Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, September 14, 1902, Page 28

Scenes at Council Bluffs Elks’ Street Fair | PADDLES TEN IN THE ELKS' FAIR CENTS EACH COMMITTEE OF THE ELKS IN CHARGE ONE OF THE AVENUES. Photographs by THE LOBSTER BOOTH AT THE ELKS' COURT. First American Locomotive Exported to England HE report of the bureau on locomotives which showed that in 1900, 62f Ameri- can built machines were sold In foreign countries, as against 161 in 1890, seems to Indicate that our engincs are increasing in popularity in other coun- tries. But the truth lles the other way, in a measure at least. They may like our locomotives better than any other in Mex ico, in South America, in Japan and pos sibly in Russla, but they don’t In England or Germany or France. In every one of these countries the engine drivers complain that our machines are wasteful of fuel, that it takes an inordinate lot of oil to keep their joints lubricated, that the work- manship on them is defective, thus neces- sitating unusual and excessive repair ex- penses, and so on. Not all of these complaints are well founded by any means, being prompted in some instances by sheer animosity agalnst American machines, but the fact remains that while our locomotives average up to the best, there are points probably in which they are excelled by fore gn machines, es- peclally for use on foreign lines. There is no doubt, for instance, that English locomotives are more carefully fin ished, nor that often they can do the work required on an English railroad with less fuel consumption than can the American machines. Why, then, do the fore'gn railroads buy cngines of American make? Because they are forced to do or get along without them for months and months after they are demanded by the trafic necessities of the roads. For American locomotive makers like American bridge builders, have a hablt of hustling at their work, and, owing to certaln manufacturing methods not prac ticed abroad, can turn out more work in less time than the locomotive makers of recent census any other country on earth. Besldes, “the price is right.” Notwithstanding all the foreign critl cisms of our rallroads—and some of these eriticisms are more than founded on truth— the American rallroad system is by odds the most eficient in the world Its method of handling passengers Is more economical, it has more fast trains and its passengers travel more comfortably. Only the most prejudiced of Englishmen or Ger- long mans or Frenchmen deny that But our freight carrying methods are mmeasurably superior to those of the foreign roads. There isn't a raliroal of any consequence in the United States today that could operate its freight department on the basis of freight operation abroad without running the great danger of falling into a recelvership, since the cost per ton mlle on any good American line is only a frac ticn of the ton mile cost on the best of the foreign lines This, despite the fact that our roads show grades and curves that would be impossible of operation with rall road equipment that is considered quite adequate abroad We use heavier engines and bigger freight ears than anybody else. In the 'b0s our freight cars were elght-wheelers and the capacity of the cars was figured at a ton to the wheel, or eight tons each. Grad ually the capacity of cars has increased till it averages nearly four times as much. Five years ago thirty tons was generally counted as a carload. Now most of the new cars will carry forty tons each. The big, new steel cars will carry fifty tons aplece. When the elght-ton cars wer2 in use fourteen cars was a load. The mas- sive new freight locomotive of today will haul seventy-five of the new steel cars, loaded, on the dead level, or sixty over the grades and curves of such a trunk line as the New York Central or Pennsylvania. American locomotives are the most economical in the world for hauling such trains. Hauling the short, light trains of ‘‘goods waggons'' used on English roads it is quite likely that they are wasteful. So far as eficlency under dificult and varying conditions goes the American loco- motive is far and away the best machine. This was shown away back in 1838, sixty- four years ago, when the first Yankee en- gine was imported into England. The Birmingham & Lancaster was completed in that year. There was one stretch of road on the line that for economy's sake had a gradient of one in thirty-seven, or nearly 144 feet to the mile, and it was freely predicted by the Eng- lish that no locomotive could be built that could haul a traln of loaded “goods wag- rallway gons"” up such a line. Brunel, then the greatest engine builder in the United Kingdom, admitted his fear that the pre- diction was correct The civil engineer who had lald out the line, one Captain Morrison, was severely criticised for in- troducing the grade, and he began to be afrald that the road would be a fallure, es- pecially as the two Stephensons, one of whom had built the first practical locomo- tive, agreed with Brunel. But Morrison had not steep a grade without Before laying out the line he had heard that even steeper grades were in exist- ence on American rallroads and that Amer- fcan engines were successfully operated over them. So, without advertising his ac- tion to the world, he sent to Philadelphia many months in advance of the road's opening and ordered an engine from a con ventured on some justification 80 cern which has since become the most famous engine bullding establishment in the world. He was so fearful that the en gine would not reach England in time for the opening, it is said, that delayed the work a little The American builders were as prompt then as now, however, and the machine was landed on British soll quite early enough to suit Captain Morrison’'s purpose. Rallroad openings were a great novelty in those days, and tbis one was witnessed by a great crowd. Naturally the interest centered on the Lickey incline, as the stretch of heavy grade was termed. When Captain Morrison brought out his Yankee engine, saying he had a machine that he was sure could haul an ordinary ‘“goods train” up the incline, there was amaze ment all round The engine differed In many obvious ways from the English ones he purposely It had two pairs of driving wheels coupled together, which looked very odd in British eyes, used only to locomotives with one pair of drivers. Besides, the Yankee en gine lacked in finish. In fact, it was so roughly built that the crowd jeered openly and the chronicles of the day relate that Captain Morrison was made visibly nervous by the hostile demonstration. He sent the engine to its work, though, coupling it to several ‘‘goods waggons" bolding thirty-four “long'" tons in the ag- gregate. As the ungainly machine rolled along a level stretch of track before tak- ing the grade the jeers of the crowd grew into a loud chorus of disapproval. This was moderated somewhat as the machine began to climb, but predictions that it would soon become ‘‘stalled"” were freely made. They were soon silenced, thougl, for in less than eleven minutes the engine had mounted the incline at an average speed of fourteen and a half miles an hour. This changed the jeers Into a storm of applause from the throng at the top of the grade and Captain Morrison's nervousness was succeeded by a corresponding degree of elation. Contrariwise, the British loco- motive builders were beside themselves with chagrin, and Burry, whose standard as a builder was second only to Brunel's, declared that English engines could at least duplicate the exploit of the American ma- chine. An engine of the newest and best type was accordingly brought from Liver- pool and started “empty” up the grade There was jeering at the start, for the crowd as well Burry and Brunel wanted to see a demonstration of British supremacy. Bravely the engine set out to duplicate the previous performance, the drivers moving merrily round and round, keeping time to the rapid exhaust. When the grade was struck the machine began to move slower and more slowly Presently the single pair of drivers began to slip, while the exhaust was quickened into a nervous succession of snorts. Then, before half the grade had been overcome, the ma- chine came to a full stop and all hands had to acknowledge that the despised Yankee engine had done better than the best ob- tainable machine of British make. Then there was jeering a-plenty and the crowd dispersed much disheartened at the result The chief point in favor of the American locomotive on that occasion lay In its coupled driving wheels American build ers had learmed early that engines with two pairs of driving wheels coupled could haul heavier loads and could climb much steeper grades than engines with only one pair of drivers. That was because two sets of drivers afforded two “bites’ on each rall, whereas one pair had only one “bite,” or just half as much tractive power It took the English railroad men many years to grasp this simple theory, albeit it was amply backed up by experience, and fully demonstrated in England on that memorable day sixty-four years ago Indeed, English engines furnished with only one pair of drivers are often to be seen to this day, and it was not till a few years ago, comparatively that coupled no as drivers were seen in any numbers on Brit ish roads. It should be explained, how- ever, that with relatively light trains a single pair of drivers is as efficient on the best English roads as double drlvers coupled are on the average American line. This 18 because the English lines were from the beginning much better and more expensively built than American ones. The early English railway builders spent thou sands of pounds in fills and cuts to avoid grades and curves that the early builders would have cared Thus the American and locomotives, practically identical at the start, when American as well as English machines were built with one pair of drivers only, diverged rapidly, being fur- thest apart some twenty or thirty years ago. Today they are much closer, for many of the new and heavy British loco- motives have at least two pairs of drivers American nothing about. English types of coupled, while a few have three. The American heavy freight engine of the latest type almost invariably has four pairs, but the English have not yet gone that far. Notwith tanding the now generally ac- knowledged superior tractive power of the engine with coupled drivers, American en- gines are occasionally to be seen with only one pair of drivers. One of the famous fast trains between Philadelphia and At- lantic City, for instance, is hauled regularly by such an engine without trouble since the road is virtually without grades or curves The coupling of the drivers was not th only point in favor of the Yankee engine away back in 1838 Its drivers were so placed as to bear the greater part of the machine’'s weight, thus “holding down" the machine to its work, while drivers of the ocompeting English machines bore little more than a third of its weight. Ten or fifteen years later the Hudson River rail- road authorities being anxious to increase the speed of their passenger trains to match English railroad speeds, which then led the world, threw all practical American railroading experienc to the winds. They built a number of locomotives pe ssing &ll the defects of the English type and none of its excellences. First of all they fitted each engine with single-pair drivers eight feet in diameler quite as large as the drivers of the fle eam monster of today These xperi al eng ran like greased lightning” when not and the trial of the first one “light” roused the most extravagant hopee for ‘‘mile-a minute” trains. With a load, however, the new type engines could not compete with the regulation American type mounted on coupled drivers only four feet in diameter For some time all hands and the cook the Hudscn River railroad management were puzzled mightily but after a while An engine driver told them wherein their mis take lay Besides adopting the single pair driver pe the axle of the drivers was set back of the boiler, so as to bear only a small fraction of th machine's total weight. It rested maiuly on the forward trucks and thus the drivers bore no weight a &= § Bee Staff’Artist put to speak of, and naturally they slipped as soon as they were called upon to haul a load. Of course the new machines had to be rebuilt before they could be into active service, Not only are the locomotive builders of the world approaching one another as to types of engines—though still wide apart in many things—but railroad managers the world over are coming closer together in their general practice Thus while the block signal system was an accomplished success abroad long be- fore it was introduced here, the block systems on our great lines are now the best in the world, and an automatic Amer- ican system is actually being on one of the big English roads. So it is with regard to roadbeds. inally the American roadbeds comparably inferior to the European roadbeds, but the some of the best the finest in were existence, introduced Orig- in- English and roadbeds of American lines are now and the work of improving them has hardly begun, though since 1897 laid out. tures in improving cutting down grades, nearly $1,000,000,000 American has been This year the combined expendi- roadways— straightening curves and laying heavier rails and abolishing grade crossings will amount literally to hundreds of millions—perhaps $500,000,000, a sum quite vast enough to bankrupt a score of the most important old world lines. A Few Conundrums New York World: What has only one foot? A stocking. How do bees dispose of their honey? They cell it What game do the waves play at? and toss Pitch What sort of men are always above board? Chssmen Who is the oldest lunatic on record? Time out of mind What soup would cannibals prefer? A broth of a boy Wkhen is a man more than a man? When h> is beside himself Wtkat is a muff? lady's hand and doesn’'t squeeze it Something that holds a When is a clock on the stair dangerous? When it runs down and strikes one Why is a pig in the kitchen like a hous¢ on fire? The sooner it's out the better. A Devoted Couple Boston Transcript Mrs. Hartt—Yes, 1 have no doubt there are unhappy marriages, but really I cannot understand how they are possible Now, there's George and 1 we are so devoted. He says he could not exist without me, and I'm sure I live only for him Mrs. Greene—You are really to be con- gratulated, both of you. By the way, how long have you been married? Mrs. Hartt—Just a week day after to- mMOrrow .