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engine starts out with a heavy train, it will often be noticed that after the engine has gone forward a few feet, it will come to a dead stop, and for a few seconds appear to be stalled. When the recoil of the spring takes effect, it assists the engine and it will move forward.

V. There seems to be a general opinion abroad that friction draft gears which, of course, come nearer filling the above conditions than spring gears, are not substantial enough, and will go to pieces or will give out after they have been in service awhile. Following the general principles of mechanical design, it would seem that a rigging designed with few parts, of a simple design and a durable material, and having large friction surfaces, ought to give satisfaction, provided such a rigging could be produced.-Railway Club of Pittsburgh, December 26, 1902.

causes.

Damage to Cars.

MR. MCPARTLAND: There is no question but that the number of bad order cars on railways, at this time particularly, is increasing. The reason for that, however, is manifold; there are quite a number of One of these causes is the improper handling or air brakes. The trains are prepared to start on their trips with out properly testing the air brakes, and by personal observation I have found that in a great many cases they do not test the train line for leaks; they simply test the brakes, as to whether or not they will apply and will release; therefore the en gineer starts out on the road not knowing whether there are any leaks in his train line or not. When he reaches the first point at which he is to make a stop for water or coal, or switching, or any other purpose, he makes possibly a ten pound or a twelve pound train line reduction through the engineer's valve, while the leaks in the train pipe make an additional ten pounds reduction, and he gets an emergency application of the brake which causes a very severe shock to the rear of the train.

The increase of bad order cars at this time is also attributable in a measure to the fact of our coming to the M. C. B. draw-bar, that is, recently. We were given until a certain time to equip all our cars with an automatic draw-bar. When this was done, the draft stringers were re-enforced, and the yoke draw-bar substituted for the old tail-bolts, but the underframing of the car, particularly the intermediate stringers, were not strengthened,

and in our lighter and older cars we find that they are suffering very badly, and in a great many cases, if you will notice particularly when passing through the shops and repair yards, you will find quite a number of the intermediate stringers are broken at the transom. In fact, the Western roads in the past nine months have had their shop yards full of the lighter capacity cars. I would consider it safe to say that of all the bad order cars that are stored and in shop yards, the lighter capacity cars would possibly aggregate 70 per cent. of the total. Several of the Western roads have been compelled in the past nine months to switch those cars out and do the truck work and draw-bar or underframing work, and return them to service again.

Another cause of bad order cars is the rough handling of cars in our terminals and yards. With the M. C. B. bars the switchmen do not have to go between the cars, and it is held by a great many that that is one of the causes why the cars are handled so roughly. But in every case where I have taken that matter up, I have been told that unless the cars come together pretty hard the couplings will not make; and that appears to permeate the entire service-not only the yardmen, but the enginemen as well-so that when the signal is given to slow or to stop, the engine is shut off and the cars are allowed to drift together. With the heavy type of engines that we are now using in train and yard service, the shock is simply terrific, and particularly if they have hold of a great many cars, as was demonstrated in the test made by the committee of this club recently.

Yardmen also claim that they are expected to work fast, and therefore can not handle cars as carefully as we expect them to. Now, judging from my past experience and personal observation, while the business of the Western roads is increasing, and on a great many of the roads in excess of the facilities and the capacity for handling cars in the yards, I am well satisfied that with the present M. C. B. coupler we can switch faster and handle more cars in a given time than we could with the old link and pin draw-bar, that is, taking into consideration the higher capacity car, the heavier car of today, for the reason that when they go onto a track, as a rule, the cars are coupled up. They do not have to run over the yard and carry links and pins to make the coupling, which consumed a large percentage of the time before the adoption of the M. C. B. coupler.

When you come to consider that we have not been using the present type of M. C. B. coupler very long, and that only a short time ago our cars were all newly equipped, it is not to be wondered at that at this time the bad order cars would be increasing, because the draft gears and the couplers of the first cars that we equipped are pretty well worn.

It is also true that we are experiencing delays to traffic and considerable expense caused by the heavy freight trains setting out bad order cars at the way stations and sending men out to repair them. I would say in nearly 50 per cent. of these cases we get the man out there and he does not have suitable material with which to make the repairs and it is a very difficult matter to get anything like correct information from a station agent as to what material will be necessary to repair a car set out at a way station. We often find that after sending a man there with such material as we think will be necessary to make the repairs, that we have to give a local freight train an order to chain the car up and haul it into the first division station next to its way

car.

This is a matter that I think is well timed, and that the Western Railway Club as an organization ought to take up for general treatment, with its recommendations.

We have found that in our heavy freight trains, ranging, with the different classes of engines, with a train tonnage of from 1,000 to 1,500 tons, over a 3.5 per cent. grade, that it is absolutely unsafe to place a car equipped with a tail-bolt coupler in the forward part of our trains, and for that reason there are extant at this time positive instructions to car inspectors to mark all such cars "Tail-bolt; switch to rear," and positive instructions to all yardmen and trainmen to switch such cars to the rear and not to haul them in any other part of the train.

MR. PECK: Eight or nine years ago, when there were nothing but cast drawbars in service, I kept a record of all the draw-bars broken. In one year we broke 2,100 and we did not handle one-half the number of cars we do at the present time. Last year we broke 210 and many of them were found to have been defective cracked. We have larger engines and run many trains with double headers in cold weather. We have more trouble with draft timber bolts, lug bolts, and lugs breaking than we do with draw-bars. Another thing, since the M. C. B. coupler

has been placed on all cars it is saving a great many delays. When we had nothing but links and pins we were frequently delayed from two to four hours and even six hours at terminal points getting enough links and pins to couple and switch cars. We do not experience this now. When the M. C. B. coupler was designed if the railroads had been running the same weight of engines and capacity of cars as now no doubt the coupler would have been made stronger. But as it is now the contour lines can not be changed without changing the whole equipment. Some years ago twenty-five cars was a train to some roads running in Chicago. Now the same roads bring in seventy-five cars with one locomotive and the cars of double the capacity they were. I think this is one reason why we experience the breakages in couplers that we now have. I do not think such trains could be handled with cast iron draw-bars without continually breaking in two. With the old-fashioned draft rigging I do not think there are bolts enough, nor heavy enough, as the bolts were only increased from 34 to 1% on the heaviest cars.

MR. HETZLER: It seems to me that the trouble we have had on account of bad order cars was brought about somewhat in this way: First we received our very large capacity cars. At that time we were working with a smaller switch engine. The next step was to get switch engines large enough to handle the large capacity cars. Our enginemen were obliged to work with engines they were not familiar with; the switchmen were obliged to work with cars that ran differently from smaller cars, and necessarily had a great many accidents. Our experience in Chicago on the C., B. & Q. R. R. is that we are having fewer accidents than we had a while ago. Nearly all our switch engines are large engines and the enginemen know how to handle them and the switchmen know how to handle the

cars.

Last week I took two or three of my yardmasters over to the Panhandle Railroad to see what we could learn over there. We found them switching over a hump. A hump is one style of a gravity track, with a grade on one side of 2 feet in 100, and on the other side 4 feet in 100. In this yard they push a train of cars up the hump, and when it reaches the top of the hump each car is allowed to run down into its proper track in the yard. We have not as yet had much experience in the matter, but we have worked with

that about a week, and our experience is that we can handle cars a great deal easier, with less damage and much more rapidly, especially very large cars. Before we introduced the hump in our down-town yard, an engine would take thirty-five or forty cars, shove them back and forth, trying the draft gear on each car every time the car was switched, and doing a great deal of damage to some of them, which would show up later when the car was on the line. Using the hump track, as we call it, the cars are pushed on top of the hump and uncoupled and run down without any shoving afterwards. I think if this is followed out it will be the means of saving a great amount of money.

MR. SCHROYER: The elimination of the danger in the switching of cars, I believe, has led up to a point of carelessness on the part of our men who are handling them that is responsible for very much of the damage done to the car and to the contents. Today we have sills broken, draft timbers broken, but more frequently it is the end that is knocked out of the car. I can not tell what percentage of ends there is knocked out of our cars, because I do not know precisely, but I know pretty nearly. I go through our yards today, and I can pick out the cars here and there that have the ends knocked out through the handling of the cars in our yards. I do not know whether we ought to blame the switchmen for this condition or not. There are some of the couplers in use today that are mechanically constructed in such a way that they are quite difficult to couple, and you have to hit them a very hard blow to make them do it. The rust and wear of the coupler has multiplied those conditions, and make it still harder when the bar becomes rusty.. Several years ago I put a man or two to work in our largest yards, to go over all the couplers and oil the base and guard-arm where the knuckle would strike it, and oil the knuckle to make the couplers couple easier, and it did. We were sending them out on the road, and the switchmen said that they noticed the greatest difference in the ease with which they coupled when treated that way.

Later we had difficulty with the cars uncoupling, and a great many of the trainmen claimed that it was due to the fact that there was oil on the knuckle and that it would cause them to uncouple. As a result we discontinued that practice. A greater cause for the destruction of our cars was illustrated to me very forcibly here a few days ago. I was standing in

a yard, and as a train came in a door flew off-a side door was knocked off one of the grain cars, and came very near hitting a switchman who was giving the signals; he left the door there-paid no attention to it at all. A gentleman connected with the road said, "Now put that door back in the car where it belongs, and you can save this company $5." He said, "It is not my business to pick up doors," and left it there. He reported it to the foreman of the crew; he was not there at the time, and did not know where the car was that the door belonged to; it had been lost track of. There was a spirit of indifference displayed there to the fact that if that door was lost the company would have to pay $5 for it, and I believe that the greatest difficulty is in that spirit on the part of the men who are handling the cars; I believe that is the greatest cause of the destruction of our cars.

In so far as the use of the air brake

to

is concerned, I believe that there is very much damage done to our cars by improper handling of the air brake, and in so far as improving the conditions in the handling of the air brake, in so far as keeping the apparatus in perfect order is concerned, I think the important roads of the country day realize that it is necessary to do this, and they are all spending as much money as they possibly dare spend to keep their cars in perfect order so far as the apparatus is concerned, so that I do not believe we can make very much progress in improvements of that character unless we go to very considerably more expense.

In so far as leaky train pipes are concerned, I believe the difficulty is in not having pumps on our engines of proper capacity to keep the train pipes properly charged, and compensate for the leaks that may exist there. I know roads that are using two pumps on one engine and keeping them busy going all the time; I know of others using the very largest pumps that they can get and not getting very satisfactory results, and I know, on the other hand, of roads using the small nine-inch pump.

MR. H. T. BENTLEY (C. & N. W. R. R.): I take exception to what Mr. Schroyer said about pumps not being large enough. If a nine-and-a-half-inch pump is in first class condition, and the hose and pipes under the cars are in good shape, it can furnish all the air necessary for a forty or fifty-car train. The trouble with us is that we begin at the wrong

end. We put larger pumps on to overcome the defects on the cars. I think if Mr. Schroyer and the roads he refers to will make an effort to stop the leaks on the cars, the air pumps will be adequate for all requirements.

MR. E. R. WEBB (Michigan Central R. R.):

I confirm what the gentleman who has last spoken says. There is not any question but that many of the shocks the trains are subjected to are occasioned by leaky train lines, and there is not any real use in blaming the train crews; they are not looking the train pipes over and fixing these cars. There certainly can be a crew picked up in this room, men who have come up from the service, for a train going out from Chicago, and I would like to know if that crew will inspect sixty or seventy cars for a leaky train pipe and make repairs when there is a pump large enough to overcome the leaks. I do not believe that any crew you can get would do such a thing; they do not have the time to do it. An eleven-and-a-half-inch pump is certainly a monstrous machine for pumping air; it will do an immense amount of pumping. I do think the pump is, if anything, too large.

MR. D. R. MACBAIN (Michigan Central R. R.) I would like to add, Mr. President, that I believe the matter of handling air brakes on the part of the engineer is responsible for a small part of the breakage of cars. I believe that to be true for this reason: Engineers are not responsi

ble for the condition of the train line. We do know, I know personally, that we get hold of trains once in a while with a number of cars running from forty-five to seventy, that an eleven-inch pump can not keep up the required pressure in the train line. Now, if the eleven-inch pump will not keep up that pressure, what size will you put on to do it? On the other hand, you can take the same engine, connect it to 100 cars that are new and in good condition, and the pump will not run more than 10 per cent. of the time after the train line is charged.

The greatest curse to handling air brake trains in the country that I know of, is the leaky train line, and I will try to illustrate why this is so. An engineer who has handled an engine for any length of time and takes an interest in his business will try and make good stops; it is his aim to do so. He will run along to the first stop out of the terminal from which he starts, shut off the steam at a certain point, a distance which he thinks will give sufficient room to make a nice

easy stop with his train; he makes an application of the brake, and a few seconds afterward realizes that he is going to stop six or eight hundred feet away from the point intended, because his train line pressure has been diminished and his brakes applied full on, which necessitates a release, or a stop dead, either necessitating a loss of time in going in out of the way. Now the breaking of cars through draft irons pulling out and knuckles being broken by the crew in handling those trains comes more through

that cause

than anything else. Men will take a chance when the train is reduced in speed, to let the brake off, rather than stop dead, and when they do go off the brakes on the head release a few sec onds ahead of those on the rear, and this usually finds a weak spot in the train.

I do not believe it is fair to think that we can build an air pump to put on a lo comotive to pump against an open train pipe at the read end, although I believe we are doing pretty near that now.

MR. MCPARTLAND: If an engine has been coupled to the train, and the train is charged to its maximum capacity, or the train line maximum, which is 70 pounds, it is a very easy matter for the engineer to place his valve on the lap and note the train line leaks as shown by his gauge. If his train line is perfectly tight, he knows what he is doing and how much of a reduction to make in service stops. If he finds that there are train line leaks that are sufficient to apply the brakes, he does not want to waste air; he simply, in approaching the service stop, places the valve on the lap and lets the leaks do the rest; they will do it all right, there is no question about it.

MR. J. A. GRAHAM: I was standing in a yard a short time ago and saw the switchmen cutting off cars, but they paid no attention to cutting the air hose; the consequence is that the joints are strained and you have leaky pipes. You can put on all the pumps you want, and give it all the attention you have a mind to at terminals, but you will never overcome the trouble until you get the switchmen who handle the cars to uncouple the air hose. I think this is the most important thing in connection with the leaks in train pipes. If the cars are uncoupled properly 1 do not believe you are going to have very much trouble with leaky train pipes.

MR. MCPARTLAND: I would like to simply offer a suggestion, and that is, the possibility of including in this application

test before a train leaves a terminal, a test of whether or not there are any dirty triples in the train, and if so, how many. Now, in every case where I have had my attention called to the matter of having trouble with the brakes, an engineer pulls his train into the yards and says, "We have had some of the worst stops that were ever made," or, "We had a lot of valves going into emergency every stop we made." I simply let him get his water and recouple the train. First charge the train to the maximum train line pressure of 70 pounds, and then place the engineer's valve on the lap for the purpose of testing the train line for leaks. If I find there are no leaks in the train line, I then have him place the valve back in running position and charge the train line up to 70 pounds again, and make a train line reduction of 10 pounds and place the valve on the lap, then go back over the train and find the cars that will not apply on a 10-pound reduction, and in every case cut the car out and card it, as Mr. Schroyer has stated, for a dirty triple or leaky cylinder packing. In all my experience I have never had any of the mechanical department come back and say that that triple was not dirty; it is positive evidence that if that triple will not apply on service application of 10 pounds, or a train line reduction of 10 pounds, that the triple is dirty or cylinder packing leaking, and should be cut out and not used until the triple has been changed or cylinder cleaned.

MR. RHODES: When we first put a big switch engine in one of our yards it was at once noticeable that the cars were being damaged in a way that they were not before. The engine was slipping and pounding around the yard in a very unusual way, notwithstanding the fact that it had more weight on its drivers than the engines that had been used before. The first thing our superintendent of motive power did was to put the traveling engineer on the engine to instruct the engineer how to handle this bigger power, and the results at once began to show.Western Railway Club, October 21, 1902.

The Ideal Driving Box.

MR. R. P. BLAKE (Mechanical Engineer, Northern Pacific Ry.) The class of locomotives which is subject to chronic fits of hot driving boxes is, as a rule, one of the most despised on the road.

If the engine does not steam, the nozzle can be bushed or by similar means the

engine can be made to do business with the class of fuel furnished and for the service required.

If, however, the driving boxes are "touchy," the engine is the bugbear of engineers and master mechanics, train dispatchers and superintendents, and oftentimes brings down the wrath of the "powers that be" upon the poor unfortunates who are expected to make up for inherent defects in design by superhuman efforts in handling.

Ten years ago, when engines were small, the troubles from hot driving boxes were nearly all due to negligence. But with the universal adoption of heavy pow er and an attempt to cut everything down to the lowest possible margin of weight and first cost, the troubles began.

With the weight on drivers doubled and power of the engine increased in a greater proportion, the careful design requires a consideration of a number of details which were at one time of minor importance.

In considering the design of a driving box for a modern heavy engine, the first question is the material to be used. Bronze boxes, such as were used in years gone by, are now out of the question on account of their cost. Cast iron boxes, in order to have the proper strength, must be too heavy, and while giving good bearing surfaces for shoes, wedges and hubs, are hardly tough enough for heavy service. Their excessive weight makes them awkward to handle in fitting and machining and adds unnecessarily to the totai weight of the engine.

Cast steel boxes, when properly designed, should be considerably lighter and stronger and the bearing faces for shoes, wedges and hubs can be made against bronze or babbitt, and will give service equal to cast iron. The higher first cost as compared with cast iron is offset by longer life, which means less depreciation charge on the investment.

Before the open hearth process of steel manufacture became common, iron for driving axles was used very extensively with excellent results. But it is a difficult matter to make a large iron forging and have it free from seams. If by any chance a journal on an iron axle becomes hot, the small seams open and make matters worse.

Steel, when properly made and finished, is stronger and tougher than iron. It will take a better surface in machining if properly treated, and will be more reliable in service. The steel should not be too dense, because the thin filament of oil

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