connecting the springs; then would pry down the front end of equalizer between the front and main drivers and insert a block between top of equalizer and bottom of frame. Would also pry down the back end of equalizer connecting the main and back driving springs and insert a block between the top of this equalizer and the bottom of frame; after which would run the main wheel off the block or wedge and proceed. If a piece of rail of suitable length was available, and in order to improve the riding qualities of the engine, would slip the piece of rail in between the hangers and in the position previously occupied by the broken spring, and chain it to the ends of the equalizers. In this case, I would omit the wooden blocks between the equalizers and frame. (Art. 25)

34. Q.--With the same type of engine, what would you do in case the front driving spring should break?

4.-Would first place a block between the top of main driving box and bottom of frame, so as to take up the slack, then run the main wheel up on a block or wedge, which would raise the frame off the front driving box. Next, would block between the top of front driving box and bottom of frame, then run the main wheel off the block or wedge and run the front wheel up, so as to raise the frame off the main driving box, after which I would remove the block first placed between the top of main driving box and frame, pry down the back end of

equalizer connecting the main and front driving springs, or jack up the front end of this equalizer and block between the back end of this equalizer and the bottom of frame, which would give me the benefit of the main and back driving springs. (Art. 27.)

35. Q.-With the same type of engine, what would you do in case the back driving spring should break?

A. Would first run the main wheel up on a block or wedge in order to raise the frame off the back driving box, then block between top of back driving box and bottom of frame, after which would run the main wheel off the wedge and run the back wheel up, which would raise the frame off the main driving box and free the main driving spring and the equalizer connecting the main and back driving springs. Would next either pry down the front end of this equalizer, or jack up the back end, and block between the top of the front end of the equalizer and bottom of frame, or chain the back end of the equalizer to the bottom rail of the frame, run the back wheel off the block and proceed. (Art. 28.)

36. Q. What attention should be given to broken parts in cases of broken springs, spring hangers, etc.?

A. Where there is any liability of them falling out and getting mixed up with the machinery, or of falling on the track so as to cause a derailment, such broken parts should in all cases be removed. (Art. 28.)

First: Disfavorable Testimony. Two trainmasters and two division superintendents descended on the air car in wrathful mood, demanding that they be shown the reasons why the movements of freight trains should be delayed, draft gear broken and the morals of the trainmen demoralized by the recent applica

tion to the freight-car air-brake equipment-everywhere of this example of misdirected inventive enterprise that the trainmen refer to-in the presence of the lady stenographers in the office-as the "K" triple valve. These trainmasters don't get the details of the grievous side of freight-train operation at second hand,

either; their places of business are in the freight-train cabooses, and the telegraph offices along the line.

"Why is a 'K' triple valve?" was the burden on their minds. Apparently this type of triple valve has not improved the art of air braking in any way, and its operation brings a string of bad consequences that can not be tolerated. Said the trainmaster of the First Division: "At Norwood Junction No. 41 switches out her train and the cars of train No. 121 from the Eastern Division, and proceeds from that station as train No. 41, with 25 per cent. increased tonnage selected from both former trains; the switching is done on a slight grade, and is facilitated by using the air brakes on a number of the cars at the head end; but when there is one or more 'K' triple valves among them, it is a case of cutting out the K's -after which there is neglect in cutting them in again. A recent job of switching those trains at that point resulted in the engineer and the conductor coming to blows; conductor was aggravated at the delay at each brake release blamed the engineerand the engineer thought the air was simply sticking; it was raining-there was a dispute-hard words-and a scrap. These K triple valves are arriving by the hundreds, and if we cut them all out we will soon be deprived of sufficient braking power; and if we don't cut 'em out, well-the engineers are getting so they never use the train brakes unless they expect to stop-except at pretty fast rates of speed; do their slowing down with their straight-air or independent locomotive brakes.

"I was on No. 71 one day last week. We had sixty-five cars. Meet order at Bryant's with an extra. It's hard to get over the hill a mile beyond, if you stop at Bryant's and don't get a run at the grade. We presumed the extra would be in the clear, but it's a slight down-grade nearly to this siding, which is also approached closely on a curve through a cut, and our engineer held the air on until he saw the other fellows were in all right, then got the high ball' and released-or tried to; he was going rather slowly at the time, and the K triples on sixteen cars of coal next to the engine 'stuck' as usual, until the train was nearly stopped-engine down in the corner, under full throttle and on sand;

there were quite a number of brakes toward the hind end that were hanging on, too, and the rear brakeman went after them and was helped by one of the extra's crew who ran along bleeding the stuck brakes; two or three let go, but they couldn't release the others on the cars with K triple valves-and we were 'hung up.' After the air was fully released, we took a start--and layed down on the grade; doubled over to Martinstown; took the first cut over and left a flagman there, went back with the engine and got the rest of the train and backed down into the siding at Bryant's, so as not to delay No. 6-which we should have met at Martinstown-having told the flagman our intentions and for him to so inform No. 6, and to ride back on their engine to Bryant's. This fellow got the wrong dope, and held No. 6 at Martinstown against our return; until they realized there was something wrong, and then they pulled out and flagged against us over to Bryant's-which is not a telegraph station. A big lay-out for all concerned; and as the result, I believe, of the action of the K triple valves in the train."

"I was on the 'nigger local' the other day," stated the trainmaster of Second Division, "and at Newburg we picked up five cars on the long loading track; no switching-no other cars ahead of them. It took us just seventeen minutes to get those cars-from the time the engine cut off on the main, until the train was recoupled up and ready to start. The en

gine held on to eight cars that were to be dropped at a station further on, five of which had K triple valves-"

"Huh? Seventeen minutes wasn't bad under the unmitigated circumstances of K triple valves," First Division T. M. interjected.

"The brakes on the train were still applied when the brakeman cut off on the main; he gave the engineer the signal to release his air and pull ahead-and the first delay was right there, waiting for the K triple valves to release the brakes; tell me, please, Mr. Instructor-what undesirable or dangerous conditions heretofore prevailed in connection with the release of the brakes on eight cars, when it might be desired to hasten the work in order to barely slide in to the home plate in time to escape the penalty clause of the sixteen-hour law, that are over

come or prevented by the retardedrelease feature of the K triple valves?" "Counsel for the defense defers reply, until evidence for the prosecution is all in," the instructor answered.

"Finally the engineer made a getaway," Second Division T. M. continued, "pulled up to back in the siding and applied the air as the engine passed the switch, and later found it would be necessary to release for the rear car to pass the switch points, threw his brake valve handle to release position-but might as well have thrown it out the window. By the way: these K triple valves seem to be working under the vain impression that they are safety appliances only, and they operate on the theory that every brake application implies danger and the brakes should be held on until the crisis has passed, or the engineer has recovered from his undoubted excitement: the control which the K triple valves have over the vicious braking of our engineers is beautifully illustrated in the case of those eight freight cars. Well, a period of time is supposed to have clapsed, the brakes on the cars have released and they have been moved two feet further ahead to clear the switch points, and the engineerthrough force of habit, as the result of years of like practice, momentarily forgetful that five K triple valves are hanging on to him like his conscience-makes the stop again with the air, instead of reversing the engine and 'plugging' her with the throttle, gets the signal to back up. and gives her steam in the back motion and then just lets his head hang out of the window and waits, while the man at the switch goes over and sits down on a pile of ties. Time flies, however (and overtime is well paid for on the Air Line), and after awhile the brakes are off and the engine backs rapidly down the long siding; two cars of lumber stand by the saw mill, the brakeman's arms extend to the 'steady' signal and the engineer again checks the speed with the air, whereupon the brakeman's extended hands begin a flapping motion that means 'let 'em roll-easy-like,' the engineer recharges the brake pipe, but the cut of cars refuse to continue rolling easy-like they stop. Another wait; followed by further progress to within four feet of the lumber cars, where the results from a 'steady' signal stop the cut-the K triples thus enforcing pause at the last

moment to permit the trainmen to reconsider the advisability of adding the lumber tonnage to the train. But later they couple to the cars anyhow, and, after a short wait for the release of the light application made at the instant of coupling, the cut was backed down to the other three cars--two at the grain elevator, and one just beyond it-with the usual delays after each brake application, while picking them up, of course. Following your instructions, the air was cut in to the picked-up cars before leaving the sidetrack, following which there was a wait for the K's to release before the bunch could be started. Getting it out on the main line, getting the train coupled up, and finally getting started was the same thing over and over again, so why repeat each recurring detail? Tell me have we an engineer on this road so lacking in judgment or common air-braking proficiency, or so careless, that he could not easily and quickly have juggled those eight cars in and thirteen cars out of that siding, got coupled-up and skidooed away from there without damaging the draft gear or the lading of the cars, if the cars had been equipped with the older style, or common quickaction triple valves?"

"We have not," the instructor answered.

"And how do our conductors, and our home-grown and home cultivated variety of brakemen stand in air-brake knowledge and expertness in their duties in connection with air brakes?" First Division T. M. inquired.

"First-class," the instructor pronounced. "A few of the older brakemen, and quite a number of the more newly employed, have never yet been to the air car to receive instructions on the K triple valve-which is up to you gentlemen. But our trainmen are generally well trained and dependable in their airbrake duties, and I would be willing to back them in that respect against the trainmen on any other road in this country."

"There now!" exclaimed the Second Division T. M. "And these well trained air-brakists are up in the air with a unanimous howl that the K triple valves are unmitigated nuisances; and from my own experiences while riding the freight trains with my men, I am inclined to help swell the volume of the howl. It's

all I can do to keep the men from cutting out so many brakes with K triple valves that we shouldn't comply with the required percentage for air-brake control; and as it is, there are usually enough brakes cut out together in the middle or toward the head end of the trains, to prevent the jump and serial continuance of quick-action, in case the engineer should throw on the air in emergencywith the further result of destruction to a portion of the train."

"As I understand it," observed the First Division T. M., "the function of retarded release should only be effective on the cars in the forward portion of the train, as the result of the engineer's recharge of brake-pipe pressure; and that after a definite time those brakes retarded in release should be completely off. However, my conductors report to me that it is quite common for brakes with K triple valves at the middle and extreme rear of 50- and 60-car trains, to 'stick'-to fail permanently to release; and that such stuck brakes can not be bled off, either."

"Can they not?" responded the instructor; "then, how were those brakes eventually released and the train started? With the special packing leathers and improved expanding rings in their brake cylinders, it would be out of the question to wait for them to leak off, and the upto-date brake cylinders have no 'oil plugs' that can be removed to let the air out direct. I imagine that the conductors have founded such reports on statements made by some of our newly employed brakemen who have not yet received proper instructions regarding the action to expect from brakes with the K triple valves, nor how to handle such cases in the right manner."

The division superintendents were listening quietly but interestingly, with ju dicial countenance, glancing at the instructor now and then as though wondering if he could "come across" with any satisfactory explanations or arguments in opposition to the cases made out by the trainmasters; but they didn't "butt in."

The Second Division T. M. resumed: "Train No. 62 of January 9th, forty-four cars. In starting from dead stop at Winslow train was broken apart in three places; one drawbar extracted, one knuckle broken, and the whole 'hitchin'' pulled out of another car; primary cause, a stuck brake with a K triple valve

near the rear of the train. They had stopped for water, only; cut off the engine, leaving air set on the cars, moved up to the water column and filled the tank. After recoupling to train, cutting in the air and waiting until a few K brakes up ahead had finally released, the engineer started the train-with results as stated. Loaded and empty cars alternated throughout the train, and there were four cars heavily loaded with architectural stone next to the caboose; the fourth car from caboose had a K triple valve, and the hind brakeman was standing alongside the car watching it; shortly after the air was recoupled in, the old-style triple valve on the car next ahead released, and as the K triple had not let go a few seconds later, the brakeman pulled the bleeder, but still she didn't let go; he continued the bleeding until the auxiliary was empty, and even then the piston did not start to move back-the brake was set solid; just then came the jerk as the engine stretched the slack of the train, and away went a knuckle from the drawbar at the hind end of the car next ahead of the one with the K triple valve; when the hose pulled apart the brakes of the whole train went on in emergency, and, the quick-action originating from the rear end of the train while the engine was working heavily in the forward motion, the sudden stretch pulled the draft timbers from a car about the middle of the train, and extracted a drawbar from the head end of car next to the engine."

"Who was this rear brakeman?" inquired the instructor.

The T. M. named him, and added, “a newly employed man but a brakeman of several years' experience on other roads."

"I don't know him," said the instructor, "but it would be a safe bet that if he had been given fifteen minutes' talk on K triple valves in the instruction car prior to January 9th, this company would be financially ahead an amount equal to the cost of that accident; for then the first knuckle wouldn't have broken, and the rest of the wreckage couldn't have happened. The whole unfortunate occurrence was due primarily to the fact that the brakeman didn't know how to properly bleed a brake with a K triple valve."

"Sakes alive!" exclaimed the First Division T. M. "Is expert knowledge re

"Yes, even with the old equipment, to a certain extent," the instructor asserted; "and on cars with the K triple valve, knowledge in that respect is very necessary."

"During the past winter," the Second Division T. M. resumed, “our heaviest consolidation engines were rated for fifteen cars of coal per train on the Conway coal branch. In the past year we have bought fifteen hundred steel coal cars, all equipped with K triple valves, and it has been a common thing for these coal trains to have solid K-triple-valve equipment throughout. Our conductors and brakemen on those runs are good men; and I practically lived on those coal trains during the February blockade; therefore I can personally assure you that the peculiar, release-retarding feature of those K triple valves did more to delay train operation than all

is this retarded-release feature an absolute necessity? And is it not a detriment on a fifteen-car freight train?"

"It is not a necessity; that is, it would be possible to restrain the speed of the forward portion of the train until the brakes on the rear cars have released, by other means than delaying the car-brake release at the head end; and, as you have observed, it is a detriment and an aggravation on a train of fifteen freight cars, in which every K triple valve will assume the retarded-release position whenever the engineer recharges the brake pipe," the instructor conceded.

"Then, Mr. Instructor-why is a K triple valve?"

And I'll tell you what the instructor told them about the K triple valve next month.

(To be concluded in the August, 1912, Magazine.)

Q. What effect has the piston travel on the braking power developed in the brake cylinders?

A. With a given brake pipe reduction the same amount of air enters the brake cylinders from the auxiliaries irrespective of the piston travel, but with a long piston travel as the air has a greater space through which to expand than with a shorter piston travel, and as the pressure decreases the more the air is expanded, it follows that less braking power will be developed on the car having the long travel than with the one having the short travel.

Q. Is it important that the piston travel on all cars be kept between the same limits?

A. Yes, the train can be handled much smoother, as when the braking power varies on different cars severe shocks will result due to the brakes applying harder on the cars with the short *Continued from June, 1912, Magazine.

travel than on the cars with the longer travel.

Q. What is meant by the terms standing travel and running travel?

A. By standing travel is meant the distance the brake piston moves with the brakes applied when the car is standing, and by running travel is meant the distance it travels with the brakes applied when the car is in motion. Running travel is greater than standing travel, due to lost motion in the brake rigging and the trucks and to the brake shoes wearing.

Q. What is the purpose of the automatic slack adjuster?

A. This is a device used in passenger service to maintain a predetermined running brake piston travel, usually 8 inches, thus securing a uniform braking power throughout the train, which gives the highest possible brake efficiency. If the running travel exceeds 8 inches the slack adjuster shortens the travel 1-32