are likely to occur, together with their remedies. It contains the first, second and third year mechanical examinations, together with answers, questions and answers on compound locomotives, and questions and answers on the Pyle National electric headlight. The book is well illustrated and indexed. It contains over 300 pages, size 4 x 6 inches, and a chart of an Atlantic type locomotive with the parts numbered and the names given, bound in flexible cover. Price, postpaid, $1.50. Geo. B. M. Seager, Publisher, Adrian, Mich.

Forney's Catechism of the Locomotive. -Part II, third edition, of this standard work, revised and enlarged by Geo. L. Fowler, Consulting Mechanical Engineer, Associate Editor Railway Age Gazette, is now off the press. Referring to Part I, a review of which was published in our May issue, Mr. Fowler, in his preface to Part II, says:

"In Part I there will be found a general description of the construction and method of operation of the locomotive. There the machine has been regarded from a purely physical standpoint and the scientific discussion of the reasons for many of the observed phenomena and practices has been avoided.

"In Part II, the discussions of the reasons for the observed phenomena have been brought together, and an attempt has been made to show the reader, in simple language, devoid, as far as possible, of mathematical calculations, why locomotives are built as they are and the principles of their operation.

The presentation of this knowledge in a manner to make it of value to the locomotive engineer who is ambitious to know not only how but why certain phenomena occur, has required almost as much space as was devoted to the whole subject in the original work."

The author credits various authorities for assistance in the collection and arrangement of this data, and states that it is to meet the demand on the men connected with the maintenance and operation of locomotives that they shall know of these things that this Part II has been prepared. Part II contains nearly 300 pages, size 6 x 8 inches, fully illustrated, and is bound in cloth, with gilt title. Price, $3, or both Parts I and II for $5. Published by SimmonsBoardman Publishing Co., New York, N.

Y. McGraw-Hill Book Co., sole selling agents, New York, N. Y.

Air Brakes. This is a plain, practical and very complete treatise on the Westinghouse and New York air brake systems by Thomas A. Annis. It includes train handling and general air brake practice. The Westinghouse Nos. 5 and 6 ET locomotive brake equipment, and the New York B-3 locomotive brake equipment are very fully and concisely treated, as are the various appliances used in connection therewith. Included in the book are very complete lists of examination questions and answers on both systems. There are over 300 pages, size 4x6 inches, fully illustrated, together with folding inserts, bound in flexible cover. Price, postpaid, $1.50. Geo. B. M. Seager, Publisher, Adrian, Mich.

The Modern Locomotive.-This excellent little book, by C. Edgar Allen, A. M. I. Mech. E.; A. M. I. E. E., presents in an interesting manner the development of the British locomotive from its comparatively simple predecessor of twentyfive or thirty years ago. As an essential to the proper understanding of the modern locomotive, the author has given more attention to such matters as combustion, transfer of heat, steam production, superheating, compounding, feedwater heating, resistance and stability, than to mechanical features, to do justice to which would involve a mass of technical detail. The book is well adapted to the use of students, as well as containing much of value to advanced engineers. The text is in clear, readable type and is well illustrated. It contains 174 pages, size about 4 x 6 bound in cloth. Price 40 cents net. Published by the Cambridge University Press, England. G. P. Putnam's Sons, Publishers (American Representatives), 2, 4 and 6 West Forty-fifth street, New York, N. Y.

inches,

Diary of a Roundhouse Foreman.This new book, by T. S. Reilly, late Associate Editor Railway Review, treats most interestingly of railroad experiences, many of the stories being, in reality, a part of the author's life, obtained while holding positions as machinist, roundhouse foreman, fireman, engineer, master mechanic and superintendent of motive power. It relates many of the humorous incidents connected with the knotty problems involved in the everyday life of

a roundhouse foreman, and contains a fund of information and suggestions along the line of handling men, organizing, etc. It is a book that should be thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated by railroad men in any capacity on account of the valuable hints and funny experiences contained therein. It should find a place in the library of the young mechanic or railroad man who wishes to go ahead, as well as of those who have climbed the ladder and enjoy looking back to the characters and times which are to be found only on a railroad. It contains over 150 pages, size 4 x 6 inches, bound in cloth. Price $1. Published by The Norman W. Henley Publishing Company, 132 Nassau street, New York, N. Y.

Scientific Firing.*

There is constantly pouring into railroad service a fresh stream of locomotive firemen composed mostly of young men who wish to become expert firemen. For reasons not difficult to explain, we frequently receive applications from these young men, for information concerning the art of firing, and it affords us pleas

ure to select the best books within our reach, and these are numerous, so that inferior firemen are not deficient in skill for want of good instruction. As firing is our theme we will venture to place before our readers a few words on scientific firing.

To properly comprehend what happens to keep a fire burning we must understand something about the laws of nature as they are explained under the science of chemistry. Practical men are generally easily repelled by the strange names which they meet with in reading anything where chemical terms are used. An engineer or fireman who is ambitious to learn the principles of his business ought to attack the hard words with a little courage and perseverance, when it will be found that they are not nearly so difficult to make out as first they appeared to be. A man may become a first-class fireman without knowing anything about the laws of nature that control combustion. If he becomes skillful at making an engine steam freely while using the least possible supply of fuel, he has learend by

*From Railway and Locomotive Engineering.

practice to put in the coal and to regulate the admission of air in a scientific manner. That is, he puts in the exact quantity of fuel to suit the amount of air that is passing into the firebox, and in the shape that will cause it to produce the greatest possible amount of heat. This degree of skill is often reached by men ignorant of nature's laws; but it is attained by groping in the dark to find the right way. A man who has acquired his skill in this manner is not, however, perfectly master of the art of firing, for any change of furnace arrangement is likely to bewilder him, and he has to find out by repeated trying what method of firing suits best. He is liable at times to waste fuel uselessly, or to cause delay by want of steam when anything unusual happens.

A knowledge of the laws of combustion teaches a man to go straight to the correct method, and the information gained enables him to deal intelligently with the numerous difficulties which are constantly arising through inferior fuels, obstructed draft due to various causes, and fireboxes badly designed.

The nature of fuel, the composition of the air that fans the fire, and the character of the gases formed by the burning fuel, and the proper proportions of air to fuel for producing the greatest degree of heat, are the principal things to be learned in the study of the laws relating to combustion. The air above, the earth beneath and the waters under the earth, are all composed from about sixty-five elementary substances which have combined together to form the immense variety of substances found in and around the globe.

The elements which perform the most important functions in the act of combustion are oxygen and carbon. Carbon is the fuel, and oxygen is the supporter of combustion. Combustion results from a strong, natural tendency that oxygen and carbon have for each other, but they can not unite freely till they reach a certain high temperature, when they combine very rapidly with violent evolution of light and heat.

The fireman who studies the scientific principles of his business finds the work much more interesting than the man who merely thinks of throwing in enough coal to keep up steam. All the operations connected with the management of a locomotive are highly interesting to the

man who loves his work. Nearly all occupations have attractive features peculiar to themselves, but we think from years' experience in the cab that the work of firing and running a locomotive is the most alluring within a range of wide experience. But to obtain the real enjoyment constant study of the work is

necessary.

Western Railroad Activities.*

Three Roads to Use One Bridge.-The Northern Electric, the Vallejo and North*By C. C. Baltimore, special correspondent to the Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen's Magazine.

ern and Oakland, Antioc and Eastern have reached an agreement satisfactory to all concerned, by which the latter will be permitted to enter Sacramento over the bridge now being constructed by the two first mentioned companies. This is generally regarded as a signal victory for the O., A. & E., which is building to Sacramento from Oakland.

Plan Electric System.-Surveyors are in the field and the right of way has been almost entirely secured for the proposed Porterville-Tulare Electric Railway which has been contemplated for the last six years. The territory which it will traverse is amply able at present to support it, and will speedily prove its value when the lines are in operation.

(Photo by A. E. Smith, Lodge 679)

ANGELES AND SALT LAKE

RAILROAD

Showing interior of cab and boiler fittings

(Photo by A. E. Smith, Lodge 679)

were recently received. They are oil burners, and are used out of Los Angeles on the Los Angeles Limited. Those of the 3600 class are used in freight service running out of Salt Lake. One of the views shows the interior of cab and the boiler fittings of one of these engines, of which the firedoor is particularly noticeable. It is called a baffle, or trap, door. These engines burn about as much coal as other engines of like size and type, but with this kind of firedoor they are more easily fired after one becomes used

No. 204.

Engine 204 is a light passenger engine and was one of a number that was overhauled during the one and one-half years that I was mester mechanic. Shortly after this engine came out of the shop I went back on the road and caught her as my regular engine on a light, but hard, passenger run, one on which it is necessary to crowd her from start to finish in order to make the time. Engine came ont of the shop May 3, 1907, and was on this run continually until January 26, 1912, a little over four years and eight months. During this time, with the exception of one delay of fifteen minutes on account of hot engine truck, the train