the larger ones — engines are not as-
signed to special men. The system of " first in first out " has been
adopted ; that is, the engines are sent out in the order in which they
come in, and the men take whichever machine happens to fall to
their lot. This naturally results in a loss of personal attachment
to special engines.

Every change in the construction, alteration in the proportions,
or addition to the attachments of locomotives is a subject of intense
interest to the men and a topic of endless discussion at all times
and places. The theories which are propounded, and the yarns
which are spun while sitting around hot stoves in round-houses, or
waiting for passing trains on side-tracks, would fill many books.
Jack never tires of telling what his engine did when "she was go-
ing up Rattlesnake Grade," and Smoky Bill grows excited when
he describes how Ninety-six turned her wheels in making up
forty-nine minutes time in the down run with the " electric express."

Locomotive engineers and firemen read with avidity everything
which is explanatory of the construction or working of locomotives,
but generally have a contempt for things which have no practical

THE QUALTFICATJONS OF GOOD RUNNERS.

137

Fig. 38. — Interior of Erecting Shop, Showing Locomotive Lifted by Travelling Crane.

bearing. They demand " lucidity" in what they read with as much
vehemence as Matthew Arnold did. and some editors and collegre
professors, whose writing and thinking are foggy, would be greatly
benefited by the criticisms of the Locomotive Brotherhood,

Much might be written about the duties of locomotive-runners
and firemen, and the qualifications required. It is the general
opinion of locomotive superintendents that it is not essential that
the men who run locomotives should be good mechanics. The
best runners or engineers are those who have been trained while
young as firemen on locomotives. Brunei, the distinguished civil
engineer, said that he never would trust himself to run a locomotive
because he was sure to think of some problem relating to his pro-
fession which would distract his attention from the engine. It is
probably a similar reason which sometimes unfits good mechanics
for being good locomotive-runners.

It will perhaps interest some readers to know how much fuel
a locomotive burns. This, of course, depends upon the quality of
fuel, work done, speed, and character of the road. With freight
trains consisting of as many cars as a heavy locomotive can draw
without difficulty, the consumption of coal will not exceed from

138

AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES AND CARS.

Fig. 39. — Forging a Locomotive Frame.

I to i|^ pounds of coal per car per mile if the engine is carefully
managed. It takes from 15 to 20 pounds of coal per mile to move
an engine and tender alone, the consumption being dependent upon
the size of the engine, speed, grades, and number of stops. If this
amount of coal is allowed for the engine and tender, and the balance
that is consumed is divided among the cars, it will reduce the quan-
tity for hauling the cars alone to even less amounts than those given
above. In ordinary average practice the consumption is from 3 to
5 pounds per freight-car per mile, without making any allowance for
the engine and tender. With passenger trains, the cars of which
are heavier and the speed higher, the coal consumption is from 10
to 15 pounds per car per mile. A freight locomotive with a train
of 40 cars will burn 40 to 200 pounds of coal per mile, the amount
depending on the care with which it is managed, quality of the
coal, grades, speed, weather, and other circumstances.

THE EVOLUTION OF RAILWAY CARS.

139

AMERICAN CARS.

Peter Parley's illustration (p. loi) of the Baltimore & Ohio
Railroad represents one of the earliest passenger- cars used in this
country. The accuracy of the illustration may, however, be ques-
tioned. Probably the artist depended upon his imagination and
memory somewhat when he drew it. The engraving below (Fig.
40) is from a drawing made by the resident engineer of the
Mohawk & Hudson Railroad, and from which six coaches were
made by James Goold for the Mohawk & Hudson Railroad in 1831.
It is an authentic representation of the cars as made at that time.
Other old prints of railroad cars represent them as substantially
stage-coach bodies mounted on four car-wheels, as shown by Fig-
ure 41. The next step in the development of cars was that of join-
ing together several coach-bodies. This form was continued after
the double-truck system was adopted, as shown by Figure 42, which
represents an early Baltimore & Ohio Railroad car, having three
sections, united. It was soon displaced by the rectangular body,
as shown in Figure 43, which is a reproduction from an old print.

Figure 44 is an illustration of a car used for the transportation
of flour on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, while horses were still
used as the motive power. To show how nearly all progress is a
process of evolution, it was asserted, in one of the trials of the valid-
ity of Winans' patent on eight-wheeled cars with two trucks, that

Fig. 40.— Mohawk & Hudson Car, 183 i.
(From the original drawing by the resident engineer.)

Fig. 41. — Early Car.
(From an old print.)

before the date of his patent it was a practice to load firewood by
connecting two such cars with long timbers, which rested on bol-

140

AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES AND CARS.

Pig_ 42 — Eariy Car on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.

sters attached by kingbolts to the cars. The wood was loaded on
top of these timbers, as shown in Figure 45. An old car (Fig. 46),
which antedated Winans' patent and was used at the Ouincy

granite quarries for carrying
large blocks of stone, was also
introduced as evidence for the
defendants in that suit. Al-
though Winans was not able to
establish the validity of his pat-
ent on eio-ht-wheeled cars with
two trucks, he was undoubtedly one of the first to put it into prac-
tical form, and did a great deal to introduce the system.

The progress in the construction of cars has been fully as great
as in that of locomotives. If the old stage-coach bodies on wheels
are compared with a vestibule train of to-day the difference will be
very striking. Most of us who are no longer young can recall the
days when sleeping-cars were unknown, when a journey from an
Eastern city to Chicago meant forty-eight hours or more of sitting
erect in a car with thirty or more passengers, and an atmosphere
which was fetid. Happily those days are past, although the im-
provement in the ventilation of cars has been very slow, and is
still very imperfect.

Improvement has also lagged in the matter of coupling cars.
It has been shown by statistics and calculations that some hundreds

Fig. 43. — Early American Car, 1834.

of persons are killed and some thousands injured in this country
annually in coupling cars. The use of automatic coupling, by which
cars could be connected together without going between them, it has
been supposed, would greatly lessen, if it would not entirely pre-
vent, this fearful sacrifice of life and limb. To accomplish this end.

NECESSITY FOR A UNIFORM COUPLER.

141

Fig. 44. — Old Car for Carrying Flour
on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.

though, it is essential that some one form of coupler shall be gen-
erally adopted by all railroads. One of the obstacles in the way of
this has been the mechanical difficulty of finding a mechanism which

will satisfactorily accomplish the purpose for
which it was intended. After thirty or forty
years of invention and experiment, no auto-
matic coupler has been produced, which has
been approved by competent judges with a
sufficient degree of unanimity to justify its
general adoption. The patents on that class of inventions are
numbered by thousands, so that it is no light task to select the
best one or even the best kind. Besides this difficulty, there is
the other equally formidable one of inducing railroad men, of vari-
ous degrees of knowledge, ignorance, and prejudice regarding this
subject, and who are scattered all over the continent, to agree in
adopting some one form or kind of automatic coupler. Various

Fig. 45. — Old Car for Carrying Firewood on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.

cliques had also been organized on different roads in the interest of
some patents, and in such cases argument and reason addressed to
them were generally wasted. Public indignation was, however,
aroused ; and the stimulus of legislation in different States com-
pelled railroad officers to give serious attention to the subject.
After devoting some years to the investigation, the Master Car-
Builders' Association — which is composed of officers of railroad

companies, who are in charge of
the construction and repair of cars
on the different lines — has recom-
mended the adoption of a coupler
F,» .fi oiH r th n r > t, , H of the typc represented by Fig-

rig. 46. — Uld Car on the Quincy Granite Railroad. y i i j <z>

ures 47 to 49, which has been
already applied to many cars and the indications are that it will be
very generally adopted for freight and probably for passenger cars.

142

AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES AND CARS.

If it should be, it will relieve railroad employees of the dangerous
duty of going between cars to couple them. Figure 47 shows a
plan looking down on the couplers with one of the latches, A,
open ; Figure 48 shows it with the two couplers partly engaged ;
and Figure 49 shows them when the coupling is completed.

One of the first problems which presented itself in the infancy
of railroads was how to keep the cars on the rails.

Anyone who will stand close to a line of railroad when a train
is rushing by at a speed of forty, fifty, or sixty miles an hour must
wonder how the engine and cars are kept on the track ; and even
those familiar with the construction of railroad machinery often ex-
press astonishment that the flanges of the wheels, which are merely
projecting ribs about \\ inches deep and i^ inches thick, are sufli-
cient to resist the impetus and swaying of a locomotive or car at
full speed. The problem of the manufacture of wheels which will
resist this wear, and will not break, has occupied a great deal of
the attention of railroad managers and manufacturers.

Locomotive driving-wheels in this country are always made of
cast-iron, with steel tires which are heated and put on the wheels
and then cooled. They
are thus contracted
and " shrunk " on the
wheel. The tread, that
is, the surface which
bears on the rail, and the
flanore of the tire are then
turned off in a lathe,
shown in Figure 25, on p.
121, made especially for the
purpose. For engine-truck,
tender, and car-wheels, until
within a few years, " chill-
ed " cast-iron wheels have
been used almost exclusive-
ly on American railroads. If the tread and flange of a wheel were
made of ordinary cast-iron they would soon be worn out in service,
as such iron has ordinarily litde capacity for resisting the wear to
which wheels are subjected. Some cast-iron, however, has the

Janney Car Coupler, showing the Process of Coupling.

JIOW WHEELS ARE CAST.

14:

singular property which causes it to assume a peculiar, hard crys-
talline form if, when it is melted, it is allowed to cool and solidify
in contact with a cold iron mould. The iron which is thus cooled
quickly, or " chilled," becomes very hard, and resists wear very
much better than iron which is not chilled. Car- wheels which are
made of this material are therefore cast in what is called a chill-
mould. Figure 50 represents a section of such a mould and flask in
which wheels are cast.

A A is the wheel, which is moulded in sand in the usual way.
The part B B oi the mould, which forms the rim or tread of the
wheel, consists of a heavy cast-iron ring. The melted iron is poured
into this mould and
comes in contact
with B B. This
effect of
the hot
has been
explained. In
cooling, the wheel
contracts ; and for
that reason the part
between the rim C and the hub D is made of a curved form, as
shown in the section, so that if one part should cool more rapidly
than another these parts can yield sufficiently to permit contraction
without straining any portion of the wheels injuriously. For the
same reason the ribs on the back of the wheels, as shown in Fig-
ure 51, are also curved. As an additional safeguard to the unequal
contraction in cooling, the wheels are taken out of the mould while
they are red-hot, and placed in ovens where they are allowed to
remain several days so as to cool very slowly.

Figure 52, on p. 145, represents a section of the tread and
flange of a chilled wheel, showing the peculiar crystalline appear-
ance of the chilled iron.

In making cast-iron wheels the quality of the iron used is of the
utmost importance. The difficulty in making good wheels lies in
the fact that most iron which is ductile and tough will not chill,
whereas hard white iron, which has the chilling property in a very
high degree, is brittle, and wheels which are made of it are liable

has the
chilling
iron, as

Fig. 50. — Mould and Flask in which Wheels are Cast.

144

AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES AND CARS.

to break. There are some kinds of cast-iron produced in this
country which have the two quaHties combined, in a very remark-
able degree ; that is, they are ductile and tough, and will also chill.

f^'g- 5' — Cast-iron Car Wheels.

Wheel-founders also mix different qualities of irons to produce
wheels with the required strength, and which will resist wear ;
that is, they use a certain amount of hard white iron which will
chill, with that which is ductile and soft. By changing the propor-
tions, any required amount of chill can be produced. The danger
is that iron which has little strength or ductility will be fortified
with hard chilling iron, and a very weak wheel will thus be the re-
sult. Thousands of such wheels have been bought and used be-
cause they are cheap, and many lamentable accidents are undoubt-
edly due to this cause. To guard against this, car-wheels should
always be subjected to rigid tests and inspection.

In Europe wheels are made of wrought-iron, with tires which
were also made of the same material before the discovery of the
improved processes of manufacturing steel, but since then they
have been made of the latter material. Owing to the breakage
of a great many cast-iron wheels of poor quality, steel-tired wheels
are now coming into very general use on American roads under
passenger-cars and engines. A great variety of such wheels is
now made. The "centres" or parts inside the tires of some of
them are cast-iron, and others are wrought-iron constructed in
various ways.

PAPER CAR WHEELS.

145

What is known as the Allen paper wheel is used a great deal in
this country, especially under sleeping-cars. A section and front
view of one of these wheels is shown by Figure 53. It consists of a
cast-iron hub, A,
which is bored out
to fit the axle. An
annular disk, B B,
is made of layers
of paper-b o a r d
glued together
and then subject-
ed to an enor-
m o u s pressure.
The disk is then
bored out to fit

the hub, and its Fig. 52.— section of the Tread and F.ange of a Car Wlieel.

circumference is

turned off, and the tire C C is fitted to it. Two wroueht-iron
plates, P P, are then placed on either side of it, and the disk,
plates, tire, and hub are all bolted together. The paper, it will
be seen, bears the weight which rests on the hub of the axle and
the hub of the wheel.

Steel tires have the advantage that when they become worn
their treads and flanges may be turned off anew, whereas chilled

cast-iron wheels are so hard
gfefj that it is almost impossible
to cut them with any turning
tool. For this reason ma-
chines have been constructed
for grinding the tread with a
rapidly revolving emery-
wheel. In these the cast-iron
wheel is made to turn slowly,
whereas the emery-wheel re-
volves very rapidly. The
emery-wheel is then brought
close to the cast-iron wheel, so that as they revolve the projections
on the latter are cut away, and the tread is thus reduced to a true

F'ig- 53-— Alien Paper Car Wheel.

146

AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES AND CARS.

circular form. These machines are much used for "truing-up"
wheels which have been made flat by sliding, owing to the brakes
being set too hard.

It would require a separate article to give even a brief descrip-
tion of the different kinds of cars which are now used. The follow-
ing list could be increased considerably if all the different varieties
were included.

Baggage-car,
Boarding-car,
Box-car,
Buffet-car,

Caboose or conduc-
tor's car,
Cattle- or stock-car,
Coal-car,
Derrick-car,
Drawing-room car.

Drop-bottom car.

Dump-car,

Express-car,

Hat or platform car,

Gondola-car,

Hand-car,

Hay-car,

Hopper-bottom car.

Horse-car,

Hotel-car,

Inspection-car,

Lodging-car,

Mail-car,

Milk-car,

Oil-car,

Ore-car,

Palace-car,

Passenger-car,

Post-office car.

Push-car,

Postal-car,

Refrigerator-car,

Restaurant-car,

Sleeping-car,

Sweeping-car,

Tank-car,

Tip-car,

Tool or wrecking car,

Three-wheeled hand-

The following table gives the size, weight, and price of cars at
the present time. The length given is the length over the bodies
not including the platforms.

Length, feet.

Weight, lbs.

Price.

Flat-car

16,000 to 19,000

$380

Box-car

34
30 to 34

22,000 to 27,000
28,000 to 34,000

$550

$800 to $1,100

Refrigerator-car

Passenger-car

50 to 52
50 to 65

45,000 to 60,000
70,000 to 80,000

$4,400 to $5,000

Drawing-room car

$10,000 to $20,000

Sleeping-car

50 to 70
16

60,000 to 90,000
5,000 to 6,000

$12,000 to $20,000

Street-car

$Soo to $1,200

Some years ago the master car-builders of the different rail-
roads experienced great difficulty in the transaction of their busi-
ness from the fact that there were no common names to designate
the parts of cars in different places in the country. What was
known by one name in Chicago had quite a different name in
Pittsburg or Boston. A committee was therefore appointed by
the Master Car-Builders' Association to make a dictionary of terms

THE CAR-BUILDER'S DICTIONARY.

147

used in car-construction and repairs. Such a dictionary has been
prepared, and is a book of 560 pages, and has over two thousand
ilkistrations. It has some pecuHar features, one of which is de-

Fig. 54. — Modern Passenger-car and Frame.

scribed as follows in the preface: "To supply the want w^hich
demanded such a vocabulary, Avhat might be called a double dic-
tionary is needed. Thus, supposing that a car-builder in Chicago
received an order for a 'journal-box ' ; by looking in an alphabeti-
cal list of words he could readily find that term and a description and
definition of it. But suppose that he wanted to order such castings
from the shop in Albany, and did not know their name ; it would
be impracticable for him to commence at A and look through to Z,
or until he found the proper term to designate that part." To
meet this difficulty the dictionary has very copious illustrations in
which the different parts of cars are represented and numbered, and
the names of the parts designated by the numbers are then given
in a list accompanying the engraving. An alphabetical list of
names and definitions is also given, as in an ordinary dictionary.
The definition usually contains a reference to a number and a figure
in which the object described is illustrated. In making the diction-
ary the compilers selected terms from those in use, where appro-

148

AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES AND CARS.

priate ones could be found. In other cases new names were de-
vised. The book is a curious illustration of a more rapid growth
of an art than of the language by which it is described.

The following table, compiled from " Poor's Manual of Rail-
roads," gives the number of locomotives and of different kinds of
cars in this country, beginning with 1876, and for each year there-
after. If the averaofe leno-th of locomotives and tenders is taken at
50 feet, those now owned by the railroads would make a contin-
uous train 280 miles long; and the 1,033,368 cars, if they average
35 feet in length, would form a train which would be more than
6,800 miles long.

Statement of the Rolling Stock of Railroads in the United States ; from

" Poors Manual" for 1889.

Miles of railroad.

Locomotives.

Passenger-train cars.

Freight cars.

Year.

Passenger.

Baggage, mail,
and Express.

Total.

1876

1877

1878

76,305

79,208

80,832

84,393

92,147

103,530

114,461

120,552

125,152

■127,729

133,606

147,999 ,
154,276

14,562
15,911
16,445
17,084

17.949
20,1 16
22,114
23,623
24,587

25,937
26,415

27,643
29,398

358,101

-jcR.ioi

12,053
11,683
12,009
12,789
14,548

15,551
16,889

17,303
17,290
19,252
20,457
21,425

3,854
4,413

4,5'9
4,786
4,976
5,566
5,848

5,911
6,044

6,325
6,554
6,827

392,175 408,082
423.013 439,109
480,190 496,718

539,255 556,930
648,295 1 667,819
730,451 1 751,568
778,663 801,400
798,399 821,613
805,519 828,853
845,914 871,491
950,887 977,898
1,005,116 T. 0^1.^68

1879

1880

1881

1882

1883

1884

1885

1886

1887

1888

The number of cars, it will be seen, has more than doubled in
ten years, so that if the same rate of increase continues for the
next decade there will be over two millions of them on the railroads
of this country alone. Beyond a certain point, numbers convey
little idea of magnitude. Our railroad system and its equipment
seem to be rapidly outgrowing the capacity of the human imagina-
tion to realize their extent. What it will be with another half-cen-
tury of development it is impossible even to imagine.

RAILWAY MANAGEMENT,

By E. p. ALEXANDER.

Relations of Railway Management to all Other Pursuits— Developed by the Necessities of
a Complex Industrial Life — How a Continuous Life is Given to a Corporation— Its Ar-
tificial Memory— Main Divisions of Railway Management — The Executive and Legis-
lative Powers — The Purchasing and Supply Departments— Importance of the Legal
Department — How the Roadway is Kept in Repair — The Maintenance of Rolling
Stock — Schedule-making— The Handling of Extra Trains— Duties of the Train-de-
spatcher — Accidents in Spite of Precautions — Daily Distribution of Cars — How Busi-
ness is Secured and Rates are Fixed — The Interstate Commerce Law — The Questions
of " Long and Short Hauls" and "Differentials "—Classification of Freight— Regu-
lation of Passenger-rates— Work of Soliciting Agents— The Collection of Revenue
and Statistics— What is a Way-bill— How Disbursements are Made— The Social
and Industrial Problem which Confronts Railway Corporations.

HE world was born again with the building- of
the first locomotive and the laying of the first
level iron roadway. The energies and activities,
the powers and possibilities then developed have
acted and reacted in every sphere of life — social,
industrial, and political — until human progress,
after smouldering like a spark for a thousand
years, has burst into a conflagration which will
soon leave small trace of the life and customs, or even the modes of
thought, which our fathers knew. But, in it all, the railroad remains
the most potent factor in every development. By bringing men
more and more closely together, and supplying them more and
more abundantly and cheaply with all the varied treasures of the
earth, stored up for millions of years for the coming of this gener-
ation, it adds continually more fuel to the flame it originated. And
as it is necessarily reacted upon equally by every new invention or

1 50 RAIL WA Y MANA GEMENT

discovery, and by all progress in other departments of human ac-
tivity, the demands upon it, and its points of contact with every-
day life, are still increasing in geometrical progression.

Hence, in the practical management of railroad affairs, prob-
lems are of constant occurrence which touch almost every pursuit
to which men give themselves, whether of finance, agriculture,
commerce, manufactures, science, or politics ; and the methods,
forms, and principles under which current railroad management
is being developed (for it is by no means at a stand-still) are
the result of the necessities imposed by these multiplying problems
acting within the constraints of corporate existences.

For while the life of a corporation is perpetual, its powers are
constrained, and the individuals exercising them are constantly
changing. It is but an artificial individual existing for certain pur-
poses only, and, as it lacks some human qualities, all its methods
of doing business are influenced thereby. The business affairs
of an individual, for instance, are greatly simplified by his mem-
ory of his transactions from day to day and from year to year.
But a corporation having no natural memory, all of its transactions
and relations must be minutely and systematically noted in its
archives. Every contract and obligation must be of record, all
property bought or constructed must go upon the books, and,
when expended or used up, must go off in due form ; and espe-
cially must an accurate system of checks guard all earnings and
expenditures, and a comprehensive system of book-keeping con-
solidate innumerable transactions into the great variety of boiled-
down figures and statistics necessary for officers and stockholders
to fully understand what the property is doing.

Under such circumstances, then, our railroads and their systems
of organization and management, like the Darwinian Topsy, have
not " been made " but have " growed."

Naturally, both the direction and extent of the development have
varied in different localities and under different conditions. Within
the limits of this article it would be impossible to give anything
like an exhaustive or complete account of the organization, dis-
tribution of duties, systems of working, and of checks in the various
departments of even a single road. Most roads publish more or
less elaborate small volumes of regulations on such subjects for the

THE DIVISION OF AUTHORITY. 151

use of their various employees. The task would also be endless
to describe technically the variations of practice and of nomencla-
ture in different sections and on different systems. The shades of
difference, too, between managers, superintendents, or masters ;
comptrollers, auditors, book-keepers, and accountants; secretaries,
cashiers, treasurers, and paymasters in different localities would
be tedious to draw. A technical account of them would be al-
most a reproduction of the volumes above-mentioned. I can only
attempt to outline and illustrate very briefly the general principles
which underlie the present practice, and are more or less elabo-
rated as circumstances may require.

The principal duties connected with the management of a rail-
road may be classified as follows :

1. The physical care of the property.

2. The handling of the trains.

3. The making rates and soliciting business.

4. The collection of revenue and keeping statistics.

5. The custody and disbursement of revenue.

The president is, of course, the executive head of the company,
but in important matters he acts only with the consent and ap-
proval of the Board of Directors, or of an executive committee
clothed with authority of the board, which may be called the legis-
lative branch of the managfement. More or less of the executive
power and supervision of the president may be delegated to one or
more vice-presidents. Often all of it but that relating to financial
matters is so delegated, but, as their functions are subdivisions of
those of the president, they have no essential part in a general
scheme of authority.

Of the five subdivisions of duties indicated above, the first four
are usually confided to a general manager, who may also be a vice-
president, and the fifth is in charge of a treasurer, reporting directly
to the president.

The special departments under charge of the general manager
are each officered by trained experts :

A superintendent of roadway or chief engineer has charge of
the maintenance of the track, bridges, and buildings.

A superintendent of machinery has charge of the construction
and maintenance of all rolling stock.

152 /?A/ZJVA V MANA GEMENT.

A superintendent of transportation makes all schedules, and has
charge of all movements of trains.

A car accountant keeps record of the location, whereabout, and
movements of all cars.

A traffic manager has charge of passenger and freight rates, and
all advertising and soliciting for business.

A comptroller has charge of all the book-keeping by which the
revenue of the company is collected and accounted for. All statis-
tics are generally prepared in his office.

A paymaster receives money from the treasurer and disburses,
under the direction of the comptroller, for all expenses of opera-
tion.

All dividend and interest payments are made by the treasurer,
under direction of the president and board.

There are, besides the above, two general departments with
which all the rest have to do, to a greater or less extent — the le-
gal department and the purchasing department. The quantity and
variety of articles used and consumed in the operation of a railroad
are so great that it is a measure of much economy to concentrate
all purchases into the hands of a single purchasing agent, rather
than to allow each department to purchase for itself This agent
has nothing to do but to study prices and markets. His pride is
enlisted in getting the lowest figures for his road, and the large
amount of his purchases enables him to secure the best rates. And
last, but not least, in matters where dishonesty would find so great
opportunities, it is safer to concentrate responsibility than to dif-
fuse it.

As I shall not again refer to this department, what remains of
interest for me to say about it will be said here. As an adjunct to
it, storehouses are established at central points in which stocks of
articles in ordinary use are kept on hand. Whenever supplies are
wanted in any other department — as, for instance, a bell-cord and
lantern by a conductor — requisitions are presented, approved by a
designated superior. These requisitions state whether the arti-
cles are to be charged to legitimate wear and tear, and if so,
Avhether to the passenger or the freight service, and of which sub-
division of the road ; or whether they are to be charged to the
conductor for other articles not properly accounted for. Without

THE LEGAL DEPARTMENT, T53

going into further detail, it can be readily seen how the comptrol-
ler's office can, at the end of each month, from these requisitions,
have a complete check upon all persons responsible for the care of
property. The purchasing agent, too, from his familiarity with
prices, is usually charged with the sale of all condemned and worn-
out material.*

Before returning to a more detailed review of the operating de-
partments of a railroad, its legal department requires a few words.
Not only is a railroad corporation, being itself a creation of the law,
peculiarly bound to conform all its actions to legal forms and tenets,
but it is also a favorite target for litigation. The popular prejudice
against corporations, it may be said in passing, is utterly illogical.
The corporation is the poor man's opportunity. Without it he
could never share in the gains and advantages open to capital in
large sums. With it a thousand men, contributing a thousand dol-
lars each, compete on equal terms with the millionaire. Its doors
are always open to any who may wish to share its privileges or its
prosperity, and no man is denied equal participation according to
his means and inclinations. It is the greatest " anti-poverty " in-
vention which has ever been produced, and the most democratic.
But, for all that, instead of possessing the unbounded power usually
ascribed to it, no creature of God or man is so helpless as a cor-
poration before the so-called great tribunal of justice, the American
jury. It may not be literally true that a Texas jury gave damages to
a tramp against a certain railroad because a section-master's wife
gave him a meal which disagreed with him, but the story can be
nearly paralleled from the experience of many railroads. Hence
settlements outside of the law are always preferred where they are
at all possible, and an essential part of an efficient legal organization
is a suitable man always ready to repair promptly to the scene of
any loss or accident, to examine the circumstances with the eye of
a legal expert on liabilities.

But the management of claims, and of loss and damage suits,
though a large part, is by no means all of the legal business con-
nected with a railroad. Every contract or agreement should pass
under scrutiny of counsel, and in the preparation of the various
forms of bonds, mortgages, debentures, preferred stocks, etc.,

* See " How to Feed a Railway," page 302.

154

RAIL WA V MANA GEMENT.

which the wants of the day have brought forth, the highest legal
talent finds employment. For, as development has multiplied the
types of cars
and engines to
meet special
wants, so have
a great variety
o f securities
been develop-
ed to meet the ^-^^^
taste and prej- S

^&S

udices of investors of all na-
tions. There is, in fact, a cer-
tain fashion in the forms of
bonds, and the conditions in-
corporated in mortgages,
which has to be observed to
adapt any bond to its proposed
market.

We shall now return to the
operating departments under
their respective heads, and
glance briefly at the methods
and detail pursued in each.
On roads of large mileage the general manager is assisted by gen-
eral or division superintendents in charge of roadway, motive
power, and trains of one or more separate divisions ; but for our
purposes we may consider the different departments without ref-
erence to these superintendents.

The superintendent of roadway or chief engineer comes first,
having charge of track, bridges, and buildings. In his office are
collected maps of all important stations and junction points, kept
up to date with changes and additions ; scale drawings of all
bridges and trestles, of all standard depots, tanks, switches, rails,

FEATS OF BRIDGE GANGS.

155

fastenings, signals, and everything necessary to secure uniformity
of patterns and practice over the entire road. Under him are
supervisors of bridges and supervisors of road, each assigned to a
certain territory. The supervisors of bridges make frequent and
minute examinations of every piece or member of every bridge and
trestle, report in advance all the repairs that become necessary,
and make requisition for the material needed.

A Type of Snow-plough.

Under the bridge supervisor are organized " bridge gangs,"
each consisting of a competent foreman with carpenters and labor-
ers skilled in bridge work and living in "house " or " boarding"
cars, and provided with pile-drivers, derricks, and all appliances
for handling heavy timbers and erecting, tearing down, and repair-
ing bridges. These cars form a movable camp, going from place
to place as needed, and being side-tracked as near as possible to
the work of the gang. Long experience begets great skill in their
special duties, and the feats which these gangs will perform are
often more wonderful than many of the more showy performances
of railroad engineering. It is an every-day thing with such gangs
to take down an old wooden structure, and erect in its place an
iron one, perhaps with the track raised several feet above the level

156

HAIL WAY MANAGEMENT.

of the original, while fifty trains pass every day, not one of which
will be delayed for a moment.

Each of the supervisors of road has his assigned territory divid-
ed into " sections," from

five to eig^ht miles in

A Rotary Steam Snow-shovel in Operation.
(From an instantaneous photograph.)

length. At a suitable place on each section are erected houses
for a resident section-master and from six to twelve hands. These
are provided with hand- and push-cars, and spend their whole
time in keeping their sections in good condition. Upon many
roads annual inspections are made and prizes offered for the best
sections. At least twice a day track-walkers from the section-
gangs pass over the entire line of road. To simplify reports and
instructions, frequently every bridge or opening in the track is
numbered, and the number displayed upon it ; and every curve is
also posted with its degree of curvature and the proper elevation
to be given to the outer rail.

The work of the section-men is all done under regular system.
In the spring construction-trains deliver and distribute ties and
rails on each section, upon requisitions from supervisors. Then
the section-force goes over its line from end to end, putting in first

WORK OF SECTION-MEN.

157

the new ties and then the new rails needed. Next the track is
gone over with minute care and re-lined, re-surfaced, and re-bal-
lasted, to repair the damages of frost and wet, the great enemies
of a road-bed. Then ditches, grass, and the right-of-way have at-
tention. These processes are continually repeated, and especially
in the fall in preparation for winter. During the winter as little
disturbance of track is made as possible, but ditches are kept
clean, and low joints are raised by " shims " on top of joint ties. Es-
sential parts of the equipment of any large road are snow-ploughs
(pp. 154-5-6) and wrecking cars, with powerful derricks and
other appliances for clearing obstructions. When wrecks or block-
ades occur these cars, with extra engines, section-hands, bridge
gangs, and construction-trains, are rushed to the spot, and every-
thing yields to the
work of getting the
road clear.

We come next
to the superinten-
dent of machinery,
whose duty it is to
provide and main-
t a i n locomotives
and cars of all
kinds to handle the
company's traffic.
His department is
subdivided be-
tween a master me-
chanic, in chargre of
locomotives and
machine -shops,
and a master car-
builder, in charge
of car-shops.

The master

mechanic selects and immediately controls all engine-runners and
firemen, and keeps performance sheets of all locomotives, showing
miles run, cars hauled, wages paid, coal and oil consumed, and

Railway-crossing Gate.

158

RAILWAY MANAGEMENT.

other details giving results accomplished by different runners and
firemen, and by different types of engine, or on different divisions

Report of Performance of Engines, Repairs, and all other Costs

Miles Ron.

Fuel.

Oil, Waste and Otheb Stores.

u a
Is

•d

c
W

%
a

a
o

1-.

o a
£

O o

b
o

a
o

-1
O

a
CO

•6

O
o

e
347

a
.5

Gallons Keros
Coat of Stores

■;

12,084

4.253

10,401

118

10,099

$ 1,090 25

124

59}

$ 87 64

$ 1,293 80

2,C7211 ,779

954

15,405

193

10,913

1,131 77

12U

13*

3bi

69J

466

t02

2 106 85

1,646 90

5;402

14,471 408

120

20.407

189

10,590

1,101 08

132.)

10}

74 1

350

93 85

1,489 65

28,r,43
28 '275

4 1G8

32,81 1
32,837

297
301

ll,>i75
12,961

1,212 20
1,335 31

258
256

49
39

125

991

106
75

659
622

76
82»

171 85
144 86

1.719 55
1,628 80

4,4'JO

32,370

32,370
19,807

150

10,360
13,233

1,042 26
1,356 30

230J
134

12}
lOJ

188j
41

65}

"oo

298
327

160 J
98

173 92
97 34

1,884 50
1..593 05

^3.229

11,799

4,779

11,050
>874

23,20:l

24,253

1.^.5

16,344

1,668 41

135

12}

45^

'/U

374

108 53

1,625 80

24,729

2.'>,699

1.58

17,039

1,741 67

131}

13^

3/2

108 38

1,669 55

23,609

2(15

7,C61

811 00

136

364

2 111 83

1,126 75

1.527
41.345
37.450

4,23:;

4,369

12,000

17,956

142

8,875

918 75

105

95*

360

106 31

1,405 10

tf)

41,345

2,37

■17.702

1,821 37

223

23^

44^

106

726

142 71

1,719 55

37,450
17,869

215
115

16.695
10,918

1,716 56
1,117 10

243
138

151
10}

46
41

110
130

660
301

66
63

1 152 16

7 108 40

1,554 55
1.186 40

i'3,5i6

12U

13,742

•5,217

1,224

20,183

149

6,691

704 07

186

409

2 109 17

1,059 50

1C5,770

lir,,349'25,583

70,695

378,402

2657

182.556

$18,768 13

2,554

179.(

846

1 ,226}

045

6685

1214

41 1,823 80

22,603 45

or roads. Premiums are often paid the runners and firemen ac-
complishing the best results.

The master car-builder has charge of the shops where cars are
built and repaired, and of the car-inspectors who are stationed at
central and junction points to prevent defective cars being put into
the trains.

Formerly each railroad used its own cars exclusively, and
through freights were transferred at every junction point. This in-
volved such delay and expense that railroads now generally per-
mit all loaded cars to go through to destination without transfer,
and allow each other a certain sum for the use of cars. Usually
this is about three-quarters of a cent for each mile which the car
travels on a foreign road. This involves a great scattering of cars,
and an extensive organization to keep record of their whereabouts
and of the accounts between the companies for mileage.* This or-
ganization will be referred to more fully in connection with the de-
partment of transportation. But the joint use of each other's cars

* See '• The Freight-car Service," page 275.

COND UCTING TRANSPOR TA TION.

159

makes it necessary that there should be at least enough similarity
in their construction and their coupling appliances to permit their

Incident thereto, for the fiscal year ending June 30///, 1888.

Co5;t of Repa

I as

M'ls run to one

Cost pkb Mile Run Fon.

a
"a

Ut
a

c
M

u«

□

•a

$ 115 OU

$ 223 40

$ 66 32

$ 289 7-2

% 2,876 41

1 5

vn i

14 5

01 ?G

OG 64

CO 53

07 89

00 61

17.43

177,659

82 50

C9 C5

75 14

144 79

3,112 81

1 1

VIK, b'l.l

OU 94

07 34

00 69

10 09 00 53

20.19

197,203

187 50

178 25

63 61

241 86

3,113 94

o.y

77 7 17 4

(i2 32

10 5b

00.90

14 31

02 04

30 15

182,402

212 50

203 'J5

100 13

304 08

3,020 18 2 7

127 2 32 8

00 92

03 09

05 23

05 2-1

00 64

15 72

139,422

202 00

240 55

114 98

355 53

3,066 50 2 5

128 2412

01 OS

04 06

00 44

04 96

00 61

11 15

135,780

10 00

172 35

63 65

236 00

3,3iG C8 3 1

140 4 36 3

00 72

03 22

00 53

05 82

00 03

10 3?

150 00

110 75

106 69

217 44

3,414 13 1 5

M- 8 37

01 09

OG 81

00 49

08 04

00 76

17.22

305,024

200 UO

139 80

175 48

316 28

3.918 02 1 4

15l) 0:48 5

01 30

06 8S

00 40

06 70

00 82

10 10

383, 0«2

205 00

207 55

109 7s

317 33

4,041 93 1 5

105.4:46 5

01 23

OG 77

CO 31

00 19

00 79

15 59

409,035

5 00

413 95
37 45

69 7G
27 17

503 71
61 62

2,.i08 29
2,51'J 78

3
20

173 Cj3G 4
171 023 5

02 13
00 36

03 43

00 47

04.77
07 82

00 02
00 14

10 82
14 02

25 00

05 111 00 59

06,834

212 50

144 50

77 52

222 02

4 118 :5

2 3

185 4;74 9

00 53 04 40

00 34

04 15

00 51

09 93

231,55130

205 00

642 50

432 86

1,075 30

4,703 66

2 2

154 11.50 8

02 87 04 58

00 40

04 15

00 54

12 54

202,28931

172 00

1,729 7(1

438 40

2,168 10

4,752 00

129 5 31 2

12 11 06 25

00 60

06 64

00 96

26.56

184,083:32

137 00

1,522 10

781 64

2.303 74

4,313 48

3 2

108,535 5

11.41 03 48

00 54

(.■5 29

00.67

21 39

I(17,0CU34

2,121 00

6,036 45

2.723 13

8,759 58

54,075 96

2 5I 148 1I38.5

02 31 04.98

00 48

05 97

00 55

14.29

2,722,0271

indiscriminate use upon all roads. And conventions of master car-
builders have recommended certain forms and dimensions as stand-
ards, which are now in general use.

There is much convenience in this, but one disadvantage. It
requires almost unanimous action to introduce any change of form
or of construction, however advantageous it may be. And to se-
cure unanimous action in such matters is almost as hard as it would
be to secure unanimity in a change in the spelling of English words.
Still there is progress, though slow, toward several desirable re-
forms, the most important of which is the adoption of a standard
automatic coupler (see p. 142).

Having shown how the property of all kinds is kept in efficient
condition, we next come to its operation. This is called " con-
ducting transportation," and the officer in charge is usually called
the superintendent of transportation. All train-despatchers, con-
ductors, train-men, and telegraph operators are under his immedi-
ate control. He makes all schedules and provides all extra and
irregular service that the traffic department makes requisition for,

l6o RAILWAY MANAGEMENT.

himself calling upon the superintendent of machinery for the nec-
essary locomotives, switching- engines, and cars. It is his especial
province to handle all trains as swiftly as possible, and to see that
there are no collisions. It is impossible to detail fully the safe-
guards and precautions used to this end, but the general principles
observed are as follows :

First, a general time-table or schedule is carefully made out for
all regular trains upon each division, showing on one sheet the
time of each train at each station.

This schedule is all that is needed so long as all trains are able
to keep on time, and there are no extras. Trouble begins when
regular trains cannot keep on schedule, or when extra trains have
to be sent out, not provided for on the schedule. A diagram,
or graphic representation of this schedule, upon a board or large
sheet of paper, is an important feature of the office regulating
train-movements. Twenty-four vertical lines divide the board into
equal spaces representing the twenty-four hours of the day, num-
bered from midnight to midnight. Horizontal lines at proportion-
ate distances from the top represent the stations in their order be-
tween the termini, represented by the top and bottom lines of the
diagram. The course of every train can now be plotted on this
diagram in an oblique line joining the points on each station line
corresponding to the time the train arrives at and leaves that sta-
tion. The cut on the opposite page will illustrate. It represents a
road 130 miles long from A to N, with intermediate stations B, C,
D, etc., at different distances from each other, and six trains are
shown as follows :

A passenger train, No. i, leaving A at 12 midnight and arriv-
ing at N at 4.05 A.M. A fast express. No. 2, leaving N at 12.45
and arriving at A at 3.30. A local passenger train, No. 4, which
leaves N at 1.15, runs to E by 4 a.m., stops there until 4.10, and
returns to N by 7 a.m. ; being called No. 3 on the return, as the
direction is always indicated by the train-number's being odd or
even. No. 5 is a way freight, leaving A at 12.05 ^^^ making long
stops at each station. No. 6 is an opposing train of the same
character.

The diagram shows at a glance how, when, and where all these
trains meet and pass each other, and where every train is at any

DIAGRAM FOR A TIME-TABLE.

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l62

RAIL WA Y MANA GEMENT.

A lamp swung across the track is the signal to stop.

to let it pass. If the road is
double-tracked, only trains going
in the same direction need be
regarded.*

But the more usual way of
handling extra trains, when cir-
cumstances will permit, is to let
them precede or follow a regular
train upon the same schedule.
The train is then said to be run
in " sections," and a ten minutes'
interval is allowed between them.
That opposing trains may be in-
formed, the leading section (and

* Of course, this "stringing" of an extra train
is not always done in actual operation. Practice
and experience will give as wonderful expertness
to a train-despatcher in handling trains "in his
head " as to a mathematician in solving problems,
and often all trains on a road will be handled en-
tirely " by order," or as extras. But the example
given illustrates the principle upon which expert
practice is based.

moment. Should it be desired to
send an extra train at any time,
a line drawn or a string stretched
on the board will indicate what
opposing trains must be guarded
against. For instance, to send
an extra through in three hours,
leaving A between i and 2 a.m.,
a trial line will show that Nos. 5,
2, 4, and 6 must all be met or
passed, and as (on a single-track
road) this can only be done at
stations, the extra must leave at
1.35 A.M., pass No. 5 at E, meet
No. 2 at F, No. 4 at I, and No.
6 at J. A dotted line on the dia-
gram indicates its run, and that
No. 2 is held at F for 5 minutes

A lamp raised and lowered vertically is the signal to
move ahead.

IMPORTANT RULES IN RUNNING TRAINS.

163

when there are more than two
all but the last) wears on its lo-
comotive two green flags by day
and two green lights by night,
indicating that a train follows
which is to be considered as a
part of the train leading, and
having the same rights.

So far the rules are very sim-
ple, and they would be all that is
necessary if all trains could al-
ways be kept exactly on time.
But as that cannot be, provision
must be made for all the compli-
cations which will result. The
first and most important rule is
that no train must ever, under
any circumstances, run ahead oi

A lamp swung vertically in a circle across the track, when
the train is standing, is the signal to nfiove back.

time. The next is that any train
making a stop not on its schedule
must immediately send out flag-
men with red flags, lights, and
torpedoes to protect it. This
rule is a very difficult one to en-
force without rigid discipline, and
its neglect is the cause of a large
percentage of the accidents " that
will happen." The flagman who
must go to the rear, often a half-
mile, at night, across trestles and
in storms, must frequently be left
behind, to take his chances of
getting home by being picked
up by a following train. There
is no one to watch him, and he
will often take chances, and not

A lamp swung vertically in a circle at arm's length across
the track, when tne train is running, is the signal that
the train has parted.

1 64 RAILWAY MANAGEMENT.

go as far back or as fast as he should ; and if all goes well no one
is ever the wiser.

Now, when a train is prevented from arriving on time at its
meeting-point, we must have some rules by which the opposing
train may proceed, or all business on the road would be suspended
by the delay of a single train. Only the general principles of these
rules can be stated within limits. They are as follows :

1. All freight trains must wait indefinitely for all passenger
trains.

2. When one train only is behind time, the opposing train
of the same class will wait for it a specified time, usually ten
minutes, and five minutes more for possible variation of watches,
then go ahead, keeping fifteen minutes behind its schedule.

3. But should such a train, running on delayed time, lose
more time, or in any other way should both trains get behind time,
then the one which is bound in a certain direction — ^for instance,
north — has the right to the track, and the other must lie by indefi-
nitely.

These principles, duly observed, will prevent collisions, but they
will often cause trains to lose a great deal of time. The train-de-
spatcher, therefore, has authority to handle extra and delayed
trains by direct telegraphic order. Every possible precaution is
taken to insure that such orders are received and correctly under-
stood. As there are great advantages following uniformity of
usages and rules among connecting roads, after years of conference,
in conventions and by committees, approved forms of all running
rules and signals have recently been adopted and are now in very
general use over the United States. Yet, in spite of all possible
precautions, accidents will sometimes happen. Richard Grant
White gave a name to a mental habit which, in train -despatch-
ers, has caused many fatal accidents. It is "heterophemy," or
thinking one thing while saying, hearing, or reading another. A
case within my knowledge, which cost a dozen lives, was as fol-
lows : Two opposing trains were out of time, and the train-de-
spatcher wished to have them meet and pass at a certain station
we will call " I," as Nos. i and 2 are represented as doing on the
diagram (see diagram of schedule board, p. 161). So he tele-
graphed the following message, to be delivered to No. i at "H"

The General Despatcher.

A CURIOUS ACCIDENT.

167

and to No. 2 at " J " : " Nos. i and 2 will meet at ' I.'" This mes-
sage was correctly received at " J " and delivered to No. 2. But at
" H " the operator had just sold a passenger a ticket to " K," and,

Entrance Gates at a Large Station.

getting this name in his head, he wrote out the message : " Nos. i
and 2 will meet at ' K.' " But the mistake was not yet past cor-
rection. The operator had to repeat the message back to the de-
spatcher, that the latter might be sure it was correctly understood.
He repeated it as he had written it — " K." But the despatcher
was also " heterophemous." He saw "K,"but he thought "I,"
and replied to the operator that the message was O. K.

So it was delivered to No. i, and that train left "H" at full
speed, expecting to run thirty-five miles to " K " before meeting
No. 2. There was no telegraph office at " I," and there were no
passengers to get off or on, and it passed there without stopping,
and three miles below ran into No. 2 on a curve.

By one of those strange impulses which seem to come from
some unconscious cerebration, the train-despatcher meanwhile had
a feeling that something was wrong, and looked again at the mes-
saofe received from " H " and discovered his mistake. But the
trains were then out of reach. He still hoped that No. 2 might ar-
rive at " I " first, or that they might meet upon a straight portion
of road, and as the time passed he waited at the instrument in a
state of suspense which may be imxagined. When the news came
he left the office, and never returned.

Double tracks make accidents of this character impossible; but
introduce a new possibility, that a derailment from any cause upon

i68

RAIL WA V MAN A GEMENT.

Central Switch and Signal Tower.

one track may obstruct th(
other track so closely ahead
of an opposing train that
no warning can be given.

Where trains become
very numerous additional
safeguards are added by multiplying telegraph stations at short in-
tervals, and giving them conspicuous signals of semaphore arms and
lanterns, until finally the road is divided into a number of so-called
" blocks " of a few miles each ; and no train is permitted to enter
any block until the train preceding has passed out. And in the
approaches to some of our great depots, where trains and tracks are
multiplied and confused with cross-overs and switching service, all
switches are set and all movements controlled by signals from a sin-
gle central tower. Sometimes, by very expensive and complicated
apparatus, it is made mechanically impossible to open a track for the
movement of a train without previously locking all openings by which
another train might interfere. The illustrations on pages 169, 171,
and above will serve to give some general idea of these appliances.*

* See " Safety in Railroad Travel," page 204.

DISTRIBUTION OF CARS.

171

There remains one other branch of the duties of the master of
transportation — the proper daily distribution of cars to every sta-
tion according to its needs, and the keeping record of their where-

\ N \^

'V;iH/

Interior of a Switch-tower, showing the Operation of Interlocking Switches.

abouts. And now that the gauges of all roads are similar, and
competition enforces through shipments, roads are practically mak-
ing common property of each other's cars, and the detail and
trouble of keeping record of them become enormous.

The records are made up from daily reports, by every conduc-
tor, of every car, home or foreign, handled in his train, and from
every station-agent of all cars in his yard at certain hours. From
these returns the car accountant reports to their respective owners
all movements of foreign cars and gives the transportation depart-
ment information where cars are lying. The honesty of each
other's reports concerning car movements is generally relied upon

1 7 2 RAIL WA V MAN A GEMENT.

by railroads, but "lost car agents " are kept travelling to hunt up
estrays, and to watch how the cars of their roads are being handled.

It has been suggested that a great step in advance would be to
have all the roads in the United States unite and put all cars
into a common stock and let them be distributed, record kept of
movements, and mileage paid through a general clearing house.
This would practically form a single rolling-stock company owned
by the roads contributing their cars to it. It could gradually in-
troduce uniform patterns of construction, improved couplers, and
air-brakes, and could concentrate cars in different sections of the
country in large numbers as different crops required movement,
thus avoiding the blockades which often occur in one section while
cars are superabundant in another. Consolidations usually render
more efficient and cheaper service than separate organizations can-
do, and this may come about in the course of time.*

We have now seen how the road is maintained and its trains
safely handled. The next step in order is to see how business is
secured and the rates to be charged are fixed. This department
may be controlled by a traffic manager, with two assistants — the
general freight agent and the general passenger agent — or the offi-
cers may report directly to the general manager without the inter-
vention of a traffic manager. But it would be a more accurate ex-
pression to say, not that these officers "fix" the rates, for if they
did few railroads Avould ever fail, but that they accept and announce
the rates that are fixed by conditions of competition between differ-
ent markets and products, and between different railroads and water
lines. Among these complex forces a railroad freight agent is
nearly as powerless to regulate rates as a professor of grammar is
to regulate the irregularities of English verbs. He can accept them
and use them, or he may let them alone, but the irregularities will
remain, all the same. There is no eccentricity, for example, more
idiotic or indefensible to the ordinary citizen than a habit railroads
have of sometimes charging less money for a long haul than they
charge for a shorter haul. Yet I believe there is not a railroad
line in the United States which will not be found guilty of this ap-
parent folly of charging "less for the long haul " if its rates to dis-
tant points are followed far enough. For if followed far enough we

* See " The Freight-car Service," page 288.

EFFECT OF THE INTERSTATE COMMERCE LAW. 1 73

shall come to the ocean, and find the railroad accepting business
between two seaports. For instance, all railroads running west-
ward fi'om New York through some of their connections finally
reach San Francisco, and compete iox fi'eight between these ports.
But the rates they are able to obtain are limited by steamers using
the ocean for a highway, and sailing vessels using the wind for
motive power, and able to carry heavy freights at one-tenth the
averaofe cost to railroads across mountains and deserts. This
average cost must fix the average rates charged by the railroads
to intermediate points, such as to Ogden, in Utah. So the railroad
must either charge less for the long haul to San Francisco, or leave
that business to be done solely by water. Yet it may be profitable
to the railroad to accept the business at such rates as it can obtain ;
for, as in all business ventures, manufacturing or mercantile, new
business can be profitably added at less than the average cost.
And if profitable to the railroad its tendency is beneficial, even to
the intermediate points which pay higher rates, as promoting better
service, besides being advantageous to the whole Pacific Coast in
tending to keep down the rates- by water.

But it would lead too far from our subject to follow this and
several other questions which are suggested by it. Only it may
be said briefly that the original Interstate Commerce Bill, intro-
duced by Mr. Reagan, absolutely prohibited "less for the long
haul." The Senate amended by adding " under similar circum-
stances and conditions," and the Interstate Commerce Commission
has held that "water competition" makes dissimilar circumstances
and thus legalizes it.

And in this connection it may be added that the other Senate
amendment to the Reagan bill, creating an Interstate Commerce
Commission, was, next to the above amendment, the wisest meas-
ure of the bill. It forms a body of experts whose opinions and
decisions must gradually educate the public, on the one hand, to a
better understanding of transportation problems, and restrain the
railroads, on the other, from many of the abuses incident to un-
checked competition among them. For, however theorists may
differ as to the advantages or disadvantages of competition in manu-
factures and commerce, either absolutely unchecked or checked
only by high or low tariffs, I think all will agree that unchecked

174 RAILWAY MANAGEMENT.

railroad competition is a great evil, because it results in fluctuating
rates and private rebates to large shippers. The rebates, to be
sure, are forbidden by law, but they can be disguised past recog-
nition. I have known a case, for instance, where a receipt was
given for 75 barrels of whiskey, when only jT) were shipped. The
shipper was to make claim for two barrels lost and be paid an agreed
value as a rebate on his freight bill. In another case, a road
agreed with a certain shipper to pay his telegraph bills for .a certain
period in order to control his shipments. Understating the weight
or class of the shipment is another common device for undercharg-
inof or rebatinof.

In nearly every foreign country there is either a railroad pool
or a division of territory, to prevent this sort of competition, which
is only pernicious. A merchant needs to feel assured that rates
are stable and uniform to all, and not that he must go shopping for
secret rates, in order to be on an equality with his competitor.
In the United States the railroads had largely resorted to pools
before the Interstate Commerce Law forbade them. The result
of this prohibition has generally been very advantageous to the
best lines, which, under the pool, really paid a sort of blackmail to
the poorer lines to maintain rates. If the penalties of the law can
restrain such lines from rebating and under-billing, to be rid of the
pool will be a great blessing to the well-located roads. If not,
then the roads will be driven into consolidation, for the end of
fighting will be bankruptcy and sale. Fortunately consolidation
has already gone so far in many sections of the country that the
difficulties of abolishing rebates have been greatly reduced. And
as far as it has gone it has proved of much advantage both to the
public and to the stockholders.

Fortunately, too, the other results attendant upon consolidation
have been sufficiently demonstrated to remove any intelligent fear
of extortion in rates or deterioration of service. Who would to-
day desire to undo the consolidations which have built up the
Pennsylvania Railroad or the New York Central, and call back to
life the numberless small companies which preceded them ? • The
country has outgrown such service as they could render, and the
local growth and development along the lines of these consolidated
companies certainly indicates improved conditions. In this con-

MILLING IN TRANSIT. 1 75

nection, too, the improvement in cost and character of service is
instructive. In 1865 the average rate per ton per mile on the prin-
cipal Eastern lines was about 2.900 cents ; in 1887 it was 0.718
for a service twice as speedy and efficient.

There are many other live issues of great interest and impor-
tance in transportation suggested by this subject, such as " re-bill-
ing " or "milling in transit," and " differentials," but space forbids
more than an explanation of the meaning of these two especially
prominent ones.

ABC

Let A B and B C be two railroads connecting at B. Let the
local rates A to B be 10 cents per 100 lbs. on grain, and B to C
also 10 cents. Let the through rate A to C be 18, since longest
hauls are usually cheapest per mile. Let A be a large grain mar-
ket, such as Chicago. Now a merchant at C can save 2 cents per
100 lbs. by buying direct from A instead of buying from a mer-
chant at B. For the grain will pay less for the single long haul
than for the two short hauls. But perhaps the town of B has for
many years enjoyed the trade of C, and there are large mills and
warehouses erected there. B will then say it is " discriminated
against," and will demand the privilege of "re-billing" or "mill-
ing in transit." That is to say, when a merchant or miller at B
ships to C grain, or flour made of grain, which he received from A,
the two roads consent to make a new way-bill and treat the ship-
ment as a through shipment from A to C. The road B C charges
but 8 cents, and the road A B gives B C one cent from the 10 it
originally collected. This involves much trouble and a loss of rev-
enue to the roads, and is, apparently, a discrimination against the
home products of B, but roads frequently do it where there is com-
petition at C by rival lines, and also at local points along their lines
to build up mills, distilleries, and factories of all kinds in competi-
tion with those located elsewhere. As yet the Interstate Com-
merce Commission has not pronounced upon this practice.

The question of differentials is as follows : Suppose there are
three lines, B, D, and E, between the cities A and C (Diagram,
page 176). B, being the shortest, will get most of the business when

176 RAILWAY MANAGEMENT.

rates are the same (10 cents, for instance) by each line. But D
and E insist upon participating, so they demand that B shall allow

them to operate lower or " dif-
ferential " rates — that is, B must
maintain his rate at 10 while al-
lowing D to charge only 8 and
E 6 cents, on account of their
disadvantages. So that a differential is practically a premium
offered for business by an inferior line.

The foregoing will illustrate how the rivalry of railroads with
each other complicates the making of rates. But even more diffi-
cult to manage is the rivalry of markets, and of products, and of
new methods which threaten property invested in old methods ; as,
for instance, the dressed-beef traffic from the West threatens the
investments in slaughter-houses and stock-yards in the East.

As the roads have found it necessary to act together in estab-
lishing running rules and regulations, so, in spite of all rivalries,
there must also be joint agreements reached in some way concern-
ing rates. Usually the roads serving a certain territory form an
" association," and their freight agents form " rate committees,"
which fix and publish joint rates. A tariff published by one of the
trunk lines from the Eastern cities forms a good example. As the
result of many long and bitter wars and many compromises, it has
been asfreed amonof these roads that the rates from New York to
Chicago shall form a basis for all other rates, and a scale has been
fixed showing the percentage of the Chicago rate to be used as
the rate to each important point in the West. Thus Pittsburgh,
Pa., is 60 per cent, of Chicago rate ; Indianapolis is 93 ; Vandalia,
1 16. The tariff above referred to gives an alphabetical list of some
5,000 towns reached over these roads, and opposite each town the
figure showing its percentage of the Chicago rate. The list be-
gins with Abanaka, O., 90, and ends with Zoar, O., 74.

The tariff next fjives what is called the " Trunk Line Classifica-
tion," which is a list comprising every article known to commerce,
in all the different conditions, shapes, and packages in which it is
offered for transportation, and opposite each article is given its as-
signed " class." This particular classification assigns every article
to one of six regular, or two special, classes, and the present rates

THE WAR OVER SPECIAL RATES. IJJ

to Chicago in cents per lOO lbs. are given as 75, 65, 50, 35, 30, 25,
26, 21. The hst of articles begins with Acetate of Lime, in car-
loads, 5th class ; in less quantities, 4th ; and ends with Zinc, in vari-
ous forms from ist to 6th — comprising in all nearly 6,000 articles.
From these tables any desired rate readily appears. Thus, 500
pounds of acetate of lime would cost, from New York to Zoar, O.,
74 per cent, of Chicago's 4th class rate, or 74 per cent, of 35 — say,
26 cents per 100 lbs., or $1.30.

There is also given in the tariff pamphlet a list of some 300
manufacturing towns in New England, from each of which the same
rates apply as from New York. So, on the whole, the pamphlet
gives rates on about 6,000 articles from 300 points of origin to
5,000 destinations.

In different sections of the country different classifications are
in use, some of them embracing twenty or more classes, and allow-
ing finer shades of difference between articles according to their
value, bulk, or many other varying conditions which determine the
class into which each article is put.

Great efforts have been made to bring about a uniformity of
classification over the whole United States, and the number of classi-
fications in extensive use has been reduced from a very large num-
ber to perhaps a dozen.

But absolute uniformity cannot be obtained under the widely
different conditions which prevail in different sections, without great
loss and sacrifices somewhere. A road, for instance, competing with
a river or canal must adjust the classification of the particular kinds
of freight best adapted to river or canal transportation so as to
secure the traffic in competition with boats. It must almost en-
tirely disregard bulk, value, and all other conditions upon which a
road not affected by this particular kind of competition arranges its
classification. Uniformity would either force one of them to lose
a legitimate business, or the other to reduce reasonable rates.

These rates and classifications are the battle-ground for all the
innumerable rivalries of trade and commerce. Every city is here
at war with every other city, every railroad with every other road,
every industry with those which rival it, and every individual ship-
per is a skirmisher for a little special rate, or advantage, all to him-
self. State legislatures and commissions, Congress, and the Inter-
12

178 RAILWAY MANAGEMENT.

state Commerce Commission are the heavy artillery which differ-
ent combatants manage to bring into the contest. On these rates
probably a million dollars are collected every day, yet it is very
rarely that the positive rates are fought over or complained of.
Their average is considerably below that of the average rates of
any other country in the world, even though other nations have
cheaper labor and denser populations. Fifty cents for carrying a
barrel of flour a thousand miles cannot be called exorbitant, and, in-
deed, the retail prices paid for bread and clothing would probably
not be reduced in the slightest were the transportation of all such
articles absolutely free. But the battle is over the comparative
rates to different points, over different routes, and for different com-
modities.*

Passenger rates are established in much the same manner as
freight rates. There are passenger-agents' associations and con-
ventions, and they fight as do the freight men over comparative
rates and differentials, and commissions to ao-ents. The last with-
in a few years has been a fearful abuse, and is not yet entirely
abolished. This will illustrate :

The road A B has two connections, C and D, to reach E. It
sells tickets over each at the same rate, and stands neutral between
them. But C agrees with A's ticket-seller that he will give him a
dollar for every ticket he can sell over C's line. D finds that he is

* An idea may be gained of the extent and minuteness of the classification, and of the constant
changes and adjustments, both of rates and classifications, perpetually going on from the following partial
list of subjects submitted to a recent meeting of the Rate Committee of the Southern Railway and
Steamship Association.

Rates. — Watermelon rates ; canned goods, Richmond to Atlanta ; rates on cement from Eastern
cities to Association territory ; rates on sulphuric acid from Atlanta ; rates from Atlanta, etc., to Cali-
fornia and Transcontinental terminals; special iron rates from Cincinnati, etc., to Carolina points;
rates on earthenware. East Liverpool to S. E. territory ; rates on cotton bags to Memphis from At-
lanta ; rates on fertilizers to Mobile, Ala. ; beer rates ; rates on special iron articles from Chattanooga ;
rates from the West to Camden, S C. ; rates from Evansville and Cairo, on business from points be-
tween Cairo, Evansville, and Chicago.

Classification. — Classification of paper twine ; beer packages, empty returned ; old machin-
ery returned for repairs ; steel car springs ; cotton softener ; iron safes or vaults weighing over 12,000
lbs. ; toys, etc. ; portable powder magazines ; coffee extract ; empty lard tierces returned ; bolts and
nuts in barrels ; box and barrel material ; glass oil bottles in tin jackets ; cast-iron radiators ; malle-
able iron castings ; dried beef; sausage ; straw paper ; burlaps ; tobacco stems ; hinges ; straw braids ;
lawn hose reels ; excelsior ; car-load rates.

Subjects not on the Regular List. — Demurrage rules ; adjustment of rates as per instruc-
tions from the Executive Board; rates from Cincinnati to Columbus, Eufaula, Opelika, etc. ; classifi-
cation ot iron tanks ; classification of whiting ; rates to Eufaula, Ala., from East ; rates to Milledgeville,
Ga. ; classification of cast-iron cane mills ; classification of locomotives and tenders.

COMMISSIONS TO PASSENGER AGENTS. 179

losing travel, and offers, privately, a larger commission. Neither
knows what the other is doing. The ticket-seller gets his regular

salary from A, and from C and
D often enormous sums as com-
missions, and is interested, not
in sending ignorant travellers over the line which might suit them
best, but over the one paying him the largest secret commission.
This should be held as against public policy, because it tends to
prevent reductions in rates to the public by robbing the roads of
much of their revenue, and it also demoralizes the officers who
handle a business which is practically but the giving away of large
sums of money as bribes.

There is another practice in the passenger business which is
unfair at the best and is the source of many abuses. It is charging
the same to the man with no baggage as to the man with a Sara-
toga trunk. If the baggage service were specially organized as a
trunk express, it could be more efficiently handled and without any
"baggage smashing," while the total cost of travelling to persons
with baggage would be no more than at present, and to those
without, much less.

As an illustration of the sort of abuses to which it is now liable,
I may cite a single case. I have known a merchant buy a lot of
twenty trunks for his trade, pack them all full of dry-goods, check
them to a city 1,000 miles away by giving a few dollars to baggage-
men, and himself buy a single ticket and go by a different route.
The roads which handled that baggage imagined that it belonged
to their passengers, and were never the wiser. While the baggage
service is free, no efficient checks can be provided against such frauds.

Essential parts of both freight and passenger departments are
the soliciting agents. They are like the cavalry pickets and scouts
of an army, scattered far and wide over the country and looking
after the interests of their lines, making personal acquaintances of
all shippers and travellers, advertising in every possible manner,
and reporting constantly all that the enemy — the rival lines — are
doing, and often a great deal that they are not. For the great
railroad wars usually begin in local skirmishes brought on by the
zeal of these pickets when the officers in command would greatly
prefer to live in peace.

l8o RAILWAY MANAGEMENT.

Besides their receipts from freight and passenger traffic, rail-
roads derive revenue also from the transportation of mails and ex-
press freight on passenger trains, from the sleeping-car companies,
and from news companies for the privilege of selling upon trains.
Of the total revenue about 70 per cent, is usually derived from
freight, 25 per cent, from passengers, and 5 per cent, from mail, ex-
press, sleeping-cars, and privileges. When it is considered that
high speed involves great risks and necessitates a far more perfect
roadway, more costly machinery and appliances, and a higher grade
and a greater number of employees, the fast passenger, mail, and
express traffic hardly seems at present to yield its due proportion
of income.

We have now followed the line of organization and manage-
ment through the physical maintenance of the road and rolling
stock, the safe handling of the trains, the establishment of rates,
and solicitation of business. It only remains to show how the rev-
enue is collected, how the expenses of operation are paid, and all
statistics of the business prepared. These duties are usually united
under charge of an officer called the comptroller, general auditor,
or some equivalent title. His principal subordinates, whose duties
are indicated by their titles, are the auditor of receipts, auditor of
disbursements, local treasurer, paymaster, and clerk of statistics.

The record of a single shipment of freight will illustrate meth-
ods, so far as limits will permit. A shipper sending freight for ship-
ment sends with each dray-load a " dray ticket" in duplicate, show-
ing the articles, weight, marks, and destination. If he has prepaid
the freight, or advanced any charges which are to be paid at desti-
nation, it is also noted on the dray ticket. When the drayman
reaches the outbound freight depot with his load, he is directed to
a certain spot where all freight for the same destination is being
collected for loading. A receiving clerk checks off his load against
the duplicate dray tickets, keeps one and files it, and gives the
drayman the other, receipted. In case of any loss arising after-
ward, the original dray ticket, made by the shipper himself, with
his marks and instructions, becomes a valuable record. When the
entire shipment has been delivered at the loading point, the ship-
per takes the dray tickets representing it to the proper desk, and

THEORY OF THE WAY-BILL. l8l

receives " a bill of lading." This bill of lading is made in triplicate.
The original and a duplicate are given to the shipper. He keeps
the last and sends the former to the consignee. It represents the
obligation of the railroad to transport and deliver the articles named
on it to the person named, or his assignee. It is negotiable, and
banks advance money upon it. But the shipper may still, by a
legal process, have the goods stopped en route should occasion
arise, as, for instance, by the bankruptcy of the consignee. The
goods are also liable for garnishments in certain cases, and there
is much railroad and commercial law which it behooves the officials
interested to be well posted in. When the goods arrive at desti-
nation the possession of the bill of lading is the evidence of the
consignee's right to receive them.

Now we will return to the shipment itself and see how it is
taken care of. The whole structure of the system of collecting
freight revenue, holding accountable all agents who assess it and
collect it, dividing it in the agreed proportions between all the rail-
roads, boats, bridges, wharves, and transfer companies who may
handle it in its journeys, even across the continent, and the tabulat-
ing of the immense mass of statistics which are kept to show, sepa-
rately, the quantities of freight of every possible class and variety,
by every possible route, and to and from every possible point of
destination and departure — all this system, neither the magnitude
nor the minute elaboration of which can be adequately described
within limits, is founded upon a paper called the way-bill.

The theory of the way-bill is that no car must move without
one accompanying it, describing it by its number and the initials of
the road owning it, and showing its points of departure and desti-
nation, its entire contents, with marks and weights of each pack-
age, consignors and consignees, freight and charges prepaid or to
be collected at destination, and the proportion of the same due to
each carrier or transfer in the line. And not only must a way-bill
accompany the car, but a duplicate of it must be sent immediately
and directly, by the office making the original, to the office of the
auditor of freight receipts. If the railroad is a member of any as-
sociation, as the Trunk Line Association in New York, another du-
plicate is sent to its office, that it may supervise all rates, and see
what each road is doing. The sum of all the way-bills is the total

1 82 RAILWAY MANAGEMENT.

of a road's freight business. To facilitate taking- copies they are
printed with an ink which will give several impressions on strong,
thin tissue-paper, forming " soft copies," while the " hard copy," or
original, goes with the freight to be checked against it when the
car is unloaded.

And while the original way-bill fulfils its important function of
conducting the freight to destination and delivery, the duplicate
which was forwarded directly to the auditor of freight receipts has
no less important purposes. It is the initial record that freight
has been earned, and it shows which agent of the company has
been charged with its collection. Before making any entries from
it its absolute correctness must be assured. For this purpose all
its figures are first checked by a rate-clerk, who is kept constantly
supplied by the traffic department with all current rates, classifica-
tions, and percentage tables by which through freights are divided.
These way-bills, coming in daily by hundreds and thousands, are
then the grist upon which the office of the auditor of receipts
grinds, and from which come forth the accounts with every agent,
showine his debits for freight received, and the consolidations
showing the freight earnings of the road. Agents remit the mon-
eys they collect direct to the treasurer, who makes daily reports
of the credits due to each one. A travelling auditor visits every
station at irregular intervals and checks the agent's accounts, re-
quiring him to justify any difference between his debits and credits
by an exhibit of undelivered freight.

The passenger earnings are obtained from daily reports by all
conductors of their collections, and by all ticket-sellers of tickets
sold. These reports are also checked by a passenger rate-clerk,
and the travelling auditor frequently examines and verifies the
tickets reported by agents as on hand unsold.

After the auditor of receipts has finished with the way-bills and
ticket reports, they go to the statistical department, where are
prepared the great mass and variety of statistics required by dif-
ferent officers to keep themselves thoroughly posted on the growth
or decrease of business of every variety, and from and to every
market reached by the road. Finally, the way-bills are filed away
for reference in case of claims for overcharges, or lost or damaged
goods.

THE COMPLEX ORGANIZATION. 1 83

The auditor of disbursements has supervision of all expendi-
tures of money, which is only paid out by the paymaster or treas-
urer upon vouchers and pay-rolls approved by proper authority.
The vouchers and pay-rolls then form the grist upon which his
office works, and from which are produced the credits to be given
all officers and agents who disburse money, and the classified
records of expenses, and comparison of the same with previous
months and years, and between different divisions.

I have thus outlined the skeleton of a railroad organization,
and suggested briefly the relations between its most important
parts, and some of the principles upon which its work is con-
ducted. The scheme of authority is outlined in the diagram on
page 185. But space is utterly lacking to clothe the skeleton with
flesh and go into the innumerable details and adjustments in-
volved in the economical and efficient discharge of all oi its
functions.

It seems a very simple matter for a railroad to place a barrel of
flour in a car, to carry it to its destination, and to collect fifty cents
for the service. It is done apparently so spontaneously that even
the fifty cents may seem exorbitant, and I have actually heard ap-
peals for free transportation on the ground that the cars were
going anyhow. So it also seems a Very simple matter for a man
to pick up a stone and place it on a wall. But this simple act in-
volves in the first place the existence of a bony frame, with joints,
sinews, and muscles, sustained by a heart, lungs, and digestive
system, with eyes to see, a brain to direct, nerves to give effect to
the will-power, and a thousand delicate adjustments of organs and
functions without which all physical exertion would soon cease.
Similarly, a railroad organized to respond efficiently to all the
varied demands upon it as a common carrier, by the public, and
as an investment by its owners, becomes almost a living organism.
That the barrel of flour may be safely delivered and the fifty cents
reach the company's treasury, and a part of it the stockholder's
pocket, the whole organization outlined in the diagram must thrill
with life, and every officer and employee, from president to car-
greaser, must discharge his special functions. All must be co-
ordinated, and the organization must have and use its eyes and

184 RAILWAY MANAGEMENT.

its ears, its muscle, its nerves, and its brain. It must immedi-
ately feel and respond to every demand of our rapidly advancing
civilization.

Each road usually has its own individuality and methods, and
its employees are animated with an esprit de corps, as are the sol-
diers in an army. There is much about the service that is attrac-
tive, and, on the whole, the wages paid railroad employees are
probably in excess of the rates for similar talent in any other in-
dustry, although labor in every other industry in the United
States is protected by high tariffs, while in this it is under the
incubus of legislation as oppressive as constitutional limits will
permit.

In Europe, where the pooling system practically prevails, the
service is much more stable than in the United States, and in
many instances there are pensions and insurances and disability
funds, and regular rules for promotion and retirement, and pro-
vision for the children of employees being brought into service in
preference to outsiders. Such relations between a company and
its employees as must result from arrangements of this character
are surely of great benefit to both. They are the natural out-
growth of stability of business. Their most advanced form is
found in France, where each road is practically protected from
dangerous competition by means of a division of territory. In the
United States we are still in the midst of a fierce competition for
territory and business, and, as pooling is forbidden, the railroad
companies will be in unstable equilibrium until consolidation takes
place. As that goes on, and large and rich corporations are
formed, with prospects of stability in management and in business,
we may hope to see similar relations established between our com-
panies and their employees. Already there is a beginning upon
some of the largest roads, such as the Baltimore & Ohio and the
Pennsylvania Central. But the ground still needs preparation also
on the employees' side, for our American spirit is aggressive and
is sometimes rather disposed to resent, as interfering with its in-
dependence, any paternal relations with a corporation. And as we
have before found railroad management in intimate contact with
every problem of finance and commerce, it is here confronted with
the social and industrial questions involved in labor unions and

— Comptroller-

— Purchasing Agent-

— Auditor of Receipts

— Auditor of Disbursements

— Travelling Auditor

— Local Treasurers
— Local Paymasters
— Clerk of Statistics

j Superintendent of i
' ( Transportation \

-Division Superintendents —

Superintendent of |
Machinery )

Superintendent of | _
Roadway )

-Local Storekeepers

— Station Agents-

— Receiving Clerks and Laborers

— Loading Clerks and Laborers

—Billing Clerks

— Discharging Clerks and Laborers

— Delivery Clerks

— Collectors — Yard Engines

— Train Master -

-Master Mechanic-

-Yard Master

-Train Despatchers
-Operators
-Conductors
-Trainmen

I Foreman Ma- \^
< chine Shop ) "

— Switchmen
— Brakemen

-i

Foreman Car |
shop j "

— Road Master-

( Supervisors of /
" I Bridges f "

— Supervisors of Road —

— Car Accountant-

( Lost Car
'^ Agents

— Engine Runners

— Firemen

— Hostlers and Cleaners
— Mechanics
— Laborers

— Car Inspectors
— Greasers
— Mechanics
— Laborers

— Bridge Foremen
—Watchmen

— Carpenter Gangs
— Mason Gangs

— Section Foremen

— Gangs and Track Walkers

—Wood and Water Tenders

— Floating Gangs

— Construction Trains

— Travelling Agents

__ ( General Passen- ) _'_T,ocal Agents
I ger Agent I i

—Rate and Division Clerks

—Traffic Manager Claim Agent

I — Travelling Agents

_ (General Freight I _l_Local Agents
\ Agent ( J

— Rate and Division Clerks
Diagram showing the Skeleton of a Railroad Organization, and Lines of Responsibility.

1 86 RAIL WA Y MAN A GEMENT.

problems of co-operation. As to the results, we can only say that,
as war is destructive, no state of warfare, even between capital and
labor, can be permanent. Peaceful solutions must prevail in the
end, and progress toward stability, peace, and prosperity in rail-
road operation and ownership will be progress toward the happy
solution of many vexed social questions.

SAFETY IN RAILROAD TRAVEL.

By H. G. PROUT.

The Possibilities of Destruction in the Great Speed of a Locomotive — The Energy of
Four Hundred Tons Moving at Seventy-five Miles an Hour — A Look ahead from a
Locomotive at Night — Passengers Killed and Injured in One Year — Good Disci-
pline the Great Source of Safety — The Part Played by Mechanical Appliances—
Hand-brakes on Old Cars — How the Airbrake Works — The Electric Brake — Im-
provements yet to be Made — Engine Driver Brakes — Two Classes of Signals : those
which Protect Points of Danger, and those which Keep an Interval between Trains
on the Same Track — The Semaphore — Interlocking Signals and Switches — Electric
Annunciators to Indicate the Movements — The Block Signal System — Protection for
Crossings — Gates and Gongs — How Derailment is Guarded Against — Safety Bolts
-Automatic Couplers — The Vestibule as a Safety Appliance — Car Heating and
Lishting.

N 1829, when Ericsson's little locomotive " Nov-
elty," weighing two and a half tons, ran a short
distance at the rate of thirty miles an hour, a
writer of the time said that " it was the most
wonderful exhibition of human daring and human
skill that the world had ever seen." To-day
trains weighing four hundred tons thunder by at
seventy-five miles an hour, and we hardly note
their passage. We take their safety as a matter of course, and sel-
dom think of the tremendous possibilities of destruction stored up
in them. But seventy-five miles an hour is one hundred and ten feet
a second, and the energy of four hundred tons moving at that rate
is nearly twice as great as that of a 2,000-pound shot fired from a
100-ton Armstrong gun. This is the extreme of weight and speed
now reached in passenger service, and, indeed, is very rarely at-
tained, and then but for short distances ; but sixty miles is a com-
mon speed, and a rate of forty or fifty miles is attained daily on

1 88 SAFETY IN RAILROAD TRAVEL.

almost every railroad in the country. We cannot tell from the
time-tables how fast we travel. The schedule times do not indi-
cate the delays that must be made up by spurts between stations.
The traveller who is curious to know just how fast he is going,
and likes the stimulus of thinking that he is in a little danger, may
find amusement in taking the time between mile-posts ; and when
these are not to be seen, he can often get the speed very accu-
rately by counting the rails passed in a given time. This may be
done by listening attentively at an open window or door. The
regular clicks of the wheels over the rail-joints can usually soon be
sino-led out from the other noises, and counted. The number of

rail-lengths passed in twenty seconds is almost exactly the num-
ber of miles run in an hour.

But if one wants to get a lively sense of what it means to rush
through space at fifty or sixty miles an hour, he must get on a
locomotive. Then only does he begin to realize what trifles stand
between him and destruction. A few months ago a lady sat an
hour in the cab of a locomotive hauling a fast express train over a
mountain road. She saw the narrow bright line of the rails and
the slender points of the switches. She heard the thunder of the
bridges, and saw the track shut in by rocky bluffs, and new perils
suddenly revealed as the engine swept around sharp curves. The
experience was to her magnificent, but the sense of danger was
almost appalling. To have made her experience complete, she
should have taken one engine ride in a dark and rainy night. In
a daylight ride on a locomotive, we come to realize how slender is
the rail and how fragile its fastenings, compared with the ponder-
ous machine which they carry. We see what a trifling movement
of a switch makes the difference between life and death. We learn
how short the look ahead must often be, and how close danger
sits on either hand. But it is only in a night ride that we learn
how dependent the engineer must be, after all, upon the faithful
vigilance of others. We lean out of the cab and strain our eyes
in vain to see ahead. The head-light reveals a few yards of glis-
tening rail, and the ghostly telegraph poles and switch targets.
Were a switch open, a rail taken up, or a pile of ties on the track,
we could not possibly see the danger in time to stop. The
friendly twinkle of a signal lamp, shining faintly, red or white, tells

Danger Ahead !

THE CHANCES OF ACCIDENT. 191

the engineer that the way is blocked or is clear, and he can only
rush along- trusting that no one of a dozen men on whom his life
depends has made a mistake.

When one reflects upon the destructive energy which is con-
tained in a swiftly moving train, and sees its effects in a wreck ;
when he understands how many minute mechanical details, and
how many minds and hands must work together in harmony to in-
sure its safe arrival at its destination, he must marvel at the safety
of railroad travel. In the year 1887, the passengers killed in train
accidents in the United States were 207 ; those injured were 916.
The employees killed were 406, and injured 890."" These were in
train accidents only, it must be remembered, and do not include
persons killed at crossings, or while trespassing on the track, or
employees killed and injured making up trains. As will be seen
later, the casualties in these two classes are much greater than
those from train accidents. The total passenger movement in
1887 was equal to one passenger travelling 10,570,306,710 miles.
That is to say, a passenger might have travelled 51,000,000 miles
before being killed, or 12,000,000 miles before being injured. Or
he might travel day and night steadily at the rate of 30 miles an
hour for 194 years before being killed. Mark Twain would doubt-
less conclude from this that travelling by rail is much the safest
profession that a man could adopt. It is unquestionably true that
it is safer than travelling by coach or on horseback, and probably
it is safer than any other method of getting over the earth's sur-
face that man has yet contrived, unless it may be by ocean steamer.
If one wants anything safer he must walk.

In considering the means that have been adopted to make rail-
road travel safe, it must be remembered that there are very few
devices in use that are purely safety appliances. Nearly every-
thing used on a railroad has an economic or mechanical value, and
if it promotes safety that is but part of its duty. The great source
of safety in railroad working is good discipline. Of all the train
accidents which have happened in the United States in the last

* The statistics of train accidents used in this article are those collected and published monthly for
many years by the Railroad Gazette. In the nature of things such statistics cannot be absolutely accu-
rate, but no others are in existence for the whole country. These are sufficiently accurate for all
practical purposes.

192

SAFETY IN RAILROAD TRA VEL.

Stephenson's Steam Driver-brake. Patented 1833.

sixteen years, nearly ten per cent, were due to negligence in oper-
ation, and seventeen per cent, were unexplained. Of these no
doubt many were due to negligence, and many that were attributed

to defects of track and equipment
would have been prevented, had
men done their duty. The value
of mechanical appliances for safe-
ty is perhaps as often overrated
as underrated. Undoubtedly the
best, and in the long run the
cheapest, practice will be that
which combines in the hiofhest
degree both elements — disci-
plined intelligence and perfection of mechanical details.

First in importance among the mechanisms which demand at-
tention here is the brake. From the beginning of railroads the
necessity for brakes was apparent, and in 1833 Robert Stephenson
patented a steam driver-brake (the brake on the driving-wheels).
This was but four years after the Rainhill trials, which settled the
question of the use of locomotives on the Liverpool & Manchester
Railroad. This
early brake con-
tained the princi-
ple of the driver-
brake, operated
by steam or air,
which has in late
year-s come into
wide use. The
apparatus is so
simple that the
cut representing
it hardly needs
explanation. Ad-
mission of steam
into the cylinder

raised the piston, which through a lever and rod raised the toggle-
joint between the brake-blocks and forced them against the treads

Driver-brake on Modern Locomotive.

EARLY FORMS OF CAR-BRAKES.

193

English Screw-brake, on the Birmingham and Gloucester
Road, about 1840.

of the wheels. Essentially the same method of applying the re-
tarding force can now be seen on most passenger engines, and
often, but not so commonly, on engines for freight service. For
various reasons Stephenson's
driver-brake did not come into
use.

Innumerable devices for car-
brakes have been invented, but
they divide themselves into two
groups : those in which the re-
tarding force is applied to the circumference of the wheel, and
those in which it is applied to the rail. The class of brakes in
which the retarding force is applied to the rail has been little used,
although various contrivances have been devised to transfer a por-
tion of the weight of the car from the wheels to runners sliding on
the rails. There are many objections to the principle, and it will
probably never again be seriously considered by railroad men.
The apparatus is necessarily heavy, the power required to apply
it is great, and its action is slow. When brought into action it is
not as efficient as the brake applied to the tread of the wheels, and
the transfer of the load increases the chance of derailment.

Many different devices have been used to apply the brake-
shoes to the wheels, and various sources of power. Hand-power
brakes have been used, worked by
levers, or by screws, or by winding
a chain on a staff; or, in still other
forms, springs wound up by hand
are released and apply the brakes
by their pressure. The momen-
tum of the train has been employed to wind up chains by the rota-
tion of the axles. This is the principle of the chain-brake, very
much used in England. This same source of power has been uti-
lized by causing the drawheads, when thrust in as the cars run to-
gether, to wind up the brake-chains. Hydraulic pressure has been
used in cylinders under the cars ; and finally air, either under pres-
sure or acting against a vacuum, has been found to be the most
useful of all means of operating train-brakes. Early forms of hand-
brakes are seen in the illustrations of some old English cars. The
13

English Foot-brake on the Truck of a Great West-
ern Coach, about 1840.

194 SAFETY IN RAILROAD TRAVEL.

coach shows a hand-brake operated by a screw and system of
levers. By turning a crank the guard puts in operation the system
of levers which apply the brake with great force ; but the opera-
tion is slow. The common hand-brake of the United States is too
well known to need illustration. With this brake a chain is wound
around the foot of a staff, and the pull of this chain is transmitted
by a rod to the brake-levers. This apparatus is simple, and when
a train is manned by a sufficient number of smart brakemen it is
capable of doing good service. This simple form of hand-brake
will probably be used in freight-car service until it is replaced by
air-brakes, and the various forms of chain and momentum brakes
do not appear likely to be much more used in the future than they
have been in the past. Therefore, no further space will be given
to them.

The expression, electric brake, is now often heard, and requires
a word of explanation. There are various forms of so-called elec-
tric brakes which are practicable, and even efficient, working de-
vices. In none of them, however, does electricity furnish the
power by which the brakes are applied ; it merely puts in opera-
tion some other power. In one type of electric brake the active
braking force is taken from an axle of each car. A small friction-
drum is made fast to the axle. Another friction-drum hung from
the body of the car swings near the axle. If, when the car is in
motion, these drums are brought in contact, that one which hangs
from the car takes motion from the other, and may be made to
wind a chain on its shaft. Winding in this chain pulls on the
brake-levers precisely as if it had been wound on the shaft of the
hand-brake. The sole function of electricity in this form of brake
is to brinof the friction-drums together. In a French brake which
has been used experimentally for some years with much success,
an electric current, controlled by the engine-driver, energizes an
electro-magnet which forms part of the swinging-frame in which the
loose friction-pulley is carried. This electro-magnet being vital-
ized, is attracted toward the axle, thus bringing the friction-drums
in contact. In an American brake lately exhibited on a long freight
train, a smaller electro-magnet is used, but the same end is accom-
plished by multiplying the power by the intervention of a lever and
wheel. The other type of so-called electric brake is that in which

ELECTRICITY APPLIED TO BRAKES. 1 95

the motive power is compressed air, and the function of the elec-
tric device is simply to manipulate the valves under each car, by
which the air is let into the brake-cylinder or allowed to escape,
thus putting on or releasing the brakes. All of these devices have
this advantage, that, whatever the length of the train, the applica-
tion of the brakes is simultaneous on all the wheels, and stops can
be made from high speed with little shock. Up to two years ago
it seemed as If this advantasfe mio-ht be a controllinof one, and com-
pel the introduction of electric brakes for freight service. Since
then the new " quick-acting" form of the air-brake has been devel-
oped, by which the brakes are applied on the rear of a fifty-car
train in two seconds, and there is no longer any necessity to turn
to other devices. It is doubtful, therefore, if the additional com-
plication of electricity is widely introduced into brake mechanism
for many years, if ever.

It is now universally held that the brake, both for freight and
for passenger service, must be continuous ; that is, it must be ap-
plied to every wheel of every car of the train from some one point,
and ordinarily that point must be the engineer's cab. With the
valve of an efficient continuous brake constantly under his left
hand, the engine-driver can play with the heaviest and fastest train.
Without that instrument his work is far more anxious, and much
less certain.

The continuous brake which to day prevails all over the world,
is the automatic air-brake. In the United States much the largest
part of the rolling stock used in passenger service is equipped
with the Westinghouse automatic brake. A few roads peculiarly
situated use the Eames vacuum-brake. That brake is used on the
elevated roads of New York, and on the Brooklyn bridge roads.
The Westinghouse brake is also largely used in England, on the
Continent of Europe, in India, Australia, and South America. In
the United States it is being rapidly applied to freight cars also.
This brake, therefore, being the highest development of the auto-
matic air-brake, and the one most widely used, will be briefly de-
scribed, as best representing the most approved type of the most
important of all safety appliances.

The general diagram which is given on pages 196-97 shows
all of the principal parts as applied to a locomotive, a tender, and a

196

SAFETY IN RAILROAD TRAVEL.

Plan and Elevation of Air-brake Apparatus, — Reser.

passenger car. The diagram is reduced from one prepared by
Mr. M. N. Forney for a new edition of his " Catechism of the
Locomotive." In the plan view are shown very clearly the hand-
wheels, the chains, the rods, and the levers by which the brake
is applied by hand. In passenger service the hand-wheels are
rarely used, but they are retained for convenience in switching
cars in the yard, and for those rare emergencies in which the air-
brakes fail. Under the middle of the car the ordinary pull-rod of
the old hand-brake is cut and two levers are inserted. One lever
is connected with the brake-cylinder, and the other with the pis-
ton which slides in that cylinder. When air is admitted to the
cylinder the piston is driven out, and the brakes are applied
exactly as they would be were the chains wound up by turning the
hand-wheels. Compressed air is supplied to the cylinder from the
reservoir near it, in which pressure is maintained at from 70 to 80
pounds per square inch by a pump placed on one side of the locomo-
tive. The pump fills the main reservoir on the engine, and also the
car-reservoirs, by means of the train-pipe which extends under all
the cars. When the brakes are off there is a full pressure of air in
all of the car-reservoirs and train-pipes. It is a reduction of the
pressure in the train-pipes which causes the brakes to be applied.

THE WESTINGHOUSE AIR-BRAKE.

197

— iii

i ,— —

r=^

i / ft

D U !

voirs and piping in solid black ; brake gear shaded.

This fact must be borne in mind, for it is on this principle that
the automatic action of the brakes depends. If a train parts, or if
the air leaks out of the train-pipe, the brakes go on. This auto-
matic principle is a vital one in most safety appliances, and it is
secured in the case of the air-brake by one of the most ingenious
little devices that man ever contrived, that is, the triple valve, which
is placed in the piping system between the brake-cylinder and
the car-reservoir. This triple valve has passages to the brake-
cylinder, to the car-reservoir, to the train-pipe, and to the atmos-
phere. Which of these passages are open and which are closed
depends upon the position of a piston inside of the triple valve,
and the position of that piston is determined by the difference in
air-pressure on either side of it. Thus, when the pressure in the
train-pipe is greater than that in the car-reservoir, the triple valve
piston is forced over, say to the left, a communication is opened
from the train-pipe to the car-reservoir, and the air pressure in the
latter is restored from the main reservoir on the locomotive. At
the same time a passage is opened from the brake-cylinder to the
atmosphere, the compressed air escapes, the brake-piston is driven
back by a spring, and the brakes are released. If the pressure in
the train-pipe is reduced, the triple-valve piston is driven to the

198 SAFETY IN RAILROAD TRAVEL.

right (we will assume) by the pressure from the car-reservoir, the
passage to the atmosphere is closed, air flows freely from the car-
reservoir to the brake-cylinder, and the brakes are applied.

The function of the engineer's valve is to control these opera-
tions. Naturally the runner's left hand rests on this instrument,
which is fixed to the back head of the boiler. To apply the brakes
he turns the handle to such a position as to allow air to escape
from the train-pipe ; to release, he turns it to allow air to pass
from the main or locomotive reservoir into the train-pipe, and
thence into the car-reservoir. It is hardly necessary to say that
the operation of the brake, which has been described for one car,
is practically simultaneous throughout the train. The brakes on
the driving-wheels of the engine are also automatically applied at
the same time as those of the cars and the tender.

In the plan on page 197 the several different positions of the
handle of the engineer's valve are indicated, and amono- them the
service-stop and the emergency-stop positions. The quickness of
the stop can be to some degree controlled by the rapidity with
which the air-pressure in the train-pipe is reduced. To make a
stop in the shortest possible time, the runner moves the throttle
lever with his right hand and shuts off steam, and with his left
hand moves the handle of the engineer's valve to the emergency
position, then pulls the sand-rod handle to let sand down to the
rails, and finally, if the engine is not fitted with driver-brakes, he
must reverse the engine and again open the throttle. These
movements must be made in order and with precision ; and to
make them instantly and without mistake in the face of sudden
danger requires coolness and presence of mind. It sometimes
happens that an engine-runner reverses his engine before shutting
off steam, in which case the cylinder-heads will very likely be
blown out and the engine be instantly disabled. Then, if there
are no driver-brakes, the locomotive is worse than useless, for in-
stead of aiding in making the stop, its momentum adds to the work
to be done by the train-brakes. Again, if the air-pressure in the
brake-cylinders is so high, and the adjustment of the levers such
that an instant application of the full pressure will stop the rotation
of the wheels, and cause them to slide on the rails, the stop will
take longer than if the wheels continued to revolve. The maximum

IMPROVEMENTS SUGGESTED. 199

braking effect is obtained when the pressure on the wheels is as
great as it can be without causing them to shde, and it may hap-
pen that a quicker stop can be made by putting the engineer's
valve to the service-stop position than by trying to make an
emergency-stop. The runner must, therefore, be familiar with the
special conditions of his brakes, and must have that kind of mind
which can be depended upon to work clearly and quickly in a
moment of tremendous responsibility. Fortunately, such minds
are not very rare. The world is full of heroes who want only
discipline, habit, and opportunity.

The pressure of air in the main reservoir and the train-pipe is
maintained by the air-pump on the locomotive, the speed of which
is automatically regulated by an ingenious governor. It is the
throbbing of this vigilant machine which one hears during short
stops at stations. The air-pressure has been reduced in applying
the brakes, and the governor has set the pump at work.

All of those parts of the air-brake apparatus which are shown
in the diagram (pp. 196-97) can be easily seen on a train stand-
ing at a station ; but the curious traveller must be careful not to
mistake the gas-tank carried under some cars for the car-reser-
voir. The gas-tank is about eight feet long ; the car-reservoir is
about thirty-three inches.

Although the air-brake can almost talk, it is still not perfect.
There are several fortunes to be made yet in improving it. For
instance, it is desirable, in descending long and steep grades, that
the brake-pressure should be just sufficient to control the speed of
the train, and should be steadily applied ; otherwise the descent
will be by a succession of jerks which may become dangerous.
With the automatic the brakes must be occasionally released to re-
charge the reservoirs, or when the speed of the train is too much
reduced ; and it is difficult to keep a uniform speed. So far, the
means devised to overcome this difficulty and keep a constant and
light pressure on the wheels have been thought too costly or com-
plicated for general use. With hand-brakes long trains are con-
trolled by the brakes of but a few of the cars in any one train. It
follows that in the descent of grades the braked wheels must often
run for miles with the pressure as great as it can be without sliding
the wheels. The rim of the wheel is rapidly heated by the friction

200 SAFETY IN RAILROAD TRA VEL.

of the brake-shoe, and the unequal expansion of the heated and the
unheated parts of the wheel causes a fracture. This is why so
many broken car-wheels are found at the foot of grades — of all
places the worst for such an accident to happen. With " straight
air," that is, with the pressure from the main reservoir, or the air-
pump, going directly to the brake-cylinder, the engineer can apply
the brakes to all the wheels of his train simultaneously, and with
great delicacy of graduation ; and by turning a three-way cock
which is placed in the piping of each car, the air can be used
" straight." This is regularly done on some mountain-roads. At
summits the trains are stopped and the brakes are changed from
"automatic" to "straight." This practice is dangerous, how-
ever, and is not approved by the best brake-experts, for if a hose
bursts, or through some other accident the air in the train-pipe es-
capes, the brakes are useless. The automatic arrangement by
which a reduction of air-pressure in the train-pipe applies the
brakes, as previously explained, is much preferred, although no en-
tirely satisfactory means has yet been devised for automatically
regulating the air-pressure in the brake-cylinder.

There is not space here to enter into the history of the air-
brake. It was first practically applied to passenger trains in 1868.
The first great epoch in its subsequent development was the inven-
tion, by Mr. George Westinghouse, Jr., of the triple valve. The
introduction of the triple valve at once reduced the time of full
application of the brake for a ten-car train from twenty-five sec-
onds to about eight seconds. This means, at forty miles an hour,
a reduction by more than one thousand feet in the distance in
which a train can be stopped. The next great epoch in the history
of the air-brake was made by the celebrated Burlington brake-trials
of 1886 and 1887. These trials were undertaken by a committee
of the Master Car-builders' Association, to determine whether or
not there was any power-brake fit for freight service. For general
freight service the brake must be capable of arresting a very long
train, with cars loosely coupled, running at a fair average passen-
ger speed, without producing objectionable shocks in the rear of
the train. The two series of trials were carried out in July, 1886,
and May, 1887. The competing brake-companies brought to the
trials trains of fifty cars each, equipped with their devices. Skilled

AIR-BRAKES FOR FREIGHT TRAINS. 20I

mechanical engineers from various railroad and private companies
assisted both years. These trials were most exhaustive, and have
contributed more to the art of braking than any that preceded or
have followed them. The first year's trials developed the fact that
the air-brakes could not be applied on the rear of a fifty-car train
in less than eighteen seconds, whereas the head of a train moving
twenty miles an hour could be completely stopped in fifteen seconds.
The result was that disastrous collisions between the cars of any
one train were produced in the act of stopping. Men in the rear
cars were thrown down and injured, and much damage was done
to the cars. At the end of nineteen days the brake-companies
went home to work another year over the new problem. In 1887
they reappeared on the same ground, and in eighteen days proved
that no simple air-brakes, as then operated, could prevent disas-
trous shocks in a long train ; but it was shown that by bringing
in electricity to actuate the air-valves, the application of the brakes
could be made practically simultaneous throughout the train. Mr.
Westinghouse, however, during the summer following, made such
modifications in the triple valve and in the train-pipe that he suc-
ceeded in applying the brakes throughout a fifty-car train in two
seconds. That settled the matter. He at once equipped a train
of fifty cars, and in October and November, 1887, that train made
a journey of about three thousand miles, making exhibition stops
at various cities. The journey was a splendid and conclusive dem-
onstration that the air-brake is now a thoroughly efficient and
reliable contrivance for freight as well as for passenger service.
The result has been a very rapid application of the new quick-
acting brake to freight cars. The performance of this train was to
railroad men most impressive. A freight train of fifty cars is about
one-third of a mile long. To see such a train, running forty miles
an hour, smoothly stopped in one-third of its own length, without
shock or fuss, was an object-lesson that no one could fail to under-
stand or to remember. Some of the stops made by this train will
give a fair notion of the relative power of hand- and air-brakes
for quick stops. The following figures are averages of stops made
in six different cities. They give the distances run in feet from
the instant of applying the brakes till the train was brought to
a stand-still :

202

SAFETY IN RAILROAD TRA VEL.

Feet

Hand-brakes, 50 cars, 20 miles an hour 794

Air-brakes, 50 cars, 20 miles an hour 166

Air-brakes, 50 cars, 40 miles an hour 581

Air-brakes, 20 cars, 20 miles an hour 99

With twenty cars at twenty miles an hour even shorter stops
were made than those recorded above. In the BurUngton trials
the hand-brake stops, with fifty-car trains at forty miles an hour,
were made in from two thousand five hundred to three thousand
feet.

The air-brake is somewhat complicated, but the complicated
mechanism is strong, has little movement, and is securely protected
from dirt and the elements. It is therefore little liable to derange-
ment. It is, however, becoming better understood that brake-gear
must be good, and employees carefully instructed in the care and
use of the air-brake to get its best results ; and in recent years
two or three elaborate instruction-cars have been fitted up for the

education of the enginemen and
trainmen.

Space does not permit more
than an allusion to driver-brakes,
which are operated by steam
and by air. The forms in con-
stant use are made by the
Eames, the American, the West-
inghouse, and the Beals com-
panies. Nor can much be said
here of the water-brake, used
to some extent on locomotives
working heavy grades. It con-
sists of a simple arrangement of
admitting a little hot water, in-
stead of steam, to the cylinders.
The engine is reversed and the
cylinder-cocks are opened to

Dwarf Semaphores and Split Switch. . . ,-p>, t i i

the air. I he cyhnders then act
as air-pumps, and the retarding effect is due to the back pressure.
The use of the water is to prevent overheating of the parts.

SEMAPHORE SIGNALS.

20'

pr's

If it is important to have efficient means of stopping trains, it is
scarcely less important to have timely information of the need of
stopping them. To give such information is the function of sig-
nals, which, among safety appliances, must
stand next after brakes. Sigrials fall nat-
urally into two great classes : Those
which protect points of danger and govern
the movements of engines in yards, and
those which keep an interval of space be-
tween two trains running on one track.
For the protection of switches, crossings,
junctions, and the like, signals in immense
variety have been used, and, unfortunate-
ly, are still used ; but
in the last ten or fif-
teen years the sem-
aphore signal has
become the general
standard in the
United States, as it
long has been in
England. This con-
sists of a board,
called the blade or
arm, pivoted on the
post, and back of the
pivot is a heavy cast-
ing which carries a
colored glass lens,
either green or red.
On the post is hung
a lantern. The danger position is with the blade horizontal. In
this position the lens is in front of the lamp, and the light shows
red or green, as the case may be. The safety position is with the
blade hanging about sixty degrees from the horizontal. In this
position the light of the lantern shows white. Red is the universal
danger color, and green the color of caution. Therefore, a sema-
phore signal at a point of danger shows by day a blade painted

Semaphore Signal with Indicato-j.

(One arm governs several tracks. The number of the track, which is clear i

shown on the indicator disk.)

204

SAFETY IN RAILROAD TRAVEL.

red, with the end of the blade cut square. At night it shows a
red light. At a position some distance from the point of actual
danger, but where it is desirable to warn an engine-runner that
he is likely to find the danger signal against him, a caution signal
is placed. This is a semaphore blade painted green, with the end
notched in a V-shape, or, as it is called, a fish-tail. At night this
signal shows a green light. There is nothing very remarkable
about a piece of board arranged to wag up and down on a pin
stuck through a post, but it is wonderful how much of good brains
and good breath have been expended in getting these boards to
wag harmoniously, and in getting railroad officers to understand
that a plain board, having two possible positions, is a better signal
than any more complicated form.

The arrangement of a group of signals and switches in such a

way that their movements are made
mutually dependent one upon the
other, and so that it is impossible to
make these movements in any but
prearranged sequences, is called, in
railroad vernacular, "interlocking,"
and in this sense the word will be
used here. Interlocking has become
a special art. The objects which it
is sought to accomplish by interlock-
ing, and the admirable way in which
those objects are attained, may best
be understood from an actual exam-
ple. For that purpose we shall take
a double-track junction completely
equipped with signals, facing-point
locks, and derailing switches (p. 205).
A general view of an interlocking
frame was given on page 171 of this
volume. Two levers from such a
frame are here shown. The normal
position of the levers is forward, as lever A. When pulled back,
as lever B, the lever is said to be reversed.

Let it be supposed that a main-line train is to be passed east-

Section of Saxby & Farmer Interlocking Machine
(Showing two levers and locking mechanism. A
normal, B is reversed.)

FACING-POINT LOCKS.

205

ward in the direction of the arrow B. The first movement of the
signalman in the signal-tower would naturally be to lower signals

*Tri

Diagram of a Double-track Junction with Interlocked Switches and
Signals.

A is the west-bound main line track ; B, the east-bound ; C and D are the west-
bound and east-bound branch-tracks. Nos. 1, 10, and 12 are distant signals; Nos. 2.

9, and II, home signals ; Nos. 3, 6, and 8, facing-pomt locks ; and Nos. 4. 5, and 7 , m

are switches. The levers which move all of these parts are placed side by side in a frame in the signal-tower. It will
be noticed that No. 7 is a switch designed merely to derail an engine on track A. A similar switch is provided on
track C, and is worked by the same lever which works junction switch No. 5. In the sketch all levers are supposed to
stand in iheir •' normal " position, all signals are a' danger, and the switches are set for the main line. The switches
themselves are nut locked in this position < f the facing-point lock levers.

I and 2. He attempts to pull over lever i, but cannot move it,
and, in spite of any effort or ingenuity on his part, that signal re-
mains at danpfer. The reason is that lever 2 when normal locks
lever i normal. The logic of this will be at once apparent.
Clearing signal i is an indication to the engineer that the way is
clear, and that he may pass the junction at speed. So long as this
signal (which, it must be remembered, is a cajition signal) stands
at danger he knows that he may pass it, but must be ready to stop
before he reaches No. 2, the home-signal. Therefore No. i must
never be lowered till all is arranged for passing the junction at
speed. As the signalman cannot lower signal i, he attempts to
lower signal 2. Again he finds that he cannot budge the lever.
It is locked by lever No. 3. This lever works a facing-point lock,
which must be described just at this point (p. 206).

The front rod of the switch, that is-, the rod which connects the
points of the two moving rails of the switch, is pierced with two
holes placed a distance apart just equal to the throw of the switch.
In front of these holes is a bolt which is worked by a lever in the
sio-nal-tower. After the switch is set the lock-lever is reversed
and the bolt enters one of the holes, thus securely locking the
switch in position. There is one other interesting feature of this
facing-point lock. It has happened very often that a switch has
been thrown under a moving train, splitting the train and derailing
more or less of it. This class of accidents is especially likely to
happen when train movements are very frequent, and may be pre-
vented by the use of the " detector-bar." This is a bar about forty

2o6

SAFETY IN RAILROAD TRAVEL.

Split Switches with Facing-point Locks and Detector-bars.

(The rod on the right of the track is the mechanical connection to, the lever in the signal-tower by which the locks and

detector-bars are moved.)

feet long, placed alongside the rail, and carried on swinging links,
like those of a parallel ruler, in such a way that any effort to move
the bar lengthwise of the rail must raise it above the top of the
rail. This bar is moved by the same lever which moves the lock-
insf-bolt. So lone as there is a wheel on the rail above the detec-
tor-bar it cannot be moved, therefore the locking-bolt cannot be
withdrawn, and the switch cannot be moved until the train has
passed completely off it.

THE USE OF DERAILING SWITCHES.

207

— J- -"y" "^ ^s;* ; -

Derailing Switch,

We left the signalman trying to lower signal No. 2 ; vainly, be-
cause No. 3 lever was still normal and the switch unlocked (Dia-
gram, p. 205). Probably he would not have begun his operations
in the bungling way that has
been supposed, but would have

first reversed lever 3. That
locks the switch by the fac-
ing-point lock, and locks also
switeh-lever 4 in the frame in
the signal-tower and releases
lever 2. Then he reverses
lever 2. That locks lever 3
and releases lever i. Then he
reverses lever i, which locks
lever 2. Now the way is made
for a train to pass east on the
main line, and the signals are
clear. The last siofnal could
not have been lowered until

the chain of operations was complete ; none of the levers can now
be moved until lever i is again put normal and signal i made
to show danger. There is one point of great danger in this partic-
ular train-movement which has not been mentioned ; that is, the
crossing of main-line east-bound track B by the branch-line west-
bound track C. It will be noticed that with the levers normal, de-
railing switch 5 is open, and It is impossible for a locomotive to
pass beyond it. Lever 5 is interlocked in the tower with lever 4
in such a way that, before 5 can be reversed to let a train pass
west from C, lever 4 must be reversed to trap any train on B and
turn it down the branch D. It must not be understood that the
use of " derailers " is universal. In fact, they are not recommended
by the best signal engineers, except in special conditions. In the
absence of derailer No. 5, signals 11 and 12 would be interlocked
with switch 4, so that, so long as that switch stands open for the
main line a clear sio-nal cannot be criven to a train cominor west on
C. It will be noticed that signal 2 carries two semaphores on one
post. The upper one is for the main line and the lower one for
the branch. Both are operated by one lever, 2, and whether re-

2o8 SAFETY IN RAILROAD TRA VEL.

versing lever 2 lowers the main-line signal or the branch signal
depends on the position of the switch. The switch is made to pick
out its signal by an ingenious but very simple little arrangement,
called a selector, which is placed somewhere in the line of ground
connections.

It would be an interesting study, were there space, to follow
the possible and proper combinations of movements to pass trains
over the various tracks. It will be seen that, by concentrating the
levers which move switches and signals in one place and inter-
locking them, it is made mechanically impossible for a signalman
to give a signal which would lead to a collision or a derailment
within the region under his control. The only danger at such
points is that an engineer may overrun the signals. This descrip-
tion of the objects and the capacity of the system of interlocking is
no fancy sketch. The system has been in use for many years,
doing just what has been here described, and more. A recent
close estimate gave the number of interlocked levers now in use in
the United States as about eight thousand, and the number is rap-
idly increasing. Recent official reports showed that in Great
Britain and Ireland there were thirty-eight thousand cases in which
a passenger line was connected with or crossed by another line,
siding, or cross-over. In eighty-nine per cent, of these cases the
levers operating the switches and protecting signals were inter-
locked.

The example of interlocking which has been given is one of the
simplest ; the principle is capable of almost indefinite expansion,
and any one lev^er may be made to lock any one or more levers
among hundreds in the same frame. The greatest number of
levers assembled in any one signal-tower in this country is one
hundred and sixteen, at the Grand Central Station in New York.
In the London Bridge tower there are two hundred and eighty
levers. This is probably the greatest number in any one tower in
the world. All of these levers may be more or less interlocked.
The same principle is applied to the locking of two levers at a sin-
gle switch, and to the protection of drawbridges and highway
crossings.

The mechanism by which the interlocking is done is strong and
comparatively simple, but a detailed description of it seems out of

ELECTRIC ANNUNCIATORS FOR SIGNALS. 209

place here. Two levers from a Saxby & Farmer machine are
shown on page 204, with lever A normal and B reversed. The
locking mechanism is in front of the levers, and is actuated not by
the levers themselves, but by their catch-rods. It follows that it is
not the actual movement of a signal which prevents the movement
of other signals, or of switches, but it is the intention to move that
signal. This principle of " preliminary locking" is one of great
importance.

Switches and sio^nals are often worked at such distances from
the tower that it is impossible for the operator to know whether or
not the movement contemplated has taken place. The British
Board of Trade does not permit switches to be worked more than
750 feet away. In this country there is no limit, but probably 800
feet is very rarely exceeded. Signals are worked in England up
to 3,000 or 3,500 feet very commonly, and they are even worked
a mile away, but not satisfactorily. This is with direct mechanical
connection, by rod or wire, from the levers. It is obvious that a
break in the connections between the lever and the switch or
signal might take place, and the lever be pulled over, without hav-
ing produced the corresponding movement at the far end. The
locking mechanism in the tower would not be affected by such an
accident, and consequently conflicting signals might be given.
Even this contingency is provided against with almost perfect
safety. If a signal connection breaks, the signal is counter-
weighted to go to danger. The worst that can happen is to delay
traffic. If a switch connection breaks, the locking-bolt, in the
latest form of facing-point lock, will not enter the hole in the
switch-rod, and consequently warning is given in the tower that
the switch has not moved. Electric annunciators are often placed
in the signal-tower, to show on a board before the operator
whether or not the movements of switches and signals have taken
place.

Considerable work must be done in the movement of each
lever. The ground connections must be put down with great care,
as nearly straight and level as may be, well drained, and protected
from ice and snow. All of these difficulties have been overcome
in a beautiful pneumatic interlocking apparatus which has been in-
troduced within the last two or three years. In this system the
14

2IO SAFETY IN RAILROAD TRAVEL.

motive power is compressed air. Near each switch is a small
cylinder, containing a piston which is attached directly to the
switch movement. Compressed air admitted to one side or the
other of this piston moves the switch one way or the other. But,
as it would take some time for the necessary quantity of air to flow
from the signal-tower to a distant switch, a small reservoir is
placed near the switch, and the air from this reservoir is admitted
to one end or the other of the switch cylinder according to the
position of a valve. For transmitting the motion from the tower
to the valve compressed air might be used, but, as air is elastic, a
quicker movement is got by using in the pipes some liquid which
does not readily freeze, and which, being practically non-compres-
sible, transmits an impulse given at one end almost instantly to
the other. The signals are worked in essentially the same manner
as the switches, except that the pneumatic valves are moved by
electricity. The tower apparatus of a pneumatic system in the
yard of the Pennsylvania Railroad at Pittsburg is shown in the
engraving opposite. In the front of the apparatus is seen a rank
of small handles, which can be turned from side to side with as
much ease as the keys of a piano can be depressed. Turning one
of these handles admits compressed air to the end of a pipe con-
taining liquid. Instantly the pressure is transmitted 500 or 1,000
feet to the valve at the switch to be moved. The small levers are
interlocked perfectly, and in that particular perform the duties of
the ordinary machine. A model of the tracks controlled is placed
before the operator, showing the switches and signals, and when
a movement is made on the ground it is at once repeated back by
electricity and duplicated on the model. This beautiful system is
due to the same genius that gave us the perfected air-brake and
the triple valve, and is the greatest improvement that has been
made in interlocking in the last dozen years.

If the reader has grasped the full significance of interlocking,
he understands that it makes it impossible to give a signal that
would lead to a collision or to a derailment at a misplaced switch.
The worst that a stupid, or drunken, or malicious signalman could
do would be to delay traffic, if the signals were obeyed. Here
comes in the failing case. The brake-power may be insufficient
to stop a train after a danger signal is given. That is a rare oc-

TORPEDOES AS SIGNALS.

213

currence, but may happen. The engineer may not see the danger
signal because of fog, or he may carelessly run past it. Provision
against a failure to see and to obey a signal may be made by plac-
ing on the track a torpedo, which will explode with a loud report
when struck by a wheel. The
use of hand-torpedoes in fogs,
and for emergencies in places
unprovided with fixed signals,
is very common. These are
little disks filled with a detonat-
ing powder, and provided with
tin straps that are bent down to
clasp over the top of the rail.
A simple and very efficient tor-
pedo machine, which has been
used for some years on the
Manhattan Elevated and else-
where, is here shown. This
machine has a magazine hold-
ing five torpedoes. It is connected to a signal-lever in such a
way that, when the signal is put to danger, one torpedo is placed
in a position to be exploded by the first passing wheel. When the
signal returns to the clear position the torpedo, if unexploded, is
withdrawn to the magazine. If the torpedo is exploded another
one takes its place at the next movement of the signal-lever. One
of these machines on the Elevated Road moves about five thou-
sand times every day. In such a case a torpedo would soon be
worn out if it was not exploded or frequently changed. When
this apparatus is in operation, an unmistakable alarm is at once
given to the engineer and to others if a danger signal is passed.
On the Manhattan Elevated lines an engineman who overruns a
danger signal and can show no good reason for it is suspended
for the first offence, and discharged for the second. The torpedo
makes it impossible for him to escape detection.

Torpedo Placer.

(The torpedo is carried forward by ihe plunger and ex-
ploded by the depression of the hammer shown near the

rail.)

The second great class of signals comprises those which are
intended to keep fixed intervals of space between trains running
on the same track. These are block signals. The block system

214

SAFETY IN RAILROAD TRA VEL.

is used on a few of the
railroads of the United
States which have the
heaviest and fastest
traffic. Much the most
common practice in this
country, however, is to
run trains by time in-
tervals, and under the
constant control of the
train despatcher. In
England the block sys-
tem is almost universal.
About ninety per cent,
of all the passenger
lines of that country are
worked under the abso-
lute block system.

When the block sys-
tem is not used, it is
quite common to pro-
tect particularly dan-
gerous points, such as
curves and deep cuts,
by stationing watchmen
there with flaofs or with
some form of fixed sig-
nal. The watchman can notify an approaching engine-runner
that a preceding train has or has not passed beyond his own range
of vision ; or can notify him that it has been gone a certain time.
Travellers by the Philadelphia & Reading must have noticed
the queer structures, with revolving vanes on top, looking like a
feeble sort of windmill, which appear in positions to command a
view of cuts, curves, etc. These are examples of the devices for
local protection. The non-automatic block signal develops natu-
rally from the protection of scattered points. Instead of placing
watchmen at points of especial danger, they are placed at regular
intervals of one mile, two miles, or five miles. Instead of the

Old Sigrial Tower on tne Pniiodelpma lie Reading, at Pnoenixville

THE BLOCK SIGNAL SYSTEM. 215

watchman looking to see that a train has disappeared from his
field of vision before he lets another train pass, he uses the eyes
of the next watchman ahead, who telegraphs back that the train
has passed his station. Suppose A, B, and C to be three block-

A B C

signal stations placed at intervals of two miles. When a train
passes A, the operator at that point at once puts a signal to danger
behind it. This signal stands at danger until the train passes B,
and the operator puts his signal to danger, and telegraphs back to
A to announce that train No. i has passed out of the block A B,
and is protected by the signal at B. Then, and not until then, the
operator clears the signal at A and allows train No. 2 to enter the
block. Meanwhile train No. i is proceeding through the block
B C, its rear protected at B ; and the same sequence of events
happens when it arrives at C as happened at B. This is the sim-
plest form of block signalling. In the more elaborate form there
are at each block-station three signals — the distant, the home, and
the starting. The signals are often electrically interlocked, from
one station to another, in such a way that it is mechanically impos-
sible for the operator at A to give a signal for a train to pass that
station until the signal at B has been put to danger behind the
preceding train.

It is seen that no two trains can be in the same block and on
the same track at the same time. If all run at a uniform speed,
they will be kept just the length of a block apart. If No. 2 is
faster than No. i, it will arrive at B before No. i gets to C, but
will have to wait there. The block system, therefore, while it
gives security, does not always facilitate traffic. The longer the
blocks the greater will be the delay to trains ; but the shorter the
blocks, the greater the cost of establishment, maintenance, and
operation.

Various systems have been contrived to have block signals dis-
played automatically by the passage of trains. This, if it can be
done reliably, will do away with the wages of part of the operators,
and will also eliminate the dangers arisingr from human careless-
ness. But there are very great objections to relying solely upon

2i6 SAFETY IN RAILROAD TRAVEL.

the automatic action of signals, and automatic block signals are
little used except as auxiliary to a system employing operators
also. So used, they are of decided advantage, as they make sure
that a danger signal is set behind every train in spite of the op-
erator, and that it cannot be again set to the all-clear position till
the train has passed out of the block. All this is accomplished by
electricity.

Brakes, interlocking, and the apparatus of signalling have been
considered at length because they are very much the most impor-
tant of all the appliances which go to increase the safety of operat-
ino- railroads. They act chiefly to prevent collisions, but often pre-
vent or mitigate accidents from derailments and other causes. Of
all train-accidents happening in the last sixteen years, over one-
third have been from collisions, and more than one-half from derail-
ments.

After brakes and signals, the devices next in importance as
means of saving life are those for the protection of highway cross-
ings at the grade of railroads. In years to come, as wealth in-
creases and as traffic becomes more crowded, we may suppose
there will be few such crossings ; but their abolition must be slow,
and meantime the loss of life at them is great. The most accurate
and complete statistics bearing on this matter are those collected
by the Railroad Commissioners of Massachusetts. In 1888, of all
those killed in the operation of the railroads of the State, seven per
cent, were passengers, thirty-three per cent, were employees, and
sixty percent, were others. The others include trespassers, forty-
seven per cent. ; and killed at grade crossings, eleven per cent.
More trespassers were killed than any other class ; but the deaths
at highway crossings considerably exceeded those among passen-
gers. The difficulty of preventing this class of accidents is strik-
ingly shown by the fact that, of all crossing accidents, forty-two per
cent, were due to the victims' disregard of warnings given by closed
gates or flags. It is evident that the efforts of the railroad com-
panies to save people's lives at crossings are largely nullified by the
carelessness of the public, and the lack of proper laws to punish
those who venture upon railroad tracks when they should keep off
them. Still, it remains the duty and the policy of the railroads to

PROTECTION FOR CROSSINGS.

217

protect street crossings by all practicable means. The best pro-
tection is afforded by gates with watchmen, and of all forms of
gate the most common, because it is the simplest and most conve-
nient to operate, is the familiar arm-gate. This is usually worked

Crossing Gates worked by Mechanical Connection from tne Cabin.

by a man turning a crank, but it is also worked by compressed air.
On this page is shown a group of gates worked from an elevated
cabin by a mechanical connection. A bell fixed at a crossing, to
be rung by an approaching train, is a very useful auxiliary to gates
and to watchmen with flags, and is considerably used where the
traffic does not warrant the expense of maintaining a watchman.
There are several good devices of this sort, either electric or mag-
neto-electric. One of the latter class has a lever aloneside the

2l8

SAFETY IN RAILROAD TRAVEL.

rail, which is depressed by each wheel that passes over it. This
lever is geared to a fly-wheel, which is set rapidly revolving and
causes an armature to revolve in the field of a magnet, and thus
generates a current and rings a gong, precisely as is done with the
familiar magnetic bell used with the telephone.

About thirteen per cent, of the train-accidents in the United
States, in the last sixteen years, were derailments due to defects
of road. These include not only defective rails, switches, and
frogs, but bridge wrecks. There are, however, few devices used
in the track, other than those already mentioned, that can be called
safety appliances. This class of accidents is to be provided against
only by good material, good workmanship, and unceasing care.
Many so-called safety switches and safety frogs are offered to rail-
road officers, but those actually in wide use are confined to a very
few standard forms. The split-switch, which is shown in the en-
gravings on pages 206 and 207, has gradually replaced the old

Some Results ol a BuUing Cullibion-Baggage and Pdsse

Cais Telescoped.

Stub-switch, as well as most of the " safety " switches that have
been from time to time introduced ; although the stub-switch is
still in considerable use in yards where movements are slow, and
in the main tracks of the less progressive roads. It consists of a
pair of moving rails the ends of which are brought opposite to the

ACCIDENTS CAUSED BY STUB-SWITCHES.

219

Wreck at a Bridge.

ends of the main-line rails, or to those of the turnout, as the case
may be. It follows that but one of these tracks is continuous at
any one time, and a train reaching the switch by the other track
must be derailed. The distressing accident which happened at
Rio, Wis., in 1886, where seventeen people lost their lives, was a de-
railment of this sort. Since that time the railroad on which the ac-
cident happened has taken out all stub-switches on thousands of
miles of main-line track. The split-switch provides against such
derailments, for if the switch is set for the turnout, and a train
approaches it from the main line in the "trailing" direction, the
flanees of the wheels move the switch-rails to make the track
continuous. The terms "facing" and "trailing," as applied to
switches, are almost self-explanatory. If a train approaches to-
ward the points of the moving rails, the switch is said to be fac-
ing. If it runs through the switch from the rear of the moving
rails, the switch is said to be trailing. This will be made clear
by reference to the illustration on page 206. If a train were com-
ing from the bridge, the first switch reached by it would be a
trailing and the second a facing switch. In the newspaper reports
an accident will very often be assigned to one of two causes, failure

2 20

SAFETY IN RAILROAD TRA VEL.

Soutn Hoivi,

id by safety bolts.

of the air-brakes or spreading of the rails. The chances are that
it will be found on investigation to be due to neither of these
causes. Those interested to maintain the credit of the air-brake
or of the track department are not often on the ground when the
reporter gets his information, and the temptation is always great
to shift the responsibility to the shoulders of the absent. Probably
the displacement of the rail will have taken place after the derail-
ment ; but rails do sometimes spread. Loose spikes and rotten
ties allow the outer edge of the rail-flange to sink into the wood,
and the rail to roll outward enough to let the wheels drop. Sound
ties are the first safeguard against such accidents. Metal plates
under the rails are useful also ; but one of the most efficient means
of preventing displacement of the rails is the interlocking bolt
shown above. These bolts cross in the timber, and slots cut in

C^S£S OF INTERLOCKING BOLTS. 221

the two bolts engage with each other in such a way that when the
nuts are screwed down on the rail-flange it is impossible to pull
the bolts out. They can only be moved by tearing through the
wood contained in the angle between them. This bolt is much
used on bridges and trestles, where it is of vital importance that
the rails should be held in place and no part of the floor broken.

In 1853 an express train went through an open draw at South
Norwalk, Conn., and forty-six lives were lost. This, one of the
most serious railroad accidents that ever happened, is still remem-
bered as an historical calamity. The bridge which stands on the
same site is shown opposite. In May, 1888, a west-bound express
train, consisting of an engine and seven cars, was derailed just as
it was entering the draw-span. The train ran three hundred feet
on the sleepers before it was stopped. Then it was found that all
of the driving-wheels of the engine had regained the rails, but all
the other wheels were off, except those of two sleeping-cars in
the rear. This was a remarkable escape from a bad accident, and
much of the credit of it has been given to the interlocking bolts
with which the rails were fastened. They are supposed to have pre-
vented the rails being crowded aside, and thus to have made pos-
sible the rerailing of the engine. Besides, they helped the oak
guard-timbers to hold the ties in place. The destruction of a
bridge in an accident frequently begins by the ties bunching in
front of the wheels and allowing the wheels to drop through and
strike the floor-beams below. For this reason guard-timbers,
notched down over the ties, should always be used.

The traveller will have noticed, on all bridges of various roads,
two rails placed inside the track-rails, and curved to meet in a point
at either end of the bridge. These are known as inside guard-
rails, and their function is to keep derailed trucks in line till the
train can be stopped. Besides the bunching of the ties, there is
danger in a bridge derailment that a truck may swing around and
strike one of the trusses. Then the bridge is very likely to be
wrecked. A further provision for the protection of bridges is the
rerailing frog invented by the late Charles Latimer, whose name
is dear to railroad men all over America. This consists of a pair
of castings combined with inside guard-rails, designed to raise the
derailed wheels and guide them on to the rails. There is no

222

SAFETY IN RAILROAD TRAVEL.

- ^ ^~z^7;;-i.'^ -^ y^^^^^^

Engines Wrecked during the Giedt Wabasn Strike.

doubt that it has prevented several wrecks, although it has never
been widely used. The subject of bridges should not be left with-
out a word of explanation of the stout timber-posts often seen at
either end placed in line with the trusses. These are designed to
stop any derailed vehicle which might otherwise strike against and
destroy a truss.

There is one track-fixture that has no duty or value except as
it promotes safety. It helps only one humble class of railroad em-
ployees. That device is the foot-guard. At all places where two
rails cross or approach each other, as at frogs and guard-rails,
dangerous boot-jacks are formed by the rail-heads. The overhang
of the heads of the rail makes it easy for one to so fasten his foot
in one of those boot-jacks that it is hard to get it out. If a man
finds himself in this position in front of an approaching train, he
sometimes has the alternative of standing up to be struck by the
engine or lying down and having his foot cut off. Fortunately
this class of accidents is comparatively rare ; probably not more

UNIFORM AUTOMATIC COUPLERS. 223

than two or three per cent, of all deaths and injuries to passengers
and employees is caused in this way. Nevertheless, the means of
guarding- against accidents of this class is so cheap that it should
be more generally adopted than it is. It consists simply in partly
filling the space between the rail-heads by putting in wooden
blocks or strips of metal, or even packing with cinders, gravel, or
any sort of ballast. Various wooden and metal foot-guards have
been patented. They are all too simple to require description.

Of all accidents to employees the most numerous are those
which arise in coupling and uncoupling cars. In Massachusetts, in
1888, the employees killed and injured were 391 ; of these casual-
ties 154 occurred in coupling accidents. The commissioners of
other States, especially of Iowa, have for years published statistics
showing nearly the same ratio. Fortunately accidents of this class,
although numerous, are not proportionately fatal. Far the greater
part of them result in the loss of part of a hand ; but they are so
frequent as to have caused much discussion, legislation, and inven-
tion. Several States have, one time and another, passed laws re-
quiring the use of automatic couplers ; and two or three years ago
there were on record in the United States over four thousand
coupler patents. The laws have been futile because impracticable ;
and most of the patents have been worthless for the same reason.
It was obvious that the business of supplying couplers for the one
million freight cars of the country could not be put into the hands
of some one patentee unless his device was manifestly and pre-
eminently superior to all others. It became important, therefore,
to select as a standard some type of coupler general enough to in-
clude the patents of various men, and at the same time so definite
that all couplers made to conform to the standard could work to-
gether interchangeably. Those who read Mr. Voorhees' story *
of the wanderings of a freight car will understand that any one
freight car in the United States or Canada should be prepared to
run in the same train with any other car. A few years ago a com-
mittee of the Master Car-builders' Association was appointed to
choose and recommend a type of coupler to be adopted as the
standard of the association. After prolonged and careful study of

* See " The Freight-car Service," page 267.

224

SAFETY IN RAILROAD TRA VEL.

Link-and-pin Coupler.

the subject, the committee recommended the type of which the
Janney is the best known example, and that has now become the

standard of the association. This
action does not give a monopoly to
the Janney company, as there are al-
ready half a dozen couplers which
conform to the type. This coupler
is shown by diagrams in the article
by M. N. Forney, page 142. A per-
spective view is herewith given. This
device couples automatically, and thus
does away with the necessity for the
brakeman g-oino- between the cars.
It can also be unlocked by the rod
shown extending to the side of the
car, and the locking device can be set
not to couple, to facilitate switching
and yard work. The mechanical principles of this coupler are a
great and important improvement upon any form of link-and-pin
coupler; and the coupler question has now come to this point:
A type of coupler has been selected by a technical body represent-
ing most of the railroads of the United States. It is general
enough to avoid the
evils of a patent mo-
nopoly. It promises
to be economical in
operation, and will
certainly do away
with the terrible loss
of life and limb which
results from the use
of the non-automatic
coupler. The rail-
roads are adopting it
with reasonable
speed, perhaps, but
not as rapidly as simple considerations of humanity would dictate.
Closely related to the coupler is the vestibule, which within the

Janney Autonnatic Coupler applied to a Freight Car.

VESTIBULES AS A SAFETY DEVICE.

225

last two years has become so fashionable. The vestibule is not
merely a luxury, but has a certain value as a safety device.* The

Signals at Night.

full measure of this value has not yet been proved. Occasionally
lives are lost by passengers falling from or being blown from the
platforms of moving trains. Such accidents the vestibule will pre-
vent, and, further, it decreases the oscillation of the cars, and thus
to some degree helps to prevent derailment. It is also some pro-
tection against telescoping. A few months ago a coal train on a
double-track road was derailed, and four cars were thrown across
in front of a solid vestibule train of seven Pullman cars approach-
inof on the other track. The engfine of the vestibuled train was
completely wrecked. Even the sheet-iron jacket was stripped
off it. The engineer and fireman were instantly killed, but not
another person on the train was injured. They escaped partly be-
cause the cars were strong, and partly, doubtless, because the
vestibules helped to keep the platforms on the same level and in
line, and thus to prevent crushing of the ends of the cars.

The number of passengers burned in wrecks is greatly ex-
aggerated in the public mind ; but that fate is so horrible that it is

* See " Railway Passenger Travel," page 249.
15

2 26 SAFETY IN RAILROAD TRAVEL.

not wonderful that " the deadly car-stove " should be the object of
persistent and energetic attacks by the press and in State legislat-
ures. The result has been the development, in the last three
years, of the entirely new business of inventing and trying to sell
systems of heating by steam or hot water from the locomotive, and
even by electricity. In fact, the manufacture of such apparatus has
already become an industry of some importance, several thousand
cars being equipped with it. This whole matter of steam-heating
is still in a somewhat crude state, and it does not seem desirable to
force it by legislation. It has been demonstrated that it is the
cheapest way of heating trains, and the most easily regulated ; and
it has become a good advertisement to attract passengers. Con-
sequently the whole subject may be safely left in the hands of the
railroad companies, and allowed to develop itself naturally in a
business way. There is not yet any system of continuous heating
so perfected that a railroad company could without hardship be
compelled to adopt it for all its passenger equipment.

Fires in wrecked trains have originated probably quite as often
from kerosene lamps as from the stoves. The danger of fire from
this source, and the desire to give passengers the luxury of
sufficient light, have led to methods of lighting by gas and, more
recently by electricity. Lighting by compressed gas ceased years
ago to be an experiment. In Germany it is almost universal, but
in this country it has been brought into use very slowly. The
system is almost absolutely safe, not unreasonably expensive, and
may be made to give satisfactory and even brilliant illumination ;
but the ideal light for railroad trains will probably be found in
electricity. It is even safer than gas, and is the most adaptable of
any known method of lighting. Some sleeping-cars that have been
recently put in service on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Rail-
way are provided with small electric lamps in the sides of the car,
between each two adjoining seats, so that the occupants can read
comfortably either when sitting in their seats or lying in their
berths.

It is not to be supposed that so large a subject as that of safety
appliances can be exhaustively treated within the limits of one
article. It has been thought best, therefore, to give most of the

SCOPE OF THE SUBJECT. 227

space available to the two or three devices of greatest and most
useful application. There remain various others that are in daily
use, and that have important offices, which have not even been
mentioned. If the reader has gleaned from these very incomplete
notes some clearer notions than he had before of the means by
which the power of the locomotive is guided into safe and useful
paths, the writer's object has been accomplished.

RAILWAY PASSENGER TRAVEL.

By HORACE PORTER.

The Earliest Railway Passenger Advertisement — The First Time-table Published in
America — The Mohawk and Hudson Train — Survival of Stage-coach Terms in Eng-
lish Railway Nomenclature — Simon Cameron's Rash Prediction — Discomforts of
Early Cars — Introduction of Air-brakes, Patent Buffers and Couplers, the Bell-cord,
and Interlocking Switches — The First Sleeping-cars — Mr. Pullman's Experiments — ■
The " Pioneer "—Introduction of Parlor and Drawing-room Cars — The Demand for
Dining-cars — Ingenious Devices for Heating Cars — Origin of Vestibule-cars — An
Important Safety Appliance — The Luxuries of a Limited Express — Fast Time in
America and England — Sleeping-cars for Immigrants — The Village of Pullman — The
Largest Car-works in the World — Baggage-checks and Coupon Tickets — Conven-
iences in a Modern Depot — Statistics in Regard to Accidents — Proportion of Pas-
sengers in Various Classes — Comparison of Rates in the Leading Countries of the
World.

I ROM the time when Puck was supposed to
utter his boast to put a girdle round about
the earth in forty minutes to the time when
Jules Verne's itinerant hero accomplished the
task in twice that number of days, the restless
ingenuity and energy of man have been unceas-
ingly taxed to increase the speed, comfort, and safety
of passenger travel. The first railway on which pas-
sengers were carried was the " Stockton & Darlington," of Eng-
land, the distance being 12 miles. It was opened September 27,
1825, with a freight train, or, as it is called in England, a " goods "
train, but which also carried a number of excursionists. An engine
which was the result of many years of labor and experiment on the
part of George Stephenson was used on this train. Stephenson
mounted it and acted as driver ; his bump of caution was evidently
largely developed, for, to guard against accidents from the reck-
lessness of the speed, he arranged to have a signalman on horse-
back ride in advance of the engine to warn the luckless trespasser

THE FIRST PASSENGER ADVERTISEMENT

229

Stockton & Darlington Engine and Car.

of the fate which awaited him if he should get in the way of a
train moving- with such a starthng velocity. The next month,
October, it was decided that it would be w^orth while to attempt
the carrying of passengers, and a daily " coach," modelled after
the stage-coach and called the " Experiment," was put on, Mon-
day, October 10, 1825, which carried six passengers inside and
from fifteen to twenty outside. The engine with its light load
made the trip in about two hours. The fare from Stockton to
Darlington was one shilling, and each passenger was allowed four-
teen pounds of baggage. The limited amount of baggage will ap-
pear to the ladies of the present day as niggardly in the extreme,
but they must recollect that the

bandbox was then the popular
form of portmanteau for women,
the Saratoga trunk had not been
invented, and the muscular bag-
gage-smasher of modern times
had not yet set out upon his
career of destruction. The ad-
vertisement which was published
m the newspapers of the day is here given, and is of peculiar interest
as announcing the first successful attempt to carry passengers by rail.

Stockton d^ llarlinis;ton

Raj I way*

^COACHi^

230 RAILWAY PASSENGER TRAVEL.

The Liverpool & Manchester road was opened in 1829.
The first train was hauled by an improved engine called the
" Rocket," which attained a speed of 25 miles an hour, and some
records put it as high as 35 miles. This speed naturally attracted
marked attention in the mechanical world, and first demonstrated
the superior advantages of railways for passenger travel. Only
four years before, so eminent a writer upon railways as Wood had
said : " Nothing can do more harm to the adoption of railways
than the promulgation of such nonsense as that we shall see loco-
motives travelling at the rate of 12 miles an hour."

America was quick to adopt the railway system which had had
its origin in England. In 1827 a crude railway was opened be-
tween Quincy and Boston, but it was only for the purpose of trans-
porting granite for the Bunker Hill Monument. It was not until
August, 1829, that a locomotive engine was used upon an Ameri-
can railroad suitable for carrying passengers. This road was con-
structed by the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, and the
experiment was made near Honesdale, Pa. The engine was im-
ported from England and was called the " Stourbridge Lion."

In May, 1830, the first division of the Baltimore & Ohio road
was opened. It extended from Baltimore to Ellicott's Mills, a dis-
tance of 15 miles. There being a scarcity of cars, the regular pas-
senger business did not begin till the 5th of July following, and
then only horse-power was employed, which continued to be used
till the road was finished to Frederick, in 1832. The term Relay
House, the name of a well-known station, originated in the fact
that the horses were changed at that place.

The following notice, which appeared in the Baltimore news-
papers, was the first time-table for passenger railway trains pub-
lished in this country;

RAILROAD NOTICE.

A sufficient number of cars being now provided for the accommodation of passengers,
notice is hereby given that the following arrangements for the arrival and departure of car-
riages have been adopted, and will take effect on and after Monday morning next the 5th
instant, viz. :

A brigade of cars will leave the depot on Pratt St. at 6 and 10 o'clock A. M., and at 3
to 4 o'clock P. M., and will leave the depot at Ellicott's Mills at 6 and 8^ o'clock A. M.,
and at 12^ and 6 P. M.

Way passengers will provide themselves with tickets at the office of the Company in

EARLY PASSENGER CARS. 23 1

Baltimore, or at the depots at Pratt St. and Ellicott's Mills, or at the Relay House, near
Elk Ridge Landing.

The evening way car for Ellicott's Mills will continue to leave the depot, Pratt St., at
6 o'clock P. M. as usual.

N. B. Positive orders have been issued to the drivers to receive no passengers into
any of the cars without tickets.

P. S. Parties desiring to engage a car for the day can be accommodated after July 5th.

It will be seen that the word train was not used, but instead
the schedule spoke of a "brigade of cars."

The South Carolina Railroad was besfun about the same time
as the Baltimore & Ohio, and ran from Charleston to Hamburg,
opposite Augusta, When the first division had been constructed,
it was opened November 2, 1830.

Peter Cooper, of New York, had before this constructed a lo-
comotive and made a trial trip with it on the Baltimore & Ohio
Railroad, on the 28th of August, 1830, but, not meeting the require-
ments of the company, it was not put into service.

A passenger train of the Mohawk & Hudson Railroad which
was put on in October,

named the "John ., . . . ^ . t •

-' Mohawk & Hudson Train.

Bull," and driven by

an English engineer named John Hampson. This is generally
regarded as the first fully equipped passenger train hauled by a
steam-power engine which ran in regular service in America.
During 1832 it carried an average of '^Z'j passengers daily. The
accompanying engraving is from a sketch made at the time.

It was said by an advocate of mechanical evolution that the
modern steam fire-engine was evolved from the ancient leathern
fire-bucket; it might be said with greater truth that the modern
railway car has been evolved from the old-fashioned English stage-
coach.

England still retains the railway carriage divided into compart-
ments, that bear a close resemblance inside and outside to staee-
coach bodies with the middle seat omitted. In fact, the nomen-

232

RAIL WA V PASSENGER TRA VEL.

clature of the stage-coach is in large measure still preserved in
England. The engineer is called the driver, the conductor the
guard, the ticket-office is the booking-office, the cars are the car-

English Railway Carriage, Midland Road. Fust and Tnird Class and Luggage Compartments.

riages, and a rustic traveller may still be heard occasionally to ob-
ject to sitting with his back to the horses. The earlier locomotives,
like horses, were given proper names, such as Lion, North Star,
Fiery, and Rocket ; the compartments in the round-houses for
sheltering locomotives are termed the stalls, and the keeper of the
round-house is called the hostler. The last two are the only items
of equine classification which the American railway system has
permanently adopted.

America, at an early day, departed not only from the nomen-
clature of the turnpike, but from the stage-coach architecture, and
adopted a long car in one compartment and containing a mid-
dle aisle which admitted of communication throughout the train.
The car was carried on two trucks, or bogies, and was well adapted
to the sharp curvature which' prevailed upon our railways.

The first five years of experience showed marked progress in
the practical operation of railway trains, but even after locomotives
had demonstrated their capabilities and each improved engine had
shown an encouraging increase in velocity, the wildest flights of
fancy never pictured the speed attained in later years.

When the roads forming the line between Philadelphia and
Harrisburg, Pa., were chartered in 1835, and town meetings were
held to discuss their practicability, the Honorable Simon Cameron,
while making a speech in advocacy of the measure, was so far

SIMON CAMERON'S PREDICTION

233

Ear.itst Passenger Cars Built in this Country ; used on tne Western
Railroad of Massacfiusetts (now the Boston & Albany).

carried away by

his enthusiasm

as to make the

rash prediction

that there were

persons within

the sound of his

voice who would

Hve to see a

passenger take

his breakfast in

Harrisburg and

his supper in

Philadelphia on the same day. A friend of his on the platform

said to him after he had finished : " That's all very well, Simon,

to tell to the boys, but you and I are no such infernal fools as to

believe it." They both lived to travel the distance in a little over

two hours.

The people were far from being unanimous in their advocacy
of the railway system, and charters were not obtained without se-
vere struggles. The topic was the universal subject of discussion
in all popular assemblages. Colonel Blank, a well-known politi-
cian in Pennsylvania, had been loud in his opposition to the new
means of transportation. When one of the first trains was running
over the Harrisburg & Lancaster road, a famous Durham bull
belonging to a Mr. Schultz became seized with the enterprising

spirit of Don Quixote,
put his head down and
tail up, and made a
desperate charge at
the on-coming loco-
motive, but his steam-
breathing opponent
proved the better but-
ter of the two and the
bull was ignominious-
ly defeated. At a public banquet held soon after in that part of
the State, the toast-master proposed a toast to " Colonel Blank

234

RAILWAY FASSENGEJ^ TRAVEL.

and Schultz's bull — both op-
posed to railroad trains." The
joke was widely circulated and
had much to do with complet-
ing" the discomfiture of the
opposition in the following
elections.

The railroad was a de-
cided step in advance, com-
pared with the stage-coach
and canal-boat, but, when we
picture the surroundings of
the traveller upon railways
during the first ten or fif-
teen years of their existence,
we find his journey was not
one to be envied. He was

Rail and Coach Travel in the White Mountains.

jammed into a narrow seat with a stiff back, the deck of the car
was low and flat, and ventilation in winter impossible. A stove at
each end did little more than generate carbonic oxide. The pas-
senger roasted if he sat at the end of the car, and froze if he sat
in the middle. Tallow candles furnished a " dim religious light,"
but the accompanying odor did not savor of cathedral incense.
The dust was suffocating in dry weather ; there were no adequate

DISCOMFORTS OF OLD CARS.

235

RAIL-ROAD ROUTE

spark-arresters on the engine, or screens at the windows, and the
begrimed passenger at the end of his journey looked as if he had
spent the day in a blacksmith-shop. Recent experiments in ob-
taining a spectrum-analysis of the component parts of a quantity of
dust collected in a railway car show that minute particles of iron
form a large proportion, and under the microscope present the ap-
pearance of a collection of tenpenny nails. As iron administered
to the human system through the respiratory organs in the form
of tenpenny nails mixed with other undesirable matter is not espe-
cially recommended by medical practitioners, the sanitary surround-
ings of the primitive
railway car cannot be
commended. There
were no double tracks,
and no telegraph to
facilitate the safe de-
spatching of trains.
The springs of the car
were hard, the jolting
intolerable, the win-
dows rattled like those
of the modern omni-
bus, and conversation
was a luxury that
could be indulged in
only by those of rec-
ognized superiority in
lung power. The
brakes were clumsy
and of little service.
The ends of the flat-

m mm-mmm \\ wm m 10. i«i3.

Those -who pay fhrovgk TjctH-een Albanj- and Buffalo, • $ 1 0. in the best cars,

""■ ,,. T., ^"-i *""•, ,. , 8. in accomodation cars,

^vlucJl have oeenTe-arranged, cashioncd and li?hre<].
Those who pay through "brtwecn Albany &. Rochester, §8. in the hest cars.

"°- ^"- do- CSOinaccomodatloncars.

essss^ s^aa'g? asss^iSa
irciDiiiglli flm SS IhcDmiPSo

GOKG WEST.

GOING EAST.

tn Trijd 2d Triitl
heme Albiny. 6 A.M. UP. M.

i! train.

7; P. »L

_ _ Uitnia JdTnM,

MTfiift

Pau S.hentcUilr, 71 A. H. 3 P. M.

9 P. M.

Pan

Hochester. 9JA.M. 3 P. M

Pus Ulic 1; P. .M. 3 f. M.

4 A. ,M.

Pus

Pus STratuse. S; P. M. 2 A. .M.

S A. .M.

Pass

Pus Auborn, 7 P. M. 4 A M

10 A M.

J>ass

tuca, 9; P.M. 4SA.M.

P»M Richeslcr, 2 A. .M. 10 X. M.

4 P. M.

PiiS

Schencctwiy. 3i A. M. JO A. M.

Airiw 11 Buffalo. ^A.-^. 3 P.M.

9 P. M.

Arrive

at Albany, 5 A. M.I I AM.

4iP. M.

E2ISMMTS viu K SMJis mn m mmi m^imi.

Passengers will jirocure tickets at the offices at Jllbany, BuBhJo or Rochester
through, to be entitled to seats at the redaced rates.

Tare will be received at each of the above places to any other places
named on the route.

bar rails were cut
diagonally, so that
when laid down they
would lap and form a
smoother joint. Oc-
casionally they became sprung ; the spikes would not hold, and
the end of the rail with its sharp point rose high enough for the

From an Old Time-table (furnished by the "A B C Pathfinder Railway Guide").

236

RAILWAY PASSENGER TRAVEL.

Old Boston & Worcester Railway Ticket (about 1837J.

wheel to run under it, rip it loose, and send the pointed end
through the floor of the car. This was called a " snake's head,"

and the unlucky being sit-
ting over it was likely to be
impaled against the roof.
So that the traveller of that
day, in addition to his other
miseries, was in momentary
apprehension of being spit-
ted like a Christmas turkey.
Baggage-checks and cou-
pon tickets were unknown.
Long trips had to be made over lines composed of a number of short
independent railways ; and at the terminus of each the bedevilled
passenger had to transfer, purchase another ticket, personally pick
out his baggage, perhaps on an uncovered platform in a rain-storm,
and take his chances of securing a seat in the train in which he
was to continue his weary journey.

After the principal companies had sent agents to Europe to
gather all the information possible regarding the progress made
there, they soon began to aim at perfecting what may justly be
called the American system of railways. The roadbed, or what in
England is called the " permanent way," was constructed in such a
manner as to conform to the requirements of the new country, and
the equipment was adapted to the wants of the people. In no
branch of industry has the inventive genius of the race been more
skilfully or
more success-
fully employ-
ed than in the
effort to bring
railway travel

to Its present obverse and Reverse of a Ticket Used in 1838, on the New York & Harlem Railroad.

state of per-
fection. Every year has shown progress in perfecting the comforts
and safety of the railway car. In 1849 the Hodge hand-brake was
introduced, and in 1851 the Stevens brake. These enabled the cars
to be controlled in a manner which added much to the economy

BRAKES AND COUPLERS. 237

and safety of handling- the trains. In 1869 George Westinghouse
patented his air-brake, by which power from the engine was trans-
mitted by compressed air carried through hose and acting upon the
brakes of each car in the train.* It was under the control of the
engineer, and its action was so prompt and its power so effectual
that a train could be stopped in an incredibly short time, and the
brakes released in an instant. In 1871 the vacuum-brake was de-
vised, by means of which the power was applied to the brakes by
exhausting the air.

A difficulty under which railways suffered for many years was
the method of coupling cars. The ordinary means consisted of
coupling-pins inserted into links attached to the cars. There was
a great deal of " slack," the jerking of the train in consequence was
very objectionable, and the distance between the platforms of the
cars made the crossing- of them dangerous. In collisions one plat-
form was likely to rise above that of the adjoining car, and " tele-
scoping " was not an uncommon occurrence.

The means of warning passengers against standing on the plat-
form were characteristic of the dangers which threatened, and were
often ingenious in the devices for attracting attention. , On a New
Jersey road there was painted on the car-door a picture of a new-
made orrave, with a formidable tombstone, on which was an in-
scription announcing to a terrified public that it was " Sacred to the
memory of the man who had stood on a platform."

The Miller coupler and buffer was patented in 1863, and obvi-
ated many of the discomforts and dangers arising from the old
methods of coupling. This was followed by the Janney coupler f
and a number of other devices, the essential principle of all being
an automatic arrangement by which the two knuckles of the coupler
when thrust together become securely locked, and a system of
springs which keep the buffers in close contact and prevent jerking
and jarring when the train is in motion.

The introduction of the bell-cord running through the train and
enabling conductors to communicate promptly by means of it with
the engineer, and signal him in case of danger, constitutes another
source of safety, but is still a wonder to Europeans, who cannot un-

* See " Safety in Railroad Travel," page 195.

t See " Safety in Railroad Travel," page 224; also, " American Locomotives and Cars," page 142.

238 RAIL WA Y PASSENGER TRA VEL.

derstand why passengers do not tamper with it, and how they can
resist the temptation to give false signals by means of it. The only
answer is that our people are educated up to it, and being accustomed
to govern themselves, they do not require any restraint to make
them respect so useful a device. Aside from the inconveniences
which used to arise occasionally from a rustic mistaking the bell-
cord for a clothes-rack, and hanging his overcoat over it, or from
an old gentleman grabbing hold of it to help him climb into an
upper berth in a sleeping-car, it has been singularly exempt from
efforts to pervert it to unintended uses.

The application of the magnetic telegraph to railways wrought
the first great revolution in despatching trains, and introduced an
element of promptness and safety in their operation of which the most
sanguine of railroad advocates had never dreamed. The applica-
tion of electricity was gradually availed of in many ingenious signal
devices for both day and night service, to direct the locomotive en-
gineer in running his train, and interpose precautions against acci-
dents. Fusees have also been called into requisition, which burn
with a bright flame a given length of time; and when a train is be-
hind time and followed by another, by igniting one of these lights,
and leaving it on the track, the train following can tell by not-
ing the time of burning about how near it is the preceding train.
Torpedoes left upon the track, which explode when passed over by
the wheels of a following train and warn it of its proximity to a
train ahead, are also used.

In the early days more accidents arose from switches than from
any other cause ; but improvement in their construction has pro-
gressed until it would seem that the dangers have been effectually
overcome. The split-rail switch prevents a train from being thrown
off the track in case the switch is left open, and the result is that
in such an event the train is only turned on another track. The
Wharton switch, which leaves the main line unbroken, marks
another step in the march of improvement. Among other de-
vices is a complete interlocking-switch system, by means of which
one man standing in a switch-tower, overlooking a large yard with
numerous tracks, over which trains arrive and depart every few
minutes, can, by moving a system of levers, open any required
track and by the same motion block all the others, and prevent

FIRST EXPERIMENT IN SLEEPING CARS. 239

the possibility of collisions or other accidents resulting from trains
entering upon the wrong track.*

The steam-boats on our larg-e rivers had been makino- o-reat
progress in the comforts afforded to passengers. They were pro-
viding berths to sleep in, serving meals in spacious cabins, and
giving musical entertainments and dancing parties on board. The
railroads soon began to learn a lesson from them in adding to the
comforts of the travelling public.

The first attempt to furnish the railway passenger a place to
sleep while on his journey was made upon the Cumberland Valley
Railroad of Pennsylvania, between Harrisburg and Chambersburg.
In the winter season the east-bound passengers arrived at Cham-
bersburg late at night by stage-coach, and as they were exhausted
by a fatiguing trip over the mountains and many wished to con-
tinue their journey to Harrisburg to catch the morning train for
Philadelphia, it became very desirable to furnish sleeping accom-
modations aboard the cars. The officers of this road fitted up a
passenger car with a number of berths, and put it into service as a
sleeping-car in the winter of \Z2)6-2,']' It was exceedingly crude
and primitive in construction. It was divided by transverse parti-
tions into four sections, and each contained three berths — a lower,
middle, and upper berth. This car was used until 1848 and then
abandoned.

About this time there were also experiments made in fitting
up cars with berths something like those in a steam-boat cabin,
but these crude attempts did not prove attractive to travellers.
There were no bedclothes furnished, and only a coarse mattress
and pillow were supplied, and with the poor ventilation and the
rattling and jolting of the car there was not much comfort afford-
ed, except a means of resting in a position which was somewhat
more endurable than a sitting posture.

Previous to the year 1858 a few of the leading railways had
put on sleeping-cars which made some pretensions to meet a
growing want of the travelling public, but they were still crude,
uncomfortable, and unsatisfactory in their arrangements and ap-
pointments.

In the year 1858 George M. Pullman entered a train of the

* See " Safety in Railroad Travel," page 204.

240 RAIL WA V PASSENGER TRA VEL. _

Lake Shore Railroad at Buffalo, to make a trip to Chicago. It
happened that a new sleeping-car which had been built for the

The " Pioneer." First complete Pullman Sleeping-car.

railroad company was attached to this train and was making its
first trip. Mr. Pullman stepped in to take a look at it, and finally
decided to test this new form of luxury by passing the night in
one of its berths. He was tossed about in a manner not very con-
ducive to the "folding of the hands to sleep," and he turned out
before daylight and took refuge upon a seat in the end of the car.
He now began to ponder upon the subject, and before the journey
ended he had conceived the notion that, in a country of magnifi-
cent distances like this, a great boon could be offered to travellers
by the construction of cars easily convertible into comfortable and
convenient day or night coaches, and supplied with such appoint-
ments as would give the occupants practically the same comforts as
were afforded by the steam-boats. He began experiments in this
direction soon after his arrival in Chicago, and in 1859 altered
some day-cars on the Chicago & Alton Railroad, and converted
them into sleeping-cars which were a marked step in advance of
similar cars previously constructed. They were successful in
meeting the wants of passengers at that time, but Mr. Pullman did
not consider them in any other light than experiments. One
night, after they had made a few trips on the line between Chicago
and St. Louis, a tall, angular-looking man entered one of the cars
while Mr. Pullman was aboard, and after asking a great many in-
telligent questions about the inventions, finally said he thought he
would try what the thing was like, and stowed himself away in an
upper berth. This proved to be Abraham Lincoln.

PULLMAN'S FIRST COMPLETE SLEEPER.

241

In 1864 Mr. Pullman perfected his plans for a car which was to
be a marked and radical departure from any one ever before at-
tempted, and that year invested his capital in the construction of
what may be called the father of the Pullman cars. He built it in
a shed in the yard of the Chicago & Alton Railroad at a cost of
$18,000, named it the "Pioneer," and designated it by the letter
"A." It did not then occur to anyone that there would ever be
enough sleeping-cars introduced to exhaust the whole twenty-six
letters of the alphabet. The sum expended upon it was naturally
looked upon as fabulous at a time when such sleeping-cars as
were used could be built for
about $4,500. The constructor
of the " Pioneer" aimed to pro-
duce a car which would prove
acceptable in every respect to
the travelling public. It had
improved trucks and a raised
deck, and was built a foot wider
and two and a half feet higher
than any car then in service.
He deemed this necessary for
the purpose of introducing a
hinged upper berth, which, when
fastened up, formed a recess be-
hind it for stowing the necessary
bedding in the daytime. Before
that the mattresses had been
piled in one end of the car, and
had to be dragged through the
aisle when wanted. It was
known to him that the dimen-
sions of the bridges and station-platforms would not admit of its
passing over the line, but he was singularly confident in the belief
that an attractive car, constructed upon correct principles, would find
its way into service against all obstacles. It so happened that soon
after the car was finished, in the spring of 1865, the body of Presi-
dent Lincoln arrived at Chicago, and the " Pioneer" was wanted

for the funeral train which was to take it to Springfield. To en-

242 RAILWAY PASSENGER TRAVEL.

able the car to pass over the road, the station-platforms and other
obstructions were reduced in size, and thereafter the line was in a
condition to put the car into service. A few months afterward
General Grant was making a trip West to visit his home in Galena,
111., and as the railway companies were anxious to take him from
Detroit to his destination in the car which had now become quite
celebrated, the station-platforms along the line were widened for
the purpose, and thus another route was opened to its passage.

The car was now put into regular service on the Alton road.
Its popularity fully realized the anticipations of its owner, and its
size became the standard for the future Pullman cars as to height
and width, though they have since been increased in length.

The railroad company entered into an agreement to have this
car, and a number of others which were immediately built, oper-
ated upon its lines. They were marvels of beauty, and their con-
struction embraced patents of such ingenuity and originality that
they attracted marked attention in the railroad world and created
a new departure in the method of travel.

In 1867 Mr. Pullman formed the Pullman Car Company and
devoted it to carrying out an idea which he had conceived, of or-
ganizing a system by which passengers could be carried in luxu-
rious cars of uniform pattern, adequate to the wants of both night
and day travel, which would run through without change between
far-distant points and over a number of distinct lines of railway, in
charge of responsible through agents, to whom ladies, children,
and invalids could be safely intrusted. This system was especially
adapted to a country of such geographical extent as America. It
supplied an important want, and the travelling public and the rail-
ways were prompt to avail themselves of its advantages.

Parlor or drawing-room cars were next introduced for day runs,
which added greatly to the luxury of travel, enabling passengers
to secure seats in advance, and enjoy many comforts which were
not found in ordinary cars. Sleeping and parlor cars were soon
recognized as an essential part of a railway's equipment and be-
came known as " palace cars."

The Wagner Car Company was organized in the State of New
York, and was early in the field in furnishing this class of vehicles.
It has supplied all the cars of this kind used upon the Vanderbilt

THE WAGNER, AND OTHER COMPANIES.

243

system of railways and a number of its connecting- roads. Several
smaller palace-car companies have also engaged in the business at

Pullman Paflor Car.

different times. A few roads have operated their own cars of this
class, but the business is generally regarded as a specialty, and the
railway companies recognize the advantages and conveniences re-
sulting from the ability of a large car-company to meet the irregu-
larities of travel, which require a large equipment at one season and
a small one at another, to furnish an additional supply of cars for a
sudden demand, and to perform satisfactorily the business of oper-
ating through cars in lines composed of many different railways.

Next came a demand for cars in which meals could be served.
Why, it was said, should a train stop at a station for meals any
more than a steamboat tie up to a wharf for the same pur-

244

RAILWAY PASSENGER TRAVEL.

Wagner Parlor Car.

pose ? The Pullman Company now introduced the hotel-car, which
was practically a sleeping-car with a kitchen and pantries in one end
and portable tables which could be placed between the seats of
each section and upon which meals could be conveniently served.
The first hotel-car was named the " President," and was put into
service on the Great Western Railway of Canada, in 1867, and soon
after several popular lines were equipped with this new addition to
the luxuries of travel.

After this came the dining-car, which was still another step be-
yond the hotel-car. It was a complete restaurant, having a large
kitchen and pantries in one end, with the main body of the car
fitted up as a commodious dining-room, in which all the passengers
in the train could enter and take their meals comfortably. The
first dining-car was named the " Delmonico," and began running
on the Chicago & Alton Railroad in the year 1868.

The comforts and conveniences of travel by rail on the main
lines now seemed to have reached their culmination in America.

METHODS OF CAR HEATING.

245

The heavy T-rails had replaced the various forms previously used ;
the improved fastenings, the reductions in curvature, and the great-
er care exercised in construction had made the trip delightfully
smooth, while the improvements in rolling-stock had obviated the
jerking, jolting, and oscillation of the cars. The roadbeds had
been properly ditched, drained, and ballasted with broken stone
or gravel, the dust overcome, the sparks arrested, and cleanliness,
that attribute which stands next to godliness, had at last been
made possible, even on a railway train.

The heating of cars was not successfully accomplished till a
method was devised for circulating hot water through pipes run-
nine near the floor. The suffering from that bane of the traveller
— cold feet^ — ^was then obviated and many a doctor's bill saved.
The loss of human life from the destruction of trains by fires origi-
nating from stoves aroused such a feeling throughout the country
that the legislatures of many States have passed laws within the

FiVlViViYiVil

Dining-car ( Chicago,

ngton, & Quincy Railroad.)

last three years prohibiting the use of stoves, and the railway man-
agers have been devising plans for heating the trains with steam
furnished from the boiler of the locomotive. The inventive genius
of the people was at once brought into requisition, and several
ingenious devices are now in use which successfully accomplish

246 RAILWAY PASSENGER TRAVEL.

the purpose in solid trains with the locomotive attached, but the
problem of heating a detached car without some form of furnace
connected with it is still unsolved.

But notwithstanding the high standard of excellence which
had been reached in the construction and operation of passenger
trains, there was one want not yet supplied, the importance of
which did not become fully recognized until dining-cars were in-
troduced, and men, women, and children had to pass across the
platforms of several cars in order to reach the one in which the
meals were served. An act which passengers had always been
cautioned against, and forbidden to undertake — the crossing of
platforms while the train is in motion — now became necessary,
and was invited by the railway companies.

It was soon seen that a safe covered passageway between the
cars must be provided, particularly for limited express trains.
Crude attempts had been made in this direction at different times.
As early as the years 1852 and 1855 patents were taken out for
devices which provided for diaphragms of canvas to connect adjoin-
ing cars and form a passageway between them. These were ap-
plied to cars on the Naugatuck Railroad, in Connecticut, in 1857,
but they were used mainly for purposes of ventilation, to provide
for taking in air at the head of the train, so as to permit the car
windows to be kept shut, to avoid the dust that entered through
them when they were open. These appliances were very imper-
fect, did not seem to be of any practical advantage, even for the
limited uses for which they were intended, and they were aban-
doned after a trial of about four years.

In the year 1886 Mr. Pullman went practically to work to de-
vise a perfect system for constructing continuous trains, and at the
same time to provide for sufficient flexibility in connecting the
passageways to allow for the motion consequent upon the round-
ing of curves. His efforts resulted in what is now known as the
" vestibuled " train.

This invention, which was patented in 1887, succeeded not only
in supplying the means of constructing a perfectly enclosed vestibule
of handsome architectural appearance between the cars, but it ac-
complished what is even still more important, the introduction of a
safety appliance more valuable than any yet devised for the pro-

LUXURIES OF A VESTIBULED TRAIN.

249

tection of human life in case of collisions. The elastic diaphragms
which are attached to the ends of the cars have steel frames, the
faces or bearing surfaces
of which are pressed firm-
ly against each other by
powerful spiral springs,
which create a friction
upon the faces of the
frames, hold them firmly
in position, prevent the
oscillation of the cars, and
furnish a buffer extending
from the platform to the
roof which precludes the
possibility of one platform
"riding;" the other and
producing telescoping in
case of collision. The
first of the vestibuled
trains went into service
on the Pennsylvania Railroad in June, 1886, and they are rapidly
being adopted by railway companies. The vestibuled limited trains
contain several sleeping-cars, a dining-car, and a car fitted up with a
smoking saloon, a library with books, desks, and writing materials,
a bath-room, and a barber-shop. With a free circulation of air
throughout the train, the cars opening into each other, the electric
light, the many other increased comforts and conveniences intro-
duced, the steam-heating apparatus avoiding the necessity of using
fires, the great speed, and absence of stops at meal-stations, this
train is the acme of safe and luxurious travel. An ordinary pas-
senger travels in as princely a style in these cars as any crowned
head in Europe in a royal special train.

The speed of passenger trains has shown steady improvement
from year to year. In the month of June in our Centennial year,
1876, a train ran from New York to San Francisco, a distance of
3,317 miles, in Z-^ hours and 27 minutes actual time, thus averag-
ing about 40 miles an hour, but during the trip it crossed four
mountain-summits, one of them over 8,000 feet hio-h. This train

End View of a Vestibuled Car,

250

RAIL WA V PASSENGER TRA VEL.

ran from Jersey City to Pittsburg over the Pennsylvania Railroad,
a distance of 444 miles, without making a stop. In 1882 locomo-
tives were introduced which made a speed of 70 miles per hour.

p. an Sleeper on a Vestibuled Train

In July, 1885, an engine with a train of three cars made a trip
over the West Shore road which is the most extraordinary one
on record. It started from East Buffalo, N. Y., at 10.04 a.m.,
and reached Weehawken, N. J., at 7.27 p.:\i. Deducting the
time consumed in stops, the actual running time was 7 hours and
23 minutes, or an average of 56 miles per hour. Between Church-
ville and Genesee Junction this train attained the unparalleled
speed of 87 miles per hour, and at several other parts of the line
a speed of from 70 to 80 miles an hour. The superior physical

IMMIGRANT SIEEPING-CARS.

251

characteristics of this road were particularly favorable for the at-
tainment of the speed mentioned.

The trains referred to .were special or experimental trains, and
while American railways have shown their ability to record the
highest speed yet known, they do not run their trains in regular
service as fast as those on the English railways. The meteor-
like names given to our fast trains are somewhat misleading.
When one reads of such trains as the " Lightning," the " Cannon-
ball," the "Thunderbolt," and the " G — whiz-z," the suggestiveness
of the titles is enough to make one's head swim, but, after all,
the names are not as significant of speed as the British " Flying
Scotchman " and the " Wild Irishman ; " for the former do not
attain an average rate of 40 miles an hour, while the latter exceed
45 miles. A few American trains, however, those between Jersey
City and Philadelphia, for instance, make an average speed of over
50 miles per hour.

The transportation of immigrants has recently received in-
creased facilities for its accommodation upon the principal through
lines. Until
late years eco-
nomically con-
structed day-
cars were
alone used,
but in these
the immi-
grants suffer-
.ed great dis-
co m fort in
longjourneys.
An immigrant
sleeper is now
used, which is
constructed
with sections

on each side of the aisle, each section containing two double
berths. The berths are made with slats of hard wood running

Immigrant Sleeping-car (Canadian Pacific Railway.)

252

RAILWAY PASSENGER TRAVEL.

longitudinally ; there is no upholstery in the car, and no bedding

supplied, and after the car is vacated the hose can be turned in

upon it, and all the wood-work thoroughly

cleansed. The immigrants usually carry with

them enough blankets and wraps to make them

tolerably comfortable in their berths ; a cooking

stove is provided in one end of the car, on

which the occupants can cook their food, and

even the long transcontinental journeys of the

immigrants are now made without hardship.

View of Puilman, III.

The manufacture of railway passenger cars is a large item of
industry in the country. The tendency had been for many years
to confine the building of ordinary passenger coaches to the shops
owned by the railway companies, and they made extensive provi-
sion for such work ; but recently they have given large orders for
that class of equipment to outside manufacturers. This has re-
sulted partly from the large demand for cars, and partly on ac-
count of the excellence of the work supplied by some of the manu-
facturing companies. In 1880 the Pullman Company erected the
most extensive car-works in the world at Pullman, fourteen miles
south of Chicago ; and, besides its extensive output of Pullman
cars and freight equipment, it has built for railway companies large
numbers of passenger coaches. The employees now number
about 5,000, and an idea of the capacity and resources of the shops

THE BAGGAGE-CHECK SYSTEM. 253

may be obtained from the fact that one hundred freight cars, of
the kind known as flat cars, have been built in eight hours. The
business of car-building has therefore given rise to the first model
manufacturing town in America, and it is an industry evidently
destined to increase as rapidly as any in the country.

The transportation of baggage has always been a most impor-
tant item to the traveller, and the amount carried seems to increase
in proportion to the advance in civilization. The original allow-
ance of fourteen pounds is found to be increased to four hundred
when ladies start for fashionable summer-resorts.

America has been much more liberal than other countries to
the traveller in this particular, as in all others. Here few of the
roads charge for excess of baggage unless the amount be so large
that patience with regard to it ceases to be a virtue.

The earlier method, of allowing each passenger to pick out his
own baggage at his point of destination and carry it off, resulted
in a lack of accountability which led to much confusion, frequent
losses, and heavy claims upon the companies in consequence.
Necessity, as usual, gave birth to invention, and the difficulty was
at last solved by the introduction of the system known as " check-
ing." A metal disk bearing a number and designating on its face
the destination of the baggage was attached to each article and a
duplicate given to the owner, which answered as a receipt, and
upon the presentation and surrender of which the baggage could
be claimed. Railways soon united in arranging for through checks
which, when attached to baggage, would insure its being sent safely
to distant points over lines composed of many connecting roads.
The check system led to the introduction of another marked con-
venience in the handling of baggage — the baggage express or
transfer company. One of its agents will now check trunks at the
passenger's own house and haul them to the train. Another
agent will take up the checks aboard the train as it is nearing its
destination, and see that the baggage is delivered at any given
address.

The cases in which pieces go astray are astonishingly rare, and
some roads found the claims for lost articles reduced by five thou-
sand dollars the first year after adopting the check system, not to
mention the amount saved in the reduced force of employees en-

2 54 RAILWAY PASSENGER TRAVEL.

gaged in assorting and handling the baggage. Its workings are
so perfect and its conveniences so great that an American cannot
easily understand why it is not adopted in all countries ; but he is
forced to recoo-nize the fact that it seems destined to be confined
to his own land. The London railway managers, for instance,
give many reasons for turning their faces against its adoption.
They say that there are few losses arising from passengers taking
baggage that does not belong to them ; that most of the pas-
sengers take a cab at the end of their railway journey to reach
their homes, and it costs but little more to carry their trunk with
them ; that in this way it gets home as soon as they, while the
transfer company, or baggage express, would not deliver it for an
hour or two later ; that the cab system is a great convenience, and
any change which would diminish its patronage would gradually
reduce the number of cabs, and these " gondolas of London "
would have to increase their charges or go out of business. It is
very easy to find a stick when one wants to hit a dog, and the
European railway officials seem never to be at a loss for reasons
in rejecting the check system.

Coupon tickets covering trips over several different railways
have saved the traveller all the annoyance once experienced in
purchasing separate tickets from the several companies represent-
ing the roads over which he had to pass. Their introduction ne-
cessitated an agreement among the principal railways of the coun-
try and the adoption of an extensive system of accountability for
the purpose of making settlements of the amounts represented by
the coupons.

Like every other novelty the coupon ticket, when first intro-
duced, did not hit the mark when aimed at the understanding of
certain travellers. A United States Senator-elect had come on by
sea from the Pacific Coast who had never seen a railroad till he
reached the Atlantic seaboard. With a curiosity to test the work-
ings of the new means of transportation, of which he had heard so
much, he bought a coupon ticket and set out for a railway journey.
He entered a car, took a seat next to the door, and was just begin-
ning to get the " hang of the school-house " when the conductor,
who was then not uniformed, came in, cried " Tickets ! " and reached
out his hand toward the Senator. "What do you want of me?"

In a Baguag;e-foonn.

COUPON TICKETS.

257

said the latter. " I want your ticket," answered the conductor.
Now it occurred to the Senator that this might be a very neat job
on the part of an Eastern ticket-sharp, but it was just a Httle too
thin to fool a Pacific Coaster, and he said: " Don't you think I've
got sense enough to know that if I parted with my ticket right at
the start I wouldn't have anything to show for my money during
the rest of the way? No, sir, I'm going to hold on to this till I
get to the end of the trip."

" Oh ! " said the conductor, whose impatience was now rising
to fever heat, " I don't want to take up your ticket, I only want to
look at it."

The Senator thought, after some reflection, that he would risk
letting the man have a peep at it, anyhow, and held it up before
him, keeping it, however, at a safe distance. The conductor, with
the customary abruptness, jerked it out of his hand, tore off the
first coupon, and was about to return the ticket, when the Pacific
Coaster sprang up, threw himself upon his muscle, and delivered a
well-directed blow of his fist upon the conductor's right eye, which
landed him sprawling on one of the opposite seats. The other

passengers were at once on their feet, and rushed up to know the

258

RAIL WA V PASSENGER TRA VEL.

Outside the Grand Central Station, New York.

cause of the disturbance. The Senator, still standing with his
arms in a pugnacious attitude, said :

" Maybe I've never ridden on a railroad before, but I'm not
going to let any sharper get away with me like that."

" What's he done } " cried the passengers.

CONVENIENCES AT STATIONS.

259

" Why," said the Senator, " I paid seventeen dollars and a half
for a ticket to take me through to Cincinnati, and before we're five
miles out that fellow slips up and says he wants to see it, and when
I get it out, he grabs hold of it and goes to tearing it up right be-
fore my eyes." Ample explanations were soon made, and the new
passenger was duly initiated into the mysteries of the coupon system.

The uniforming of railway employees was a movement of no
little importance. It designated the various positions held by
them, added much to the neatness of their appearance, enabled
passengers to recognize them at a glance, and made them so con-
spicuous that it impressed them with a greater sense of responsi-
bility and aided much in effecting a more .
courteous demeanor to passengers. ^

Many conveniences have been intro
duced which greatly assist the passenger
when travelling upon unfa-
miliar roads. Conspicuous
clock-faces stand in "5:: ;"

the stations with ,. . •^-

their hands set to the . r - , ^"~-- --:

hour at which the --^--^^

are

next tram is to start.

sign-boards
displayed
with hori-
zontal slats
on which the
stations are
named at
which d e -
parting way-
trains stop,
and employ-

Boston Passenger Station, Providence Division, Old Colony Railroad.

ees are stationed to call out necessary information and direct pas-
sengers to the proper entrances, exits, and trains. A " bureau of
information " is now to be seen in large passenger-stations, in
which an official sits and with a Job-like patience repeats to the

2 6o

RAIL WA Y PASSENGER TRA VEL.

curiously inclined passengers the whole railway catechism, and suc-
cessfully answers conundrums that would stump an Oriental pundit.

The energetic passenger-agent spares no pains to thrust infor-
mation directly under the nose of the public. He uses every
means known to Yankee ingenuity to advertise his regular trains
and his excursion business, including large newspaper head-lines,
corner-posters, curb-stone dodgers, and placards on the breast and
back of the itinerant human sandwich who perambulates the streets.

Railway accidents have always been a great source of anxiety
to the managers, and the shocks received by the public when
great loss of life occurs from such causes deepen the interest
which the general community feels in the means taken to avoid
these distressing occurrences.

American railway officials have made encouraging progress in
reducing the number and the severity of accidents, and while the
record is not so good on many of our cheaply constructed roads,
our first-class roads now show by their statistics that they com-
pare favorably in this respect with the European companies.

The statistics regarding accidents * are necessarily unreliable,
as railway companies are not eager to publish their calamities from
the house-tops, and only in those States in which prompt reports
are required to be made by law are the figures given at all accu-
rately. Even in these instances the yearly reports lead to wrong
conclusions, for the State Railroad Commissioners become more
exacting each year as to the thoroughness of the reports called
for, and the results sometimes show an increase compared with pre-
vious years, whereas there may have been an actual decrease.

In 1880, the last census year, an effort was made to collect sta-
tistics of this kind covering all the railways in the United States,
with the followino result :

To whom happened.

Passengers . .
Employees.
All others . . .
Unspecified.

Total

Through causes
beyond their control.

Killed.

61
261

365

Injured

331

1,004

103

1,438

Through their own
carelessness.

Killed.

,S2

663

1,429

Injured.

213
2,613
1,348

2,174 I 4,174

Aggregate.

Killed.

143
924

1,472

2,542

Injured.

* See " Safety in Railroad Travel, " page 191.

T9tal
accidents.

544

687

3,617

4,541

1,451

2,923

5,674 8,216

" Show Your Tickets ! "
(Passenger Station, Philadelphia.;

STATISTICS OF ACCIDENTS.

263

Mulhall, in his " Dictionary of Statistics," an English work, uses
substantially these same figures and makes the following compari-
son between European and American railways :

Accidents to Passengers, Etnployees, and Others.

Killed.

Wounded.

Total.

Per million
passengers.

United States

2,349
1. 135
3.213

5,867

3.959
10,859

8,216

5.094
14,072

41. 1

8.1

United Kingdom

Europe

10.8

That the figures given above are much too high as regards the
United States, there can be no doubt. For the fiscal year 1880-81
the data compiled by the Railroad Commissioners of Massachusetts
and published in their reports give as the total number of persons
killed and injured in the United States 2,126, as against 8,216
upon which the comparisons in the above table are based. If we
substitute in this table the former number for the latter, it would
reduce the number of injured per million passengers in the
United States to 10.6, about the same as on the European rail-
ways.

Edward Bates Dorsey gives the following interesting table of
comparisons in his valuable work, " English and American Rail-
roads Compared : "

Passengers Killed and Injured from Causes beyond their own Control on all the Railroads
of the United Kingdom and those of the States of New York and Massachusetts in
1884.

United Kingdom.

New York

Massachusetts. . .

In 1,000,000,000
passengers trans-
ported I mile.

United Kingdom.

New York

Massachusetts . . .

Total length

of line

operated.

18,864
7,298
2,852

Total mileage.

272,803,220
85,918,677
32,304.333

Passengers.

6,042,659,990
1,729,653.620
1,007,136,376

Killed.

515
5.78
2.00

In-
jured.

864

124

143
70
42

264 J? AIL J FAY PASSENGER TRAVEL.

Mdes.

The average number of miles ( United Kingdom 194,892,255

a passenger can travel with-< New York : 172,965,362

out being killed. ( Massachusetts ". , 503, 568, 1 88

The average number of miles ( United Kingdom 6,992,662

a passenger can travel with- < New York ' 13,940,754

out being injured. ( Massachusetts 23,955,630

From this it will be seen that in the United Kingdom the aver-
age distance a passenger may travel before being killed is about
equal to twice the distance of the Earth from the Sun. In New York
he may travel a distance greater than that of Mars from the Sun ;
and in Massachusetts he can comfort himself with the thought
that he may travel twenty-seven millions of miles farther than
the distance of Jupiter to the Sun before suffering death on the
rail.

The most encouraging feature of these statistics is the fact that
the number of railway accidents per mile in the United States has
shown a marked decrease each year. Taking the figures adopted
by the Massachusetts commissions, the number of persons injured
in the year 1880-81 was 2,126, and in 1886-87, 2,483, while in
the same time the number of miles in operation increased from
93.349 to 137,986.

The amounts paid annually by railways in satisfaction of claims
for damages to passengers are serious items of expenditure, and in
the United States have reached in some years nearly two millions
of dollars. About half of the States limit the amount of damao-es
in case of death to ^5,000, the States of Virginia, Ohio, and Kan-
sas to $10,000, and the remainder have no statutory limit.

In the year 1840 the number of miles of railway per 100,000 in-
habitants in the different countries named was as follows : United
States, 20; United Kingdom, 3; Europe, 1; in the year 1882,
United States, 210; United Kingdom, 52 ; Europe, 34.

In the year 1886 the total number of miles in the United
States was 137,986; the number of passengers carried, 382,284,-
972; the number carried one mile, 9,659,698,294; the average dis-
tance travelled per passenger, 25.27 miles.

In Europe the hrst-class travel is exceedingly small and the

COMPARATIVE RATES OF FARE.

265

third class constitutes the largest portion of the passenger busi-
ness, while in America almost the whole of the travel is first class,
as will be seen from the following table :

United Kingdom

France

Germany

United States. . .

Percentage of passengers

carried.

First

Second

Third

Class.

iof I

The third-class travel in this country is better known as immi-
grant travel. The percentages given in the above table for the
United States are based upon an average of the numbers of pas-
sengers of each class carried on the principal through lines. If
all the roads were included, the percentages of the second- and
third-class travel would be still less.

That which is of more material interest to passengers than any-
thing else is the rate of fare charged.

The following table gives an approximate comparison between
the rates per mile in the leading countries in the world :

First
Class.

Second
Class.

Third
Class.

United Kingdom

Cents.
4.42
3.86
3.10
2.18

Cents.
3.20

2.88
232

Cents.
1.94
2.08

France

Germany

1.54

United States . . .... ....

The rates above given for the United Kingdom, France, and
Germany are the regular schedule-rates. An average of all the
fares received, including the reduced fares at excursion rates, would
make the figures somewhat less.

The rate named as the first-class fare for the railways in the
United States is, strictly speaking, the average earnings per pas-
senger per mile, and includes all classes ; but as the first-class
passengers constitute about ninety-nine per centum of the travel
the amount does not differ materially from the actual first-class fare.

266

RAIL IVA Y PASSENGER TRA VEL.

In the State of New York the first-class fare does not exceed two
cents, which is not much more than the third-class fare in some
countries of Europe, and heat, good ventilation, ice-water, toilet
arrangements, and free carriage of a liberal amount of baggage
are supplied, while in Europe few of these comforts are furnished.

On the elevated railroads of New York a passenger can ride
in a first-class car eleven miles for 5 cents, or about one-half cent a
mile, and on surface-roads the commutation rates given to sub-
urban passengers are in some cases still less.

The berth-fares in sleeping-cars in Europe largely exceed those
in America, as will be seen from the following comparisons, stated
in dollars :

Route.

Paris to Rome

New York to Chicago
Paris to Marseilles. . .
New York to Buffalo .
Calais to Brindisi . . . .
Boston to St. Louis. .

Berth- fare.

While it would seem that the luxuries of railway travel in Am-
erica have reached a maximum, and the charges a minimum, yet in
this progressive age it is very probable that in the not far dis-
tant future we shall witness improvements over the present
methods which will astonish us as much as the present methods
surprise us when we compare them with those of the past.

THE FREIGHT-CAR SERVICE.

By THEODORE VOORHEES.

Sixteen Months' Journey of a Car — Detentions by the Way — Difficulties of the Car Ac-
countant's Office — Necessities of Through Freight — How a Company's Cars are Scat-
tered — The Question of Mileage — Reduction of the Balance in Favor of Other Roads
— Relation of the Car Accountant's Work to the Transportation Department — Com-
putation of Mileage — The Record Branch — How Reports are Gathered and Com-
piled — Exchange of "Junction Cards" — The Use of "Tracers" — Distribution of
Empty Cars — Control of the Movement of Freight — How Trains are Made Up —
Duties of the Yardmaster — The Handling of Through Trains — Organization of Fast
Lines — Transfer Freight Houses — Special Cars for Specific Service — Disasters to
Freight Trains — How the Companies Suffer — Inequalities in Payment for Car Ser-
vice — The Per Diem Plan — A Uniform Charge for Car Rental — What Reforms might
be Accomplished.

THE WANDERINGS OF A CAR.

N the 14th of December, 1886, there was
loaded in IndianapoHs a car belonging to
one of the roads passing through that city. It
was loaded with corn consigned to parties in
Boston. The car was delivered to the Lake
Shore road at Cleveland on the i6th ; but, owing
to bad weather and various other local causes, it
. .% :ii..: '■] did not reach East Buffalo until December 28th.
It was turned over by the New York Central &
Hudson River Railroad to the West Shore road the next day, and
by this company was taken to Rotterdam Junction, and there de-
livered on December 31st to the Western Division of the Fitch-
burg Railroad, or what was then known as the Boston, Hoosac
Tunnel & Western. They took it promptly through to Boston.
After a few days the corn was sold by the consignees for delivery
in Medfield, on the New York & New England Railway. The

268 THE FREIGHT-CAR SERVICE.

car was delivered to this road on January 24, 1887, and taken
down to Medfield. There it remained among a large number of
other cars, until it suited the convenience of the purchaser to put
the corn into his elevator.

On the 17th of March the car was unloaded, taken back to
Boston, and delivered to the Fitchburg road to be sent West,
homeward. That company took it promptly, but instead of deliv-
ering it to the West Shore road at Rotterdam Junction, as would
have been the regular course, either throuo-h some mistake of a
yardmaster at the junction station, or in pursuance of general in-
structions to load all Western cars home whenever practicable, the
car was not delivered to the West Shore, but was turned over to
the Delaware & Hudson Canal Go's. Railroad, taken down to
the coal regions, and on March 31st delivered to the Delaware,
Lackawanna & Western Railroad, by whom it was loaded with coal
for Chicago. That company promptly delivered it to the Grand
Trunk at Buffalo, and on April loth the car reached Chicago. It
was immediately reconsigned by the local agents of the coal com-
pany to a dealer in the town of Minot, 523 miles west of St. Paul,
on the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railroad. To reach that
point, it was delivered to the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific on
April loth, then to the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern,
Minneapolis & St. Louis, St. Paul & Duluth, St. Paul, Minneapolis
& Manitoba, arriving at its destination on the 14th of April.

Winter still reigned in that locality, and the car was promptly
unloaded, and returned to St. Paul, where it was loaded with wheat
consigned to New York. It left St. Paul on the 26th of April, was
promptly moved through to Chicago, and delivered to the Grand
Trunk. Coming east, in Canada, the train of which this car
formed a part, while passing through a small station, in the night
ran into an open switch. The engine dashed into a number of
loaded cars standing on the siding, and the cars behind it were
piled up in bad confusion, a number of them being destroyed, and
the freight scattered in all directions. Our car, whose history we
are tracing, suffered comparatively slight damage. The draw-
heads were broken, and some castings on one truck, not sufficient
to affect in any way the loading of the car. It was sent to the
shops of the road ; and it became necessary for them, on examina-

DELAYS IN A LONG JOURNEY. 269

tion, to send to the owners of the car for a casting to replace that
broken on the truck. This resulted in serious detention. The
requisition for this casting had to be approved by the Superintend-
ent and by the General Manager, and was forwarded, after a con-
siderable delay, to the officers of the road owning the car. There
it was sent through a number of offices before it finally reached the
hands of the man who was able to supply the required casting.
This in turn was sent by freight, and passed over the intervening
territory at a slow rate ; the whole involving a detention which
held the car from April 28th, when it was delivered at Chicago to
the Grand Trunk, until July i8th, when finally the Grand Trunk
delivered it to the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western at Buffalo.
It came through promptly to New York, the grain was put in an
elevator, the car was sent back once more to the mines at Scran-
ton, and again loaded with coal for Chicago. On August 9th the
record says the car was delivered by the Delaware, Lackawanna &
Western to the Grand Trunk, and on the 12th of August it was in
Chicago.

About this time the owners of the car began to make vigorous
appeals to the various roads, urging them to send the car home.
One of these tracers reached the Grand Trunk road while they
still held the car in their possession ; so that orders were sent that
the coal must be unloaded at once, and the car returned. In order
to unload it, it was necessary to switch it to the Illinois Central for
some local consignee, and it was unloaded within four days and
delivered back to the Grand Trunk at Chicago. This was on
August i6th. During the few days that had elapsed since the
order was given to send this car home, there had been an active
demand for cars, and knowing that this one had to be sent to Buf-
falo in order to be delivered to the Lake Shore road, from which it
had originally been received, the car was loaded for that point.
This again resulted in detention, for we find that the car was held
on the Grand Trunk tracks at Black Rock, awaiting the pleasure of
the consignee to unload the freight, until the 27th of September ;
and then, instead of being unloaded and delivered to the Lake
Shore road, as had been the intention of the Grand Trunk officials,
the consignee sold the wheat in the car to a local dealer on the
line of the Erie Railway, and the car was sent down on that road

270 THE FREIGHT-CAR SERVICE.

on October ist, and not returned to the Grand Trunk again until
the loth day of October.

Unfortunately, the Erie was as anxious at that time to load cars
west with coal as the other roads, and when they brought the car
back to the Grand Trunk, they brought it once more filled with
coal, and back the car went to Chicago, reaching there on the 13th
of October.

It had now been away from home and diverted from its legiti-
mate uses for nine months, and apparently was as far from home
as ever. The delivery of the coal this time at Chicago put the car
in the hands of the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago Railway,
and they promptly gave it a lading by the southern route to New-
port News ; for we find the car delivered by the Louisville, New
Albany & Chicago to the Chesapeake & Ohio route on October
28th, and at Newport News on the 10th of November. The
owners of the car were meanwhile not idle. The occasional stray
junction cards which came in notified them of the passage of the car
by different junction points, giving them clews to work by, and
they were in vigorous correspondence with the various roads over
which the car had gone, urging, begging, and imploring the rail-
way officers to make all efforts in their power to get the car back
to its home road.

On its last trip from Chicago to Newport News, the car passed
thi-ough Indianapolis, the very point from which it began its long
journey and many wanderings. Unfortunately, however, it passed
there loaded, without detention, and the owners of the car did not
discover until it had been for some time at Newport News, that
the car had been anywhere near its home territory. By the time
they made this discovery the car had been unloaded, and had
started west once more. The records of the movement of the car
here become dim. It was apparently diverted from its direct route
back, which would have taken it once more to Indianapolis, and so
home, for we find, after waiting at Newport News for some time
to be unloaded, it was delivered to the Nashville, Chattanooga &
St. Louis, next on the Western & Atlantic, and so down into
Georgia and South Carolina. Again, on January 14, 1888, the
car was reported on the Richmond & Danville. They sent it
once more down into South Carolina and Georgia. From there it

THE CAR ACCOUNTANT. 27 1

was loaded down to Selma, Ala., on the Atlanta & West Point
Railroad. They returned it promptly to Atlanta, and so to the
Central Railroad of Georgia ; and the car, after being used back-
ward and forward between Montgomery and Atlanta and Macon,
finally appeared at Augusta, Ga., where it stood on February 11,
1888. Here the car remained for some time, long enough for the
owners to get advices as to its whereabouts, and communicate with
the road on whose territory the car was, before it was again
moved. An urgent representation of the case having been laid
before the proper authorities, they agreed, if possible, to load it in
such a way that it should go back to Indianapolis. This could not
be done at once, however ; but about the 12th of March the car was
sent to a near-by point in South Carolina loaded, and worked back
over the Georgia road and the Western Atlantic, delivered to the
Louisville & Nashville on April 3d, and finally, after its many and
long wanderings, was by that road delivered to the home road at
Cincinnati on the 17th of April ; having been away from home
sixteen months and one day.

This is a case taken from actual records, and is one that could
be duplicated probably by any railroad in the country.

II.

THE CAR accountant's OFFICE.

The Winnipeg & Athabaska Lake Railway Co.,
General Superintendent'' s Office,

Winnipeg, December 31, 1888.
To John Smith, Esq.,

Siipt. of Trat/s^n, L. &= JV. R. R. Co., Louisville, Ky.

Sir : Our records show forty-five of our box-cars on your line, some of which have
been away from home over three weeks. I give below the numbers of those which have
been detained over thirty days, viz. :

Nos.

28542

34210

34762

29421

28437

29842

34628

34516

29781

28274

34333

28873

There is at this time a strong demand for cars for the movement of the wheat crop
and I must beg that you will send home promptly all that you have on your line.

I remain,

Yours very truly,

Thomas Brown.

272 THE FREIGHT-CAR SERVICE.

Louisville & Norfolk R. R. Co.,
Office of Superintendent of Transportation,
Louisville, Ky. , Jan'y 3, 1889.
To Thomas Brown, Esq.,

Gen'' I Sup t.^ W. &= A. L. R. W. Co., Winnipeg, Canada.

Sir : Your favor of the 31st ulto. was duly received and contents noted.
I call your attention to the enclosed mem. from our Car Accountant, which shows
that we have but seven of your cars now on our road ; of these but three are bad cases,
Nos. 28437, 34516, and 28873. One of these cars was crippled, and is in the shops ; the
other two are loaded with wheat consigned " to order."

The necessary instructions have been given our agents, and we will do all in our
power to hurry the return of your cars.

I am,

Very truly yours,

John Smith,

(Mem. enclosed.

Memorandum.
W. & A. L. Nos.

28542 to Ohio Northern, Dec. 5th.
34210 " Ohio Northern, Dec. loth.
34762 " Kanawha June, 12/ 15 crippled.
29421 " Elmwood, 12/15 unloading.
28437 " Norfolk Shops, Dec. 6th.
34628 " No account.
34516 " Blue Ridge, 12/4 ordered out.

29781 to Ohio Northern, Nov. 27th.

28274 " Niantic, Dec. 12th, loading home.

1)M)?)'}) " Louisville Belt, Dec. 8th.

29842 " Brockton, Dec. 14th, empty, will

load home.
28873 " Blue Ridge, Nov. i8th, ordered

out.

This is but an example of a correspondence that is constantly
beingr exchaneed between the officials who are in charo-e of the
Transportation Department of the various railways of the country.

The demands of trade necessitate continually the transportation
of all manner of commodities over great distances.

Thus, wheat is brought from the Northwest to the seaboard,
corn from the Southwest, cotton from the South, fruit comes from
California, black walnut from Indiana, and pine from Michigan.
In the opposite direction, merchandise and manufactured articles
are sent from the East to all points in the West, the North, and
Southwest. The interchange is constant and steadily increasing
in all directions.

In the early period of railways in this country, when they were
built chiefly to promote local interests, and the movement of either
freight or passengers over long distances was a comparatively
small portion of the traffic, it was customary for all roads to do
their business in their own cars, transferring any freight destined
to a station on a connecting road at the junction or point of inter-

REDUCTION OF THE MILEAGE BALANCE. 273

change of the two roads. While this system had the advantage
of keeping at home the equipment of each road, it resulted in a
very slow movement of the freight. As the volume of traffic grew,
and the interchange of commodities between distant points in-
creased, this slow movement became more and more vexatious.
Soon the railway companies found it necessary to allow their cars
to run through to the destination of the freight without transfer, or
they would be deprived of the business by more enterprising rivals.
So that to-day a very large proportion of the freight business of
the country is done without transfer ; the same car taking the load
from the initial point direct to destination. The result of this is,
however, that a considerable share of all the business of any rail-
way is done in cars belonging to other companies, for which mile-
age has to be paid ; while, in turn, the cars of any one company
may be scattered all over the country from Maine to California,
Winnipeg to Mexico.

The problem that constantly confronts the general superintend-
ent of a railway is, how to improve the time of through freight,
thereby improving the service and increasing the earnings of the
company ; and, at the same time, how to secure the prompt move-
ment of cars belonging to the company, getting them home from
other roads, and reducing as far as possible upon his own line the
use of foreign cars, and the consequent payment of mileage there-
for.

By common consent the mileage for the use of all eight-wheel
freight cars has been fixed at three-quarters of a cent per mile run;
four-wheel cars being rated at one-half this amount, or three-
eighths of a cent. This amount would at first sight appear to be
insignificant, yet in the aggregate it comes to a very considerable
sum. In the case of some of the more important roads in the
country, even those possessing a large equipment, the balance
against them for mileage alone often amounts to nearly half a mill-
ion annually.

It becomes therefore of the first importance to reduce to a

minimum the use of foreign cars, thereby reducing the mileage

balance ; at the same time avoiding any action that will interfere

with or impede in any way the prompt movement of traffic.

The first step toward accomplishing this result is to organize
18

2 74 THE FREIGHT-CAR SERVICE.

and fully equip the Car Accountant's Department. The impor-
tance of this office has been recognized only of late years. For-
merly, and on many lines even now, the Car Accountant was merely
a subordinate in the Auditing Department of the company. His
duties were confined strictly to computing the mileage due to other
roads. This he did from the reports of the freight-train conductors,
often in a cumbrous and mechanical manner, making no allowance
for possible errors. At the same time, he received reports of
foreign roads without question and without check. He was not
interested in any way in the operations of the Transportation
Department ; and, as a consequence, it never occurred to him to
make inquiries as to the proper use of the cars belonging to his
own company. That he left entirely to the Superintendent. The
latter, on the other hand, his time incessantly filled with many
duties, could give but scant attention to his cars.

The Superintendent of a railway in this country who has, let
us say, three hundred miles of road in his charge, has perhaps as
great a variety of occupation, and as many different questions of
importance depending upon his decision, as any other business or
professional man in the community. Fully one-half of his time
will be spent out-of-doors looking after the physical condition of
his track, masonry, bridges, stations, buildings of all kinds. Con-
cerning the repair or renewal of each he will have to pass judg-
ment. He must know intimately every foot of his track and, in
cases of emergency or accident, know jusf what resources he can
depend upon, and how to make them most immediately useful.
He will visit the shops and round houses frequently, and will know
the construction and daily condition of every locomotive, every
passenger and baggage car. He will consult with his Master
Mechanic, and often will decide which car or engine shall and
which shall not be taken in for repair, etc. He has to plan and
organize the work of every yard, every station. He must know
the duties of each employee on his pay-rolls, and instruct all new
men, or see that they are properly instructed. He must keep in-
cessant and vigilant watch on the movement of all trains, noting the
slightest variation from the schedules which he has prepared, and
looking carefully into the causes therefor, so as to avoid its recur-
rence. The first thing in the morning he is greeted with a report

THE NUMEROUS DUTIES OF A SUPERINTENDENT. 275

giving the situation of business on the road, the events of the
night, movement of trains, and location and volume of freight to
be handled. The last thing at night he gets a final report of the
location and movement of important trains ; and he never closes
his eyes without thinking that perhaps the telephone will ring and
call him before dawn. During the day in his office he has reports
to make out, requisitions to approve, a varied correspondence, not
always agreeable, to answer. Added to this, frequent consulta-
tions with the officers of the Traffic Department, or with those of
connecting lines, in reference to the movement of through or local
business, completely fill his time.

It is not to be wondered at that such a man gives but slight at-
tention in many cases to the matter of car mileage. He frequently
satisfies himself by arranging a system of reports from his agents
to his office that give a summary each twenty-four hours of the
cars of every kind on hand at each station ; and leaves the distri-
bution and movement of the cars in the hands of his agents. He
will pfive some attention to the matter whenever he eoes over his
road on other and more pressing duties. Occasionally he will
even take a day or two and visit every station, inquiring carefully
as to each car he finds ; why it is being held, for what purpose,
and how long it has stood. Then, satisfied with having, as he
says, " shaken up the boys," he will turn his attention to otlier
matters, and let the cars take care of themselves. When the
monthly or quarterly statements are made up, and he sees the
amount of balance against his road for car mileage, he gives it but
little thought, regarding it as one of the items like taxes, impor-
tant, of course, but hardly one for which he is responsible.

His General Manager, however, will note the car-mileage bal-
ance with more concern ; and, looking into the matter carefully, he
will discover that the remedy is to put the Car Accountant into
the Transportation Department ; thus at once interesting him in
the economical use of the equipment, and also placing in the hands
of the Superintendent the machinery he needs to enable him to
promptly control and direct the use of all cars.

The Car Accountant's Office may properly be divided into two
main branches — mileage and record. The computation of mileage
is made in most cases directly from the reports of each train.

276 THE FREIGHT-CAR SERVICE.

These reports are made by the train conductors, and give the ini-
tials and number of each car in their train, whether loaded or
empty, and the station whence taken and where left. To facilitate
the computation of mileage of each car, the stations on the road
are consecutively numbered, beginning at nought — each succeed-
ing station being represented by a number equivalent to the
number of miles it is distant from the initial station ; excepting di-
visional and terminal stations, where letters are used, to reduce the
work in recording. The conductors report the stations between
which each car moves by their numbers or letters. So that all
that is necessary for the mileage clerk to do is to take the differ-
ence between the station numbers in each case, and he has the miles
travelled by that car. The mileage of each car having been so
noted on the conductor's report, it is then condensed, the mileage
of all cars of any given road or line being added together, and
the results entered into the ledorers. At the close of the month
these books are footed, and a report is rendered to each road in
the country of the mileage and amount in money due therefor, in
each case ; and. settlements are made accordingly, either in full or
by balance. This is purely the accounting side of the Car Ac-
countant's Office.

There remains the record branch, equally important, and to
the operating department far more interesting. This consists
broadly in a complete record being kept of the daily movement
and location of every car upon the road, local or foreign. At
first sight this may seem to be a difficult and complicated oper-
ation, but, in fact, it is simple. The record is first divided between
local and foreign ; local cars being all cars owned by the home
road, foreign being all those owned by other roads. The local
books are of large size, ruled in such a way as to allow space for
the daily movement or location of each car for one month, and
admit of twenty-five or fifty cars being recorded upon each page.
The record books for foreign cars are similarly ruled, a slight
change being necessary to allow for the numbers and initials of the
foreign cars, which cannot well be arranged for in advance.

The train conductors' reports are placed in the hands of the
record clerks, each one recording the movements of certain initials,
or series of numbers, under the date as shown by the report ; the

REPORTS RECEIVED BY THE CAR ACCOUNTANT.

277

reports being handed from one to another until every car has been
entered and the report checked.

In addition to the conductors' train reports, the Car Account-
ant receives reports from all junction stations daily, showing all
cars received from or delivered to connecting roads, whether
loaded or empty, and the destination of each. He also has reports
from all stations showing cars received and forwarded, from mid-
night to midnight, cars remaining on hand loaded or empty ; and

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if loaded, contents and consignee, and also cars in process of load-
ing or unloading, and reports from shops or yards showing cars
undergoing repairs, or waiting for the same. In fine, he endeav-

* Explanation. Each connecting road at each junction station is assigned a number, and when
a car is received from a connection the record is shown by entering the road number in the upper
space of the block under the proper date, followed by the character x if loaded ; or, if empty, together
with the time, as for example : Car 29421 is shown as received, Dec. 2d, from the Amherst & Lincoln
Ry. at Port Chester (10), loaded ( x ), at 21 o'clock, org p.m. A similar entry in the lower space of the
block indicates a delivery to connecting line. The middle space of the block is used for the car move-
ment, the first number or letter showing the station from which the car moved. The character x as a
prefix to a station number indicates that the car is being loaded at that station. The — , when used as

278 THE FREIGHT-CAR SERVICE.

qrs to get complete reports showing every car that either may be
in motion or standing at any point on his road. All of these are
entered on his record books. The station reports check those of
the conductor, and vice versa. It will thus be seen that the rec-
ord gives a complete history of the movement and daily use of
each car on the road.

In case of stock and perishable freight, or freight concerning
whose movements quick time is of the utmost importance, this
record is kept not only by days but by hours ; that is, the actual
time of each movement is entered on the record. This is done by
a simple system of signs, so that an exact account of the move-
ment, giving date and hour of receipt and delivery, can be taken
from the record. This is frequently of the greatest value.

In addition to this, it is customary now for nearly all roads to
exchange what are known as "junction cards." They are reports
from one to another giving the numbers of all cars of each road
passing junction stations. These junction reports when received
are also carefully noted in the record, so that an account is kept in
a measure of the movement of home cars while on foreign roads,
and their daily location.

It would be difficult, and beyond the scope of this article, to
tell of the great variety of uses these records are put to. They
serve as a check upon reports of the mileage clerks, insuring
their accuracy. The junction reports serve also in a measure to
check the reports of foreign roads. Then, at frequent intervals, a
clerk wnll go over the record and note every car that is not shown
to have moved within, say, five days, putting down on a "deten-
tion report " for each station the car number and date of its arrival.

a prefix, shows that the car is being unloaded ; as an affix it indicates a movement empty, or on hand
empty. When the — is used under a station number it indicates a change date record, that is, leaving
a station on one date and arriving at another on the following date. Station numbers or letters without
other characters show that the car is loaded.

The sign (B) is used when a car is left at a station for repairs, while in transit. The sign (T) de-
notes that the lading was transferred to another car, a transfer record being kept showing to what car
transferred ; the sign (R), when a car is on hand at a station or yard for repairs. Shops are assigned
numbers with an O prefi.x ; the upper and lower spaces being used to show delivery to, or receipt from
the shop, similar to the interchange record.

For convenience the twenty-four hour system is used for recording time, and is shown in quarter-
hours ; thus, 10, 12'-, i8i, 2i3-, representing 10 a.m., 12.15 P.M., 6.30 p.m., and 9.45 p.m. This,
used in the movement record, shows the running time on each division, or detention at train terminals.

The " transfer " column shows the station at which the car was reported on the last day of the pre-
vious month, and the arriving date ; also from what road received, with date.

DISTRIBUTION OF EMPTY CARS. 279

These reports are sent to the agents for explanation, and then sub-
mitted to the Superintendent. In a similar manner reports will
be made showing any use locally of foreign cars. From the rec-
ord can be shown almost at a glance the" location of all idle cars,
information that is often very valuable, and that when wanted is
wanted promptly. Also, from the record, reports are constantly
being made out — " tracers," as they are termed — showing the loca-
tion and detention of home cars on foreign roads. In turn, foreign
tracers are taken to the record, and the questions therein asked
are readily answered by the Car Accountant.

Whenever possible, the distribution of empty cars upon the
line should be under the direct supervision of the Car Accountant.
Where this matter is left to a clerk in the Superintendent's office,
or, as has often been the case, is left to the discretion of yard-
masters and agents, the utmost waste in the use of cars is inev-
itable. An agent at a local station will want a car for a particular
shipment. If he has none at his station suitable he will ask some
neighboring agent ; failing there, he will ask the Superintendent's
office, and frequently also the nearest yardmaster. Some other
agent at a distant station may want the same kind of car ; orders
in this way become duplicated, and the road will not only have to
haul twice the number of cars needed, but very often haul the same
kind of cars empty in opposite directions at the same time. This
is no uncommon occurrence even on well-managed roads, and, it
is needless to say, is most expensive.

Where the cars are distributed under the direct supervision of
the Car Accountant, he has the record at hand constantly, and
knows exactly where all cars are, and the sources of supply to
meet every demand. Not only that, but every improper use of
cars is at once brouo-ht to liofht and corrected.

The theory of the use of foreign cars is that they are permitted
to run through to destination with through freight, on condition
that they shall be promptly unloaded on arrival at destination ;
that they shall be returned at once to the home road, being loaded
on the return trip if suitable loading is available ; but by no means
allowed to be used in local service, or loaded in any other direc-
tion than homeward.

The practice of many agents, and many roads, too, unfortu-

28o

THE FREIGHT-CAR SERVICE.

Freight Pier, North River, New York.

nately, is hardly in keeping with this theory. Agents, especially
if not closely watched, are prone to put freight into any car that
is at hand, regardless of ownership, being urged to such course
by the importunities of shippers and, at times, by the scarcity of
cars. Frequently such irregularities are the result of pure care-
lessness, agents using foreign cars for local shipments, simply be-
cause they are on hand, rather than call for home cars which it
may take some trouble and delay to procure. In this way at times
a large amount of local business may be going on on one part of
the road in foreign cars, while but a few miles distant the com-
pany's cars may be standing idle. The Car Accountant from his
record can at once put a stop to this, and prevent its recurrence.

Another valuable use to which the Car Accountant's Office may
be put is to trace and keep a record of the movement of freight,
locating delays, and tracing for freight lost or damaged. By a
moderate use of the telegraph wire the Car Accountant can keep

BENEFITS OF A GOOD ACCOUNTING SYSTEM. 28 1

track of the movement of special freight-trains concerning which
time is important, and so insure regularity and promptness in their
despatch and delivery. From the mileage records may be ob-
tained the work of each engine in freight service, the miles run,
the number of loaded and empty cars hauled ; and by considering
two, or perhaps three, empty cars as equivalent to one loaded car,
the average number of loaded cars hauled per mile is obtained.
The information is often valuable, as on many roads the ability of
a Superintendent is measured to a considerable extent by the
amount of work performed by the engines at his command.

In many other ways the resources of the Car Accountant's
office will be found of the greatest value to the Superintendent.
When the office is once fully organized and systematized, and all
in good working order, the Superintendent will find that his ca-
pacity for control of his cars has been more than doubled, while
the demands on his time for their care has been really lessened.
He has all the information he needs supplied at his desk, far more
accurate than any he was ever able to secure before, and in the
most condensed form ; while, at the same time, he will find his
freight improving in time over his line, his agents will have cars
more promptly and in greater abundance than ever, and last, and
most gratifying of all, his monthly balance-sheets will show a
steady decrease in the amount his road pays for foreign-car mile-
age, until probably the balance will be found in his favor, although
his business and consequent tonnage may have increased mean-
while.

III.

USE AND ABUSE OF CARS.

A package of merchandise can be transported from New York
to Chicago in two days and three nights. This is repeated day
after day with all the regularity of passenger service. So uniform
is this movement, that shippers and consignees depend upon it
and arrange their sales and stocks of goods in accordance there-
with. Any deviation or irregularity brings forth instant complaint
and a threatened withdrawal of patronage. This is true of hun-

282

THE FREIGHT-CAR SERVICE.

Hay Storage Warehouses, New York Central & Hudson River Railroad, West Thirty-third Sueet, New York.

dreds of other places and lines of freight service. To accomplish
it, there is necessary, first, a highly complicated and intricate or-
ganization, and, next, incessant watchfulness.

The shipper delivers the goods at the receiving freight-house
of the railway company. His cartman gets a receipt from the
tallyman. This receipt may be sent direct to the consignee, or
more frequently is exchanged for a bill of lading. There the re-
sponsibility of the shipper ends. His goods are in the hands of

DUTIES OF A YARDMASTER. 283

the railway company, which to all intents and purposes guarantees
their safe and prompt delivery to the consignee.

The tallyman's receipt is taken in duplicate. The latter is
kept in the freight-house until the freight is loaded in a car, and is
then marked with the initials and number of the car into which
the freight has been loaded. After that it is taken to the bill clerk
in the office, and from it and others is made the waybill or bills
for that particular car.

Where the volume of freight received at a given station is
large, it is customary to put all packages for a common destina-
tion, as far as possible, in a car by themselves, thus making what
are termed "straight" cars. This is not always possible, how-
ever, or if attempted would lead to loading a very large number
of cars with but light loads. So that it becomes necessary to
group freight for contiguous stations in one car, and again often
to put freight for widely distant cities in the same car. These
latter are known as "mixed" cars. *

We will assume the day's receipt of freight finished, and most
of the cars loaded. About 6 p.m. the house will be " pulled," that
is, those cars already loaded will be taken away, and an empty
"string" of cars put in their place. An hour later, this " string "
will in turn be loaded and taken out, and the operation repeated,
until all the day's receipt of freight is loaded. Meanwhile other
freight will have been loaded direct from the shippers' carts on to
cars on the receiving tracks. For all cars, there is made out in the
freight-office a running slip or memorandum bill, which gives simply
the car number, initials, and destination. These are given to the
yardmaster or despatcher, and from them he " makes up " the trains.

To a very great degree, the good movement of freight depends
upon the vigilance of the yardmasters and the care with which
they execute their duties. In an important terminal -yard, the
yardmaster may have at all times from one to two thousand cars,
loaded and empty. He must know what each car contains, what
is its destination, and on what track it is. To enable him to do
this, he has one or more assistants, day and night. They, in turn,
will have foremen in charge of yard crews, each of the latter hav-
ing immediate charge of one engine. The number of engines em-
ployed will vary constantly with the volume of the freight handled,

284 THE FREIGHT-CAR SERVICE.

but it is safe to assume that there will be at all times nearly as
many engines employed in shifting in the various yards and im-
portant stations on a line as there are road engines used in the
movement of the freight traffic.

The work of the yard goes on without intermission day and
night, Sundays as well as week-days. The men there employed
know no holidays, get no vacations. The loaded cars are coming
from the freight-houses all day long, in greater numbers perhaps
in the afternoon and evening, but the work of loading and moving
cars goes on somewhere or other, at nearly all times. As often
as the yardmaster gets together a sufficient number of cars for a
common destination to make up a train, he gathers them together,
orders a road engine and crew to be ready, and despatches them.
In the make up of " through " trains, care has to be exercised to
put together cars going to the same point, and to "group" the
trains so that as little shifting as possible may be required at any
succeeding yard or terminal, where the trains may pass. To ac-
complish this, a thorough knowledge of all the various routes is
necessary, and minute acquaintance with the various intermedi-
ate junction yards and stations.

The train once " made up " and in charge of the road crew, its
progress for the next few hours is comparatively simple. It will
go the length of the " run " at a rate of probably twenty miles per
hour, subject only to the ordinary vicissitudes of the road. At
the end of the division, if a through train, it will be promptly trans-
ferred to another road crew with another engine, and so on.
Each conductor takes the running slip for each car in his train.
He also makes a report, giving the cars in his train by numbers
and initials, whether loaded or empty, how secured ; and detailed
information in regard to any car out of order, or any slight mishap
or delay to his train. These reports go to the Car Accountant.
The running slips stay with the cars, being transferred from hand
to hand until the cars reach their destination. At junction yards
where one road terminates and connects with one or more foreign
roads, a complete record is kept, in a book prepared especially
for the purpose, of every car received from and delivered to each
connecting road, A copy of this information is sent daily to the
Car Accountant.

FAST FREIGHT LINES.

287

" Dummy " Tiain and Boy on Hudson Street, New York.

A road is expected
to receive back from a con-
necting" line any car tliat it has
previously delivered loaded. It
becomes very necessary to know
just what cars have been so de-
livered. Without such a record
a road is at the mercy of its con-
nections, and may be forced to
receive and move over its length empty foreign cars that it never
had in its possession before, thus paying mileage and being at the
expense of moving cars that brought it no revenue whatever. The
junction records put a complete check on such errors, and by
their use thousands of dollars are saved annually.

To still more expedite the movement of through freight, very
many so-called fast freight lines exist in this country, as, for exam-
ple, the Traders' Despatch, the Star Union, the Merchants' De-
spatch Transportation Company, the Red, the White, the Blue,
the National Despatch, etc. Some of these lines are simply co-
operative lines, owned by the various railway companies whose

288

THE FREIGHT-CAR SERVICE.

.^=iW

roads are operated in connection with one another. Their organ-
ization is simple. A number of companies organize a Hne, which
they put in charge of a general manager. Each company will as-
sign to the line a number of cars, the quota
of each being in proportion to its miles of
road. The general manager has control
of the line cars. He has agents who so-
licit business and employees who watch the
movement of his line cars, and report the
same to him. He keeps close record of
his business, and reports promptly to the
transportation officer of any road in his
line any neglect or delinquency he may
discover. The earnings of the line and its
expenses are all divided pro rata among
the roads interested. Such a line is simply an organization to in-
sure prompt service and secure competitive business, and the en-
tire benefit goes to the railway companies.

Other lines are in the nature of corporations, being owned by
stockholders and operating on a system of roads in accordance
with some agreement or contract. Others, again, are organized
for some special freight, and are owned wholly by firms or indi-
viduals, such as the various dressed-beef lines and some lines of
live-stock cars. These are put in service
simply for the mileage received for their use,
and in many cases the railway companies have
no interest in them whatever.

The movement of " straio^ht " cars and
" solid " trains is comparatively simple. But
there is a very large amount of through freight,
particularly of merchandise, that cannot be put
into a " straight " car. A shipper in New York
can depend on his goods going in a straight
car to St. Louis, Denver, St. Paul, etc., but he
can hardly expect a straight car to any one of hundreds of inter-
mediate cities and towns. Still less is it possible for a road at a
small country-town, where there are perhaps but one or two facto-
ries, to load straight cars to any but a very few places. To over-

CARS FOR SPECIAL USES.

289

Coal Car, Central Railroad of New Jersey.

come this difficulty, transfer freight-houses have to be provided.
These are usually located at important terminal stations.

To them are billed all mixed cars containing through freight.
These cars are unloaded and reloaded, and out of a hundred

" mixed " cars will be made probably
eighty straight and the balance local.
This necessarily causes some delay, but
it is practically a gain in time in the end,
as otherwise every car would have to be
reloaded, and held at every station for
which it contained freight.

The variety of articles that is offered
to a railway company for transportation is endless. Articles of all
sizes and weights are carried, from shoe-pegs by the carload to a
single casting that weighs thirty tons. The values also vary as
widely. Some cars will carry kindling wood or refuse stone that
is worth barely the cost of loading and carrying a few miles, while
others will be loaded with teas, silks, or merchandise, where per-
haps the value of a single carload will exceed twenty-five or thirty
thousand dollars. The great bulk of all freight is carried in the
ordinary box-cars, coal in cars especially planned for it, and coarse
lumber and stone on flat or platform cars. But very many cases
arise that require especial provision to be made for each. Chicago
dressed beef has made the use of the refrigerator cars well known.
These cars are also used for carrying fruit and provisions. They
are of many kinds, built under various patents,
but all with a common purpose ; that is, to
produce a car wherein the temperature can
be maintained uniformly at about 40 degrees.
On the other hand, potatoes in bulk are
brought in great quantities to the Eastern
seaboard in box-cars, fitted with an additional

or false lining of boards, and in the centre an ordinary stove
in which fire is kept up during the time the potatoes are in
transit.

An improvement on this plan is afforded by the use of cars
known as the Eastman Heater Cars. They are provided with an
automatic self-feeding oil-stove, so arranged that fire can be kept
19

':RATO!i

290

THE FREIGHT-CAR SERVICE.

up under the car for about a fortnig-ht without attention. These
are largely used in the fruit trade.

For carrying- milk, special cars have to be provided, as partic-

Unloading a Tram of Truck-wagons, Long Island Railroad.

ular attention has to be given to the matter of ventilation in con-
nection with a small amount of cooling for the proper carrying of
the milk. Not only the cars but the train service has to be espe-
cially arranged for in particular cases.

As an instance, the Long Island Railroad Company makes a
specialty of transporting farmers' truck-wagons to market. For
this purpose they have provided long, low, flat cars, each capable
of carrying four truck-wagons. The horses are carried in box-
cars, and one farmer or driver is carried with each team, a coach
being provided for their use. During the fall of the year, they fre-
quently carry from 45 to 50 wagons on one train, charging a small
sum for each wagon, and nothing for the horses or men. These
trains run three times weekly, and are arranged so as to arrive
in the city about midnight, returning the next day at noon. The
trains by themselves are not very remunerative, but by furnishing
this accommodation, farmers who are thirty or forty miles out on
Long Island can have just as good an opportunity for market-
orardenine as those who live within driving distance of the city.

ACCIDENTS IN FREIGHT MOVEMENT

293

This builds up the country farther out on the island, which in turn
ofives the road other business.

The movement of freight is not always successfully accom-
plished. In spite of good organization, every facility, incessant
watchfulness, accidents will occur, freight will be delayed, cars will
break down, trains will meet with disaster. The consequences
sometimes fall heavily on the railway companies. The loss is fre-
quently out of all proportion to the revenue. The following in-
stance is from the writer's own experience :

Some carpenters repairing a small low trestle left chips and
shavings near one of the bents. A passing train dropped some
ashes. The shavings caught fire and burnt one or two posts in one
bent. The section men failed to notice the fire. Toward evening
a freight train came to the trestle, the burnt bent gave way, and
the train was derailed. Two men were killed, one severely in-
jured, and eighteen freight cars were burned. The resulting loss
to the railroad company was $56,113. Of this amount, the loss
paid on freight was $39,613.12. As a matter of interest, and to
show the disparity between the value of the commodities and the
earnings from freight charges received by the railway company,
the amount of each is given here in detail, taken from the actual
records of the case :

Property destroyed.

Butter, 200 pounds at 35 cents. .

Ore, 75.9 tons at $3.50

Paper, 4,600 pounds

Pulp, 10,400 pounds

Shingles, 85 M

Horsenails

Lumber

Apples, 1 59 barrels

Hops, 209 bales, 37,014 pounds

Amount paid by
railroad company.

$70 00
265 80
269 10
160 00
192 50
2,986 06
252 00
508 80

34,908 86

$39,613 12

Freight charges on
the same.

$0 50
56 91

8 74
12 65
II 00

37 44
18 40
15 26
59 22

This was during the fall of 1882, when hops sold in New York
for over %\ per pound.

The plan of payment for car service by the mile run, without
reference to time, has the merit of simplicity and long-established

294 THE FREIGHT-CAR SERVICE.

usage. It is, however, in reality, crude and unscientific, and has
brought with it, in its train, numerous disadvantages.

The owner of a car is entitled, first, to the proper interest in
his investment, that is, on the value of the car ; second, to a proper
amount for wear and tear or for repairs. The life of a freight car
may be reasonably estimated at ten years, so that ten per cent, on
its value would be a fair interest-charge. The average amount
for repairs varies directly as to the distance the car moves, and
may be put at one-half cent per mile run.

It will be seen that by the ordinary method of payment the car-
owner is compensated for interest at the rate of ^ of a cent for the
time that the car is in motion, but receives nothing for all the time
the car is at rest. If cars could be kept in motion for any consider-
able portion of each twenty-four hours, this would prove ample.
But in practice it is found that few roads succeed in getting an
averao-e movement of all cars for more than one hour and a half in
each twenty-four. This gives about five per cent, interest on the
value of the car, only one-half of what is generally conceded to be
a fair return. Still further, there is no inducement to the road on
which a foreign car is standing to hasten its return home. On the
contrary, there is a direct advantage in holding the car idle until
a proper load can be found for it, rather than return it home empty.
The most serious abuses of the freight business of the country
have o^rown from this state of affairs. It costs nothinof but the use
of the track to hold freight in cars ; consequently freight is held in
cars instead of being put in storehouses, frequently for weeks and
months at a time.

There is but little earnest attempt made to urge consignees to
remove freight ; on the contrary, the consignees consider that they
can leave their freight as long as they choose, and that the railroad
companies are bound to hold it indefinitely.

One special practice has grown up as a result of this condition,
that of shippers sending freight to distant points to their own
order. This practice is most prolific of detention to cars, and yet
is so strongly rooted in the traffic arrangements of the country
that it is most difficult to put an end to it. Cars "to order" will
frequently stand for weeks before the contents are sold and the
consignee is discovered, during which time the cars accumulate,

THE PER DIEM PLAN.

295

Floating Cars, New York Harbor.

Stand in the way, occupy
valuable space, and have
to be handled repeatedly
by the transportation de-
partment of the road, all
at the direct cost of
handlinor to the road it-
self, and loss of interest
to the owner of the car.
Only two methods have so far been suggested to a