George L. Vose

“ That we may at all times possess these data, we should know every year just the cost of working each article of traffic. It is not enough that the gross receipt exceeds the whole expense; even then the road may be working unprofitably. Unless each item of transport pays for itself, we are taxing unjustly some other item, (except, indeed, in such cases as adopting low rates in order to fill trains running in one direction which would otherwise run empty) . An analysis of cost will also show whether or not it is best to attract an increased amount of business by a reduction of rates. ”

“ Besides the annual repairs necessary to maintain a road in proper working order, there is needed a periodic expenditure for reproduction. Evidently the time will come, upon all roads, when rails and sleepers, buildings, bridges, etc., need to be replaced. Knowing the life of rails, we also know the annual depreciation, and from that can easily find what sum must annually be laid aside, which being properly invested, shall, at the end of the life of the rail, together with its interest, be equal to the cost of renewing. ”

“ I have no hesitation in asserting, that a single track railroad, having judiciously located turnouts, equal, in the aggregate, to one quarter of its entire length, and a well-conducted telegraph, will prove to be a more safe and profitable investment than a much larger sum expended in the construction of a continuous double track, operated without a telegraph. ”

“ The tangential force, generated by the motion of the cars, tends to keep the flanges of the wheels against the outer rail; and only when a just balance is made between the tractive and tangential forces, the wheel will run without impinging on either rail, (the wheel being properly coned) . For these forces to balance, there must be a fixed ratio between the weight of a car and the speed, (not the weight of a train, as the shackling allows the cars to act nearly independently, some indeed rubbing hard for a moment against the rail, while the next car is working at ease) . ”

“ Any road being divided into locomotive sections, the section given to any one engine should be such as to require a constant expenditure of power as nearly as possible; i. e., one section, or the run of one engine, should not embrace long levels and steep grades. If an engine can carry a load over a sixty feet grade, it will be too heavy to work the same load upon a level economically. It is best to group all of the necessarily steep grades in one place, and also the easy portions of the road; then by properly adapting the locomotives the cost of power may be reduced to a minimum. ”

“ Some writers have considered that the grades of a road should be so adjusted as to equalize the cutting and the filling. The total rise and fall might not be much affected by this, but the mechanical effect of grades might. A perfect balance between the cuts and fills is not to be desired. The whole cost of earthwork must be a minimum, and it is often cheaper to waste and borrow, than to make very long hauls, and to form the grade line by interchange of material on the profile only. ”

“ Examination of the formula shows how important it is that all trains should run at such a velocity as to demand the same elevation of rail. The absolute elevation must be arranged to meet the requirement of the fastest trains; and other trains must conform, even at a disadvantage.
Note.—The subject of the mechanics of traversing railroad curves, is yet quite in the dark. The action of the train, as caused by its own momentum, is tangential; while the action of the engine tends to pull the cars against the inner rail, being opposed to the first motion. ”

“ The greatest load that can come upon a single post or rod, is that from the driving wheels of a locomotive. If the whole engine weighs forty tons, there will be ten tons on each pair of drivers, or five tons or 11,200 lbs. on each wheel; which, being applied over a length of ten feet only, may be considered as at a single point, and all parts must be able to bear such load. In large spans, where the weight is great, if the truss is strong enough to support the bridge and load, it will safely resist the effects of a sudden application of passing trains. ”

“ The coking process is a complete combustion of the volatile principles of the coal. The mass of coal being first kindled at the surface, where it is supplied with an abundance of oxygen, because the doors in front and vents in the rear are open, no more smoke goes from the chimney than from that of a common kitchen fire. The gas generated from the slightly heated coal cannot escape destruction in passing up to the bright flame of the oven. Any deficiency in oxygen for consuming the smoke is supplied by the air entering the grooves of the dampers. ”

“ Some engineers express themselves very much in favor of long levels and short but steep inclines. There are cases where the momentum acquired upon one grade, or upon a level, assists the train up the next incline. The distance on the rise during which momentum lasts, is not very great. A train in descending a plane does not receive a constant increase of available momentum, but arrives at a certain speed, where by increased resistance and by added effect of gravity, the motion becomes nearly regular. ”

“ The conducting power of the metal composing the fire-box and tubes, is one condition which limits the rate of evaporation, when the heat is abundant on the one side and circulation free on the other, as the water certainly carries off the heat as fast as it arrives at the outer surface.
All the heat should be extracted if possible from the gases before they enter the smoke box. We should so arrange the flues, that without so much contracting the passage for the exit of the gases as to need too strong a blast, yet to confine the gases until their full value is extracted. ”

“ The variable (and above assumed) element is the rate of increase of cost of maintenance.
All trains in motion at the same time within a certain distance of the express, must be kept waiting with steam up, or be driven with extra velocities in order to keep out of the way.
Where the time table is so arranged as to call for speed nearly equal to the full capacity of the engine, it is very obvious that the risks of failure in “making time” must be much greater than at reduced rates; and when they do occur, the efforts made to gain time must be correspondingly greater and uncertain. ”

“ Large and deep rivers run sufficiently fast when the fall is one foot per mile. For small rivers, double that is necessary. Ditches and ordinary drains require eight feet per mile. When the water is made to pass away from the surface, it should flow very gradually, that the sides and bottom of the ditches may not be worn away by friction; it should be in constant motion that the channel may be kept clean and increase in velocity as it proceeds. When the surface is a perfect level, the drains should of course be made straight. ”

“ If a person walks four miles per hour, and supposing one hour allowed for passing from the house to the place of business, he cannot live at a greater distance than four miles from his work. The area, therefore, which may be lived in, is the circle of which the radius is four, the diameter eight, and the area fifty and one quarter square miles. If by horse one can go eight miles per hour, the diameter becomes sixteen miles, and area two hundred and one square miles; and, if by railroad he moves thirty miles per hour, the diameter becomes sixty miles, and the area 2,827 square miles. ”

“ There are certain necessary causes of a bad application of power upon railroads; for example, when the trains are very much heavier in one direction than in the other, as we are obliged to use the same engine both ways, because when it arrives at one end of the road it must go back to start again. Where the traffic requires to be worked chiefly up hill, we use an engine much heavier to ascend with the load than is necessary to descend without a load. ”

“ Now if for each 400,000 miles travelled by stage passengers, (a distance equal to sixteen times round the world,) one passenger was killed, and if the whole railroad mileage could be worked by stages, there would be annually 11,875 lives lost; or one hundred times the number annually lost by railroad. Thus it would be one hundred times safer to travel by railroad than by stage. The danger of steamboat travelling is far greater than by stage. ”

“ Accidents from obstacles upon the track, from fire, boiler explosions, and misplaced switches, are no more attendant upon express than upon other trains, but the consequences are worse with the high speeds.
From the analysis above, of one hundred accidents, it appears that eighty-eight per cent. of the cases are due to the causes that are aggravated by increase of speed, and if we assume the aggravation of collision, and breakage of machinery, to be (speed being doubled) as two to one, the danger of travelling a fixed distance, by express, is eighty-eight per cent. ”

“ Want of increased power, can be an apology for increased gauge, until the capacity of the narrow gauge has been filled. The strongest engines in the world are upon the four feet, eight and one half inch gauge. No engines in America surpass or compare for absolute strength, with those upon the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The most powerful passenger engine ever built for high speeds, is Crampton’s engine “Liverpool,” (London and North-western Railroad, England,) gauge four feet, eight and one half inches. ”

“ Heavy trains consume less steam by bulk, per mile, but of a much greater density, and combine a long stroke with a small wheel, by which great leverage is obtained.
In general, engines for winter use should be heavier than those for summer, upon the same ground, as natural causes are more liable to resist adhesion in the winter.
The locomotive engine may be so proportioned as to run at any speed from ten to sixty miles per hour, over grades from ten to two hundred feet per mile, and to carry loads from two hundred to two thousand tons. ”

“ A plane surface is for the same reason an imperfect form for absorbing heat; it must be exposed at an angle of 45° to obtain the best effect of the heating gases. In all cases if we wish to obtain the best effect from the fuel, we should expose a convex surface to the current of hot air. The direction of the motion of the hot gases decides the position of the metal which is to absorb the heat; if the current is horizontal the pipes must be vertical. Gases do not convey heat by radiation. Tubes and other vessels containing water must be so placed that the hot gases play around the outside. ”

“ But though it does render some classes of labor useless, and throw out of employment some persons, it creates new labor far more than the old, and gives much more than it takes away. Twenty years of experience shows that the diminished cost of transport by railroad invariably augments the amount of commerce transacted, and in a much larger ratio than the reduction of cost. It is estimated by Dr. Lardner, that 300,000 horses working daily in stages would be required to perform the passenger traffic alone, which took place in England during the year 1848. ”

“ A road doing a large passenger business must accommodate the public as far as possible as regards the time of departure and arrival, and the connections with other roads. A freight road must regard more the character of the road. Some classes of freight (ice, beef, etc.) do not admit of delay. As we increase the number of trains, the ratio of time employed in actual work to the whole train under steam is decreased, as there must be much time lost on sidings in waiting for trains to pass. Liability to accidents is also incurred. ”

“ The reduction of experiments to tables, and the deduction from tables of formulæ, is a simple operation compared with the skill and care required in observing the operation of a machine, subject to so many disturbances as a locomotive engine in rapid motion. None have had a better opportunity of observing, have conducted experiments with more care, or have obtained results which show fewer discrepancies than the English engineers Clark and Gooch, and the French and German observers Le Chatlier and Nollau. ”

“ Steam may flow from any vessel into a vacuum, into the open air, or into steam of a less density. The velocity of efflux of steam is the same as that of a stream of water flowing under a pressure equal to that of the steam. Steam flowing into the atmosphere of course has 14.7 lbs. per inch resistance to meet, which is equivalent to a reduction of 14.7 lbs. ”

“ Suppose the whole load upon the wheels is 60,000 lbs. If the centre of gravity is half-way between the wheels (there being two pairs) , each will support 30,000 lbs. If the centre of gravity is twice as near to one axle as to the other, the furthest one will support 20,000 lbs., and the nearest one 60,000–20,000, or 40,000 lbs.
Suppose the engine has six points of support, or three points in the side elevation, (the ordinary four driving wheels and a truck engine) . Let the centre of gravity be one foot behind the middle axle and the distances between the wheel centres eight feet. ”

“ We may vary the tractive power of an engine by using the steam at a greater or less degree of expansion, but the adhesion remains the same. If an engine was built able to work a road partly level, and partly on steep grades, varying the power simply by varying the expansion, it would be unnecessarily heavy for the easy parts of the road. ”

“ The Superintendent of the Road has complete charge of the road-bed, superstructure, bridging, masonry, and buildings; also all removals, enlargements, and alterations. He should be a thorough civil engineer, able in every respect to build a railroad from beginning to end.
The Superintendent of Machinery has charge of the purchase, inspection, repair, and operating of all of the rolling and fixed machinery, of shops, engine houses, turntables, tanks, and weigh scales. He is responsible for the good condition, proper adaptation and efficiency of the entire equipment of engines and cars. ”

“ Three essential parts of the locomotive are the grate area, heating surface, and cylinders. No two writers upon this subject arrive at the same dimensions to perform the same work. They not only differ, but differ widely. They cannot all be right; all but one, or all must be wrong. American builders have fixed the dimensions of their engines by observing the performance of constructed machines, not by rules deduced from any systematic experiments, but upon a system of remedying visible errors. ”

“ The velocity of a river is greatest at its surface and at the centre of the stream. In the same river the velocity is nearly as the square root of the depth; thus the surface velocity being known, that for any other depth may be easily found. The velocity of streams should always be noted at the times of the highest floods. For measuring the velocity of running water a bottle enough filled with water to maintain an upright position, with a small rod placed through the stopper having a red flag upon the upper end, answers very well. ”

“ There are two causes why all the heat which fuel may furnish is not obtained. First, that the inflammable gases 329evolved by the heat are not all consumed from want of a sufficient supply of oxygen, the air drawn through the fire being only sufficient to decompose more fuel than when decomposed it could burn, or supply with oxygen. The thick smoke that escapes from a chimney when fresh fuel is thrown on a hot fire, is unconsumed gas; decomposed from the fuel, but without oxygen enough to burn—although there may have been a sufficient supply of heat. ”