Road. FOR LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS. How to run a headlight casing without glass. A. If the glass is half broken or there is a hole in it, knock the glass entirely out, turn burner one-third higher, and rain, wind, or snow will not put it out. When side-tracked, turn down the light, or it will smoke. How to block a driving or engine truck box when spring is broken. A. Run forward or back wheel on a wedge, block box, and go. but it will be found that it is quite in accord with the best locomotive practice of the day, and that when an attempt has been made to reduce the proportion, the engines have not proved good steamers with heavy trains. On the Great Southern & Western Railway of Ireland 18 in. cylinders go with 1,050 ft. of surface, but the stroke is only 24 in. On the Great Eastern Railway we have 1,200 ft. with an 18-in. cylinder, 26 in. stroke, and on the Brighton Railway, 1,485 ft., with an 184 cylinder, 26 in. stroke. It must not be forgotten, however, that a boiler with too little heating surface may be made to steam better by increasing the size of the fire-box, and we could name instances where locomotives have been greatly improved by having had the backs of the fire-boxes taken out and the fire-boxes lengthened 12 inches. Quickest way to set an eccentric. A. Let fireman catch hold of lugs on eccentric and knock key out of front end of eccentric rod where it connects to link, drop rod, turn eccentric, hold eccentric rod, and let it follow eccentric until rod will go in eye neat, put key in, tighten HANSCOM'S STRAIGHT-AIR AUTOMATIC eccentric, and go, and it will be as true as any machinist can set it. To explain why pipe from steam gauge to boiler is bent. A. Steam condenses in the bent part and presses against the springs in gauge and keeps steam from cutting springs; the gauge being air or steam tight will not rust. Only, backing up or standing, the gauge pipe will freeze. Why is it that water in a boiler running for twenty years don't rust boiler or flues? If you put boiler in water, it will rust boiler out in one year. A. Boiler being air tight, it won't rust on the in side. PROPORTIONS OF LOCOMOTIVES. "It is a noteworthy fact," says an English contemporary, "that however much change may be effected in the type of a locomotive, certain proportions appear to be incapable of alteration without doing harm; 21⁄2 square feet of heating surface ought to be provided for each square inch of piston area, or, what comes to the same thing, the area of one piston multiplied by 5 will give the proper heating surface. Thus, the area of a 17-in. piston is 227 square inches, and 227 × 5 1,135 square feet. An 18-in. cylinder has an area of 254.4 in., and 254.4 × 5 = 1,272. In like manner, the proper surface for 19-in. cylinders is 1,417 square feet. Of course this is not to be regarded as a hard-and-fast rule, BRAKE. This invention has for its object a more perfect control of the train than has hitherto been attainable, and at the same time to simplify and reduce the quantity of mechanism necessary to accomplish the purpose desired, making it less subject to rapid deterioration and less liable to interruption from slight causes, thereof those who have not had to acquire esfore allowing it to be placed in the hands pecial education for the purpose of operating it. The mechanism included consists of an air-compressor for compressing the air, a brake-cylinder under each car connected to the ordinary brake gear, two train pipes for conveying the air from the aircompressor to the brake-cylinders, an engineer's brake-valve for directing the air into either end of the brake cylinder, and an automatic valve, by which air is retained in one end of the brake-cylinder so that in case of the train breaking in two, the brakes will be automatically set on every car on the train. Each of the train pipes has a pressure gauge attached to it, so that the pressure in each pipe is indicated at all times, and the difference between the two shows the acting air pressure on either side of the piston. A spring, such as is usually used, is placed around the piston rod for drawing back the piston when the air pressure is released. No reservoir other than the brake-cyl-purpose of supplying the tanks of eninder is used, the air being compressed gines that are to be built to be run by directly in the brake-cylinder where it is natural gas. "The scheme is perfectly to be used. practicable," said an officer of the Philadelphia company recently. The engineer's brake-valve is so constructed that when it is in its mid position, which it occupies when the train is running, the air from the pump flows freely through it into both train pipes and into both ends of the brake-cylinder so that the pressure on both sides of the piston is equal. It has been said the gas is so volatile that no tank can be constructed that will hold it. This is all nonsense. We shall demonstrate not only the practicability of confining the gas, but the fact that it may be used as a fuel aboard engines so cheaply, that in a short time not a locoBy moving this valve either to the motive running into or out of this city right or left, the air may be released from will use coal. It was held two or three either end of the brake-cylinder, while years ago that artificial gas could not be the opposite end is in direct communica- used to illuminate passenger cars. The tion with the air-pump, and the pressure Pennsylvania Railroad is using nothing on that side of the piston may be increas- else in its trains on the Pittsburgh divi ed to the extent of the boiler pressure sion, and with the most satisfactory reand proportions of the steam and air-cyl-sults. We feel sure that the Road will inders of the pump. Any change of pressure is indicated by the gauges, so that the engineer has before his eyes just the exact force which is being applied to the brake shoes. These gauges are placed in a convenient position in the cab, and the engineer has positive control in directing the air into either end of the brake-cylinder. not be very long in showing the other railroads of the country that it will run locomotives more cheaply than they can hope to. As it is now, the coal bills of a company are the biggest items of outlay in the exhibit of expenses. It takes nearly a bushel of coal to run an engine a mile. This is when the locomotive is in motion. The automatic valve is attached to the Frequent stops and starts increase this rear end of the brake-cylinder, and is so item slightly. The gas will be infinitely constructed that it will allow the air to cheaper. Engines will, of course, have flow freely into the brake-cylinder, but to be furnished with tanks. These will its outflow is retarded by the small valve be so arranged with the compressors as which is kept to its seat by a spring. to contain very large quantities of the This spring is adjusted to any pressure gas, so that no accident or unexpected which it is desired to retain in this end delay will be sufficient to so diminish the of the cylinder, so that in the event of an supply as to embarrass the movements of accident and the train breaks in two, a the engine. The details of the plan will sufficient pressure of air will be main-be more fully set forth as soon as possitained in this end of the cylinder to set the brakes and stop the train. The train pipe has no valve between it and the brake cylinder, so that the air has free ingress and egress. The action of this brake is wonderfully smooth and powerful, bringing a train to a standstill without any jar or shock, and the pressure in the brake-cylinder is under perfect control, any degree of working pressure on the piston being attainable, from nothing to the maximum, and the small amount of pressure actually needed in practice is surprising. GAS FOR LOCOMOTIVES. The Philadelphia company is arranging to pipe gas into the yards of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, into a big reservoir that is to be put up there for the ble. The matter has been discussed by some of the best mechanical engineers of the country, and nearly all of them think it practicable. Engines on this division are only run as far as Altoona.” FAST TIME IN RUSSIA. The capacity of the iron horse for cov ering space has just been successfully tested, the occasion being an incident in connection with the visit of Prince William of Prussia to the Czar during the recent maneuvers in Poland. The day before the arrival of the prince, about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, Czar Alexander, who had already arrived at Brest-Litovsk, ordered his valet to get his Prussian uniform ready for the next day. But, your majesty," the valet replied, tremblingly, we have no Prussian uniform here; your majesty ordered me to leave it behind at St. Petersburg. "Most vexing misunderstanding, the Emperor exclaimed, and called the aide-de-camp on duty. My Prussian uniform must be here at 7 to-morrow morning," was the peremptory order of the Czar. The adjutant bowed and retired. Two minutes later he sent a telegram to the Imperial wardrobe office at St. Petersburg, and another to the Warsaw Railway." At 6 o'clock in the evening a locomotive was ready to start from St. Petersburg. An imperial courier with a trunk containing the uniform mounted the engine and the race against time began. Relay locomotives were held in readiness at Dunaburg and Wilna, to take up the courier and continue the run, as no single engine could have made a continuous run of such a length. The iron horses accomplished the task assigned to them, and, to use a sporting phrase, came up smil ing," or rather puffing. At 7 o'clock in the morning the uniform was at Brest Litovsk. The courier had performed 589 miles in thirteen hours, or 45 miles an hour, without rest. At 8 o'clock Prince William arrived at Brest-Litovsk, and the Czar received him in his Prussian uniform. EFFORTS AT IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCO- prise to good engineers, many of whom are firm in the belief that one hundred miles an hour will yet be accomplished on American roads. The Emperor of Russia has taken the first great step toward what I deem the ultimatum of railroad travel. Instead of cutting what I call a mere drill through the country and going around everything in the way for a straight line, he has cut a broad way for five hundred miles from St. Petersburg to Moscow. He has made it all the way two hundred feet wide, so that the engineer sees everything on the road. This is part of the future. One of the latest efforts at improvement in locomotives is that of a Frenchman named Estrade, who has constructed an engine which he calls La Parisienne. La Parisienne, when watered and fired, weighs 42 tons. Its driving wheels, six in number, are 8 feet in diameter. The cylinders are on the outside, with valve boxes on the top. The diameter of each cylinder is 81⁄2 inches, and the length of stroke is 2 feet and 31⁄2 inches. This engine is built for high speed, and will carry a pressure of 200 pounds to the square inch. Estrade's engine is designed to run at the average rate of 78 miles an hour. A SUCCESSFUL GAS LOCOMOTIVE. For several months past, a locomotive propelled by gas has been in successful operation on one of the street railways at Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. A paper on the subject was lately read by Mr. John Danks before the Victorian Engineers' Association, from which we extract the following: When George Stephenson asserted his ability to run passenger coaches at a speed of twelve to fifteen miles an hour, scientific and practical men deemed him fit for a lunatic asylum, but time has shown that trains may be run at a much greater velocity without materially adding to the dangers of railway travel. The During a period of some ten weeks, we flight of the fast express on the Pennsyl- ran a number of experimental trips, and vania Railway is a marked example of exhibited it to all who wished to see it. the possibilities in the way of sustaining Being anxious to put our invention to a high rates of speed. This road now runs more practical test, we entered into an the fastest train in America. Nine hund- arrangement with the government to carred and twelve miles, including several ry passenger traffic, and to work the Alstops, are accomplished in 2511⁄2 hours, phington line as a tram line. Under the and the average time is 36.30 miles an arrangement, it was stipulated that we hour. A portion of the distance is run should supply a motor which would draw at the rate of 75 miles an hour. At a a carriage in which the passengers should speed of 60 miles an hour the driving be carried; for this purpose we conwheels of the locomotive on this train structed a new motor with a six-horse make 258 revolutions a minute. Wil- power engine and fitted with friction gear liam Vanderbilt's spurt of eighty-one similar to our first experiment. The momiles in sixty-one minutes on the New tor weighed 43 tons, and the carriage 35 York Central is declared to be the high- cwt., making a total of 61 tons without est rate of speed ever attained in this passengers. The supply of gas is carried country, but this speed was not a sur-in four copper containers, each 16 inches RAILROADS. in diameter, and about six feet long, THE AMERICAN PROJECT FOR PERSIAN which were tested by hydraulic pressure, before being used, to 200 pounds to the square inch. The total cubical capacity of the four containers is 28 feet. These containers charged with gas compressed to ten atmospheres, or say 150 pounds per square inch, represent 280 cubic feet of gas stored, which is sufficient for a run of fifteen miles. We have never yet exceeded the pressure of 100 pounds, which we find gives ample supply to car ry us to Alphington and back twice. We have, for compressing the gas, an engine and compressing pumps fixed near the line; with this we take the gas from the Metropolitan Company's main and force it into receivers, where it remains under pressure until required for use. When the motor requires a fersh supply of gas it is brought opposite the receivers and the retainers on the motor are connected by a short India rubber hose to a pipe leading from the receivers. A tap is then turned, which allows the gas to pass from the receivers to the containers until the pressure is equal, when the tap is closed, the hose is disconnected, and the motor is again ready to resume duty. The time required to charge the containers does not exceed two minutes. The engine, compression pump and receivers need not be near the line; they may be placed one or two hundred yards away, in any convenient place, and the gas under pressure led to the line through a high pressure pipe. The power of the gas engine is derived from a fuel which has no weight, of which a large quantity can be carried without adding to the load, and the supply of it, as has been shown, can be replenished with the greatest ease. No boiler, coal, or coal bunker is required, and one man, not necessarily a mechanic, is all that is needed to take charge. It is true that the motor we have working is running upon a railway, and there may, and no doubt would be,; more power required to work it on a street tramway. This, however, appears to be but a question of a larger engine; if a three-horse will not do the work then a-six-horse, and if a six-horse will not do the work, then a twelve-horse. It is only a question of more power and larger expenditure of gas, which the president has shown is not a matter of great importance. The fact of our having run a motor 40 miles a day for four months, has, I think, established the principle. The American speculator who has obtained the concession from the Shah for the construction of a network of railways in Persia, would appear to mean business, after all. The concession, which Minister-Resident of the United States, he obtained while acting at Teheran as he has conveyed to St. Petersburg, and offered to carry out under the direct auspices of the Russian government. British diplomacy at Teheran is reported to be much exercised by this act; and, if we are not mistaken, influence is being brought to bear upon the Shah to induce him to clip the wings of the concession, if Mr. Winston realizes his present aim of transferring it to Russia for a cash consideration. England has acquiesced in a good many Russian movements lately, but we question whether she would regard with indifference the extension of the Russian railway system from the Caucasus to the Persian Gulf. This is what the American proposes to do; and as, by the terms of his ninety-nine years' concession, he obtains mile-plots of land each side of the line through the richest provinces of Persia those bordering upon the Caspian Sea-the initial section, from the shores of that sea to Teheran, is almost sure to pay. Afterward, it is proposed to carry one line south to the Persian Gulf, on which Russia has long aspired to establish a naval station, and another east to Meshed, whence a short extension would carry it on to the Russian railways from the Caspian to Merv. These two main lines would completely open up Persia, and at the same time link her fortunes altogether with those of Russia, who, from the Caspian, would be able to dominate both railways. Mr. Winston proposes that Russian engineers should construct the line, Russian tracklayers lay it, and the metals and rolling stock be obtained from the railway works at St. Petersburg, Kolomna, Briansk and the Ural mountains. RUNNING A LOCOMOTIVE WITHOUT "Smoke and sparks," said Mr. Walker, the inventor of a firing apparatus which prevents smoke and sparks, "are simply evidence of imperfect combustion. That's the problem in a nutshell. The need of a device to consume smoke and sparks is "How is it done? Is the process an expensive one?” served. 3. The expense of maintenance is decreased after the second year of service, while with wooden ties this item increases with the age of the ties. 4. The system is rapidly perfecting, so that the fastenings are made absolutely certain and less expensive for repair and maintenance than fastenings used with wooden ties. 5. The value of the metallic tie when worn out in service is much greater than the value of an old wooden tie. In summing up these advantages, and combining them with the actual cost of purchase, redemption and interest, M. Post concludes that no country can exclusively omy; and he cites Holland as a proof of his assertion, where wood is still easily obtained and iron is not very plentiful. He says all the Holland companies have adopted the metallic tie. RAILROADS IN MEXICO. "Not at all. The alterations are in the fire-box alone. The fire box is divided longitudinally by a water-leg, thus prac-[use wood for this purpase with true econtically making two fires, which are cemented by a throat in he forward end of the water-leg. Some thirty inches above the grate bars a corrugated brick arch is built over both fires to within thirty-six inches of the doors, where a throat is formed through the combustion chambers and leading to the tubes of the boiler. In the center of this throat is hung a wrought and cast iron water damper, which can be manipulated at will by the fireman, and which controls the direction or circulation of the currents or draughts to the fires. These fires are coaled alternately. Supposing the right-hand fire has just been replenished (the damper being down on that side) the smoke and sparks made are carried through the water-leg and must pass over the left-hand fire, which is in an incandescent state, and mixing with the heated oxygen are burned, the corrugated brick arch causing any flying cinders to be deflected downward into the fire. When the left-hand fire wants coaling the damper is reversed and the operation is in the opposite direction." This system has been tried on several roads with success, Mr. Walker says. METALLIC RAILROAD TIES. The American railroads in Mexico have already done much to arouse the most stubbornly conservative people on the face of the globe from their lethargy, and in a manner that no other instrumentality probably could have affected. When the locomotive first appeared, it is said that the people of whole villages fled affrighted from their habitations, or organized processions with religious emblems and holy water to exorcise and repel the monster. During the first year of the experience of the Mexican Central, armed guards also were considered an essential accompaniment of every train, as had been the case on the Vera Cruz railroad since its opening in 1873. But all this is now a matter of the past, and so impressed is the government with the importance of keeping its raiload system safe and intact that the Mexican congress recently decreed instant execution, without any formal trial, to any one caught in the act of wrecking or robbing a train. At a recent meeting of the French So- What sort of things these poor Mexiciety of Civil Engineers, a paper by M. cans would buy if they could was indiPost, of Holland, upon metallic railroad cated to the writer by seeing in the hut ties, was read. According to the author, of a laborer on the line of the Mexican the principal advantages inherent in the Central railroad—a place destitute of alnew system, advantages based on an act- most every comfort, or article of furual trial of about twelve years in Ger- niture or convenience a bright, new, many, etc., are: 1. The average durabil- small kerosene lamp, than which nothing ity of the ties remaining in the track af- that fell under his observation in Mexico ter twelve years' use is much greater with was really more remarkable and inmetallic ties of a good design than with teresting. Remarkable and interesting, the best wooden ties. 2. Safety is better because neither this man nor his father, guaranteed, as the gauge is better pre-possibly, since the world to them began, |