Part 14

The original method of heating passenger cars by direct radiation from coal or wood stoves was a source of discomfort to the passengers as well as a menace in case of disaster. This brought about in the late '80s the introduction of the "Baker Hot-Water Heater," which was a great improvement for the comfort of passengers, but still left a fire in the car. In many instances of collisions and derailments during this period, especially in winter, the cars were set on fire and the wreckage consumed from the fire scattered from the stoves or heaters. Experimentally, steam from the locomotives was used, but the difficulties in securing satisfactory couplings between the cars, the drain on the boiler, and the fact that the locomotive was sometimes detached from the train, were obstacles. One of the Western roads even attached a separate car for the sole purpose of supplying heat and light. The growth in the capacity of locomotive boilers, and the perfection of the couplings between cars, have led to the present practice of car heating, which entirely eliminates the presence of any fire or source of danger from that source.

CAR LIGHTING.

Car lighting has passed through the same stages as house lighting, possibly more gradually, on account of the greater difficulties. The old low-roofed passenger cars were illuminated by candles about two inches in diameter, placed in racks along the sides of the car. With the advent of mineral oil, just before the Civil War, the candles gave place to oil lamps. Great difficulty was experienced in maintaining a steady flame, until the principle of the student lamp was adopted. The flame was shielded from the outside air by a chimney, and the central draft to the burner provided the air necessary, at the right point, to insure combustion. For more than fifteen years this method prevailed, and while the presence of oil lamps in wrecks contributed fuel to the flames, the proof that they were in any way the principal cause was lacking. Still, to eliminate this contributory feature, attempts were made to use ordinary coal gas, compressed in tanks on each car. This, however, proved unsatisfactory. In 1870 a system of compressed gas made from crude petroleum had been invented by Julius Pintsch, of Berlin, and by 1887 had been put into a number of cars on European railroads. The light was too dim to satisfy American conditions. It was only a question of time, however, for its proper and adequate development to our needs, when its use became general, on the perfection of the lamp and burner.

For the last fifteen years electric lighting of various types has been in use on cars in an experimental way. While possessing advantages, perhaps, in safety, owing to low voltages and small quantity of current, its general use has not yet been entirely practicable, owing to the complications involved, either in generating and satisfactorily controlling the current upon the cars, or in supplying it at terminals through storage batteries.

So far we have been considering largely features either of equipment or train control. Perhaps more important than these is the permanent way. Compared with engines, cars, signals and dispatching, the variety of problems presented in the construction and maintenance are many. We perhaps owe to the ancient beginnings and highly scientific development of the profession of civil engineering and its branches the fact that these problems of construction and maintenance are so well met and the source of so little anxiety in connection with railroad transportation at the present time. American engineering ingenuity and courage have devised structures to meet every requirement of railroad development. In bridge construction for centuries the simple beam or the arch were the only spans employed. The natural barriers to construction of railroads required something more than either. Between 1830 and 1850 many wooden trusses were built in the Eastern and Middle States after the design of Burr and Palmer. S. H. Long's introduction of counter-braces in truss construction in 1830 was a long step in advance, and after ten years the celebrated Howe truss was brought out by the inventor. Four years later came the Pratt truss. In 1859 several riveted lattice trusses were built for the New York Central, varying from 40 to 90 feet in length, by Howard Carroll. The Lehigh Valley built a Whipple-Murphy pin-connected bridge of 165-foot span.

This progress in truss construction enabled the railroads to bridge streams and secure continuous roadway.

As an interesting historical note in connection with railroad bridges, we find that the first railroad bridge was built across the Mississippi River at Rock Island in 1856. It had hardly been completed, at great expense, before St. Louis steamboat interests demanded its removal as a nuisance and an obstruction to navigation. The United States District Court so adjudged it, and ordered its removal within six months. The presiding judge in his opinion stated that "if one railroad is able to transfer freight and passengers without delay and expense of changing at the river, financial necessity will compel competing roads to provide themselves with the same facilities," which led him to foresee great interference to river traffic and great mischief in the establishment of such a precedent.

The case was appealed, and Abraham Lincoln was the counsel for the bridge company before the United States Supreme Court. He argued that both the river and the railroad were great highways for the people, and while at the immediate time the water traffic was possibly greater, he predicted that the time might come when the railroads might equal or exceed the traffic on the river, and he consequently felt that each interest was entitled to equal consideration. His broad grasp of the subject secured for his company a reversal of the decision of the lower court, and the bridge remained.

With the advent of steel the possibilities of bridge construction may be said to have become almost unlimited, and their design exceedingly simplified and standardized.

EVOLUTION OF THE RAIL.

Equally important is the evolution of the rail and its fastenings. The type of metal rails of which the bottom served as the running surface for flat wheels guided by a flange on the rail gave place to "edge" rails on which flanged wheels used the upper surface of the rail before the day of the steam locomotive.

Of the edge type, the first were cast iron, fish-bellied, in sections about three feet in length. They were supported by stone blocks or in cast-iron chairs which were in turn made secure to the stone. Later the same type was made of wrought iron by John Birkinshaw, in England, who rolled it up to 15 or 18 feet in length.

From 1820 to 1850 the flat strap rail, spiked to longitudinal timbers, in turn supported by cross-ties, was largely used in this country, as it was the only shape that could be rolled here. In 1834 Mr. Strickland designed the Bridge, or "U"-shaped section, which was used on some of our earlier roads and was the first style of edge rail rolled in this country, in 1844.

The present "T" section was invented in 1830 by Colonel Stevens, Chief Engineer of the Camden & Amboy Railway, and until 1845, when it was first rolled in this country, had to be imported from England. The poor quality of the iron at this time required such a broad support, in the design of the rail, for the head, that no satisfactory plate fastening could be secured. Iron shoes, into which the rail ends fitted, were the means of connection.

The greatest improvement dates from 1855, when the first steel rails were rolled in England. Ten years later they were experimentally rolled here. In 1867, through the introduction of the Bessemer process, which made possible their manufacture at a greatly reduced cost, began a revolution in track construction.

While the decade from 1880 to 1890 witnessed the greatest rate of railroad building in this country, it also witnessed the substantial substitution of steel rails on our lines. The earlier rails weighed from 50 to 70 pounds per yard. The increasing weight of equipment brought out a heavier section, and fifteen years ago there was a large percentage of mileage on which weights of 90 pounds and over--and even 100 pounds--per yard had been introduced. Under special conditions rails weighing as high as 140 pounds per yard are used.

With the increasing weights of rails, and the development of steel manufacture, greater attention has been paid to details of analysis, process of manufacture, shape and laying, and it may be briefly stated that all these matters are uniformly prescribed at the present time.

Our rail fastenings, ties and ballast have kept pace with the development of the rail and equipment. An orthodox part of the rules governing the maintenance of railway property places in the hands of the maintenance force standard plans and specifications, not only for the elements, such as rail and ties, but for the complete make-up of the finished track structure and roadbed, and these plans are the result of current experience and study of the several railroads, and of the various associations of engineers, maintenance officers and manufacturers, and it is safe to say that these plans, specifications and standard practices represent the best known state of the art.

GRADE-CROSSING ELIMINATION.

In the early days both the railroads and public ways used the natural surface of the ground, as a matter of economy. The public question then was how they were to get the railroads, and _not_ how they were to restrict them in the manner of their construction. The districts traversed were sparsely settled and trains were few and slow in their movement; the highways were little used; all of which made for freedom from accident where the two crossed.

The conditions in England were vastly different. There the country was thickly settled and an assured traffic was evident from the inception of the enterprise, which would warrant expenditures on original construction that could not be entertained by the promoters of our first companies. So it was not through any blindness that made grade crossings grow up in this country, but it was purely the result of economic conditions which precluded their elimination.

With the increase in population and the development of the country came the need of increased transportation facilities. More frequent, faster and heavier trains were moving up the railroads and a greater number of people came to use the highways. The inevitable result followed, and at length the great number of accidents occurring at the grade crossings attracted public attention.

The Legislature of Massachusetts took the first action in 1869, when it provided for the appointment of a Railroad Commission, to investigate and report upon "Safer and Better Methods of Construction and Operation." They very promptly took up the Grade-Crossing question.

At this time in

Massachusetts there was 1 mile of track to 5.47 square miles New York there was 1 mile of track to 14.12 square miles United States there was 1 mile of track to 46.72 square miles Great Britain there was 1 mile of track to 8.60 square miles

This showed that the railroad network in Massachusetts was more extensive in proportion to the area of the State than existed in Great Britain. In their report the Commission suggested the avoidance of future crossings of railroads and highways at grade, and the propriety of the railroads changing some existing crossings which presented no great difficulty or expense.

In 1873 a law was passed providing for the separation of grade when a town and railroad effected an agreement. The cost was to be apportioned by a Commission appointed by the Superior Court. This law did accomplish something, but hardly abolished existing crossings as fast as new ones were built. Under it the Fitchburg Railroad did away with twenty-five between 1875 and 1890, bearing varying portions of the expense.

In 1885 an Act provided that the County Commissioners could order the abolition of a grade crossing on a petition of twenty legal voters if the cost would not exceed $3,000. Again, in 1888 the Legislature asked the Governor to appoint another Commission to investigate and report upon a scheme for gradual abolition and the method of apportioning the expense. In February, 1889, this Commission, composed of Kimball, Weber and Locke, submitted systematic plans, with estimates, etc., in which they fixed forty years as not an unreasonable length of time for the completion of the work. The next step came in 1890 with the passage of the Grade Crossing Law, which provided that the directors of a railroad or the authorities of a town or city could petition the Supreme Court for a Commission on the Abolition of a Grade Crossing. This Commission was to determine the manner of the separation and by whom the work was to be done, and how the expense was to be divided as between the railroad, city and State. Before the report was presented to the Court for approval it was incumbent upon the Commissioners to ascertain that the aggregate proportion of the State's liability in this connection would not exceed $500,000 per year for ten years. While on the one hand the Legislature authorized this expenditure of $5,000,000 to abolish the crossings of highways with railroads at grade, they granted charters indefinitely to electric lines to cross steam roads at grade.

The New York State Board of Railroad Commissioners was created in 1882 and its membership appointed by the Governor. Among the functions which they immediately assumed was the question of public safety in connection with crossings at grade of railroads and highways. The consideration which this received and the complaints of unsafe conditions, as well as the complications and adjudications involved, led to the passing of the Grade Crossing Law, which went into effect July 1, 1897.

Not only by the New York State law, but by the Massachusetts law, the method of elimination, as well as the apportionment of expense, is specific. The initiative is open to both the railroad and to the community, and the rapid progress of eliminations in these two States may be taken as an endorsement of the wisdom of such legislation, paving the way, as it does, for more progress on the question of eliminations than it is believed would ordinarily take place where no specific rule existed for the undertaking.

While the exact conditions throughout the country are not definitely known, it is believed that progress is being made quite generally in this direction. The influence of grade-crossing elimination upon the safety of operation is of such importance as to deserve serious consideration, as I will further suggest. Perhaps the elimination of grade crossings, thereby separating the public from the railroad except as authorized in connection with their patronage of it, is one of the most important factors as safety.

HUMAN ELEMENT IN OPERATION.

Notwithstanding the great improvements in roadbed, track, bridges, signals, equipment and other respects, all securing increased service and safety in railroad operation, the human element is a vital factor. With a view of raising the standard of individual service, a system of physical and educational examinations has been adopted. In the early days of railroads the individual service was possibly less definitely classified and qualified than must prevail under the exactions of modern conditions. In keeping with the progress in mechanical and safety devices and the necessity of a better system, we have today a preliminary examination, both physical and as to fitness. Employes must pass examinations as to vision, color sense and hearing, and their knowledge of the fundamental rules and regulations, as well as the fundamental knowledge of road, appliances and equipment. These examinations are repeated from time to time as the class of service and further advancement of the employes may require. Many of the large railroads have established schools, with capable instructors, where employes may receive instruction upon the performance of their duties, as well as affording them an opportunity to fit themselves for promotion.

Beginning with the General Time Convention some thirty years ago, the need to standardize railroad practices and systematically qualify employes began to be realized.

The Convention, largely through the efforts of Mr. W. F. Allen, saw that, as time is the term in which railroad schedules are expressed, it was a fundamental necessity that there should be standard time, and that the timepieces of employes which should govern their observance of instructions and schedules must conform to the standard. This led to the present system of standard time; to the system whereby employes must compare watches with standard clocks; must have watches inspected regularly and record taken of same; must compare watches and register before trips.

The General Time Convention led to the formation of the American Railway Association, consisting of the executive and operating officers of the railroads of the United States and Canada. The Association considers problems of railroad operation, construction and equipment, and recommends practices for their solution. Their investigations, conclusions and recommended practices embrace train operation, dispatching, block-signal operation, air-brake operation, physical and educational qualifications of employes, regulations for the transportation of dangerous articles, clearances, rail manufacture, safety appliances, inspection, car construction, track gauge, train heating and lighting, methods of loading, etc. Marked progress has been made in co-ordinating the work of the various organizations of railroad officers with the work of the Association, to secure the benefit of the broadest and most careful consideration of the subjects.

Assurance, therefore, exists that the experience and knowledge of railway management and officers will be brought from time to time into the text and fact of standard practices, promoting convenience by close interline relationships and uniformity of regulation, and causing a uniform, systematic and careful regard for safety.

BY WAY OF RECAPITULATION.

So, to recapitulate:

From a few miles of crude tramways the world has in a century built 500,000 miles of steam operated and 100,000 miles of electrically operated roads; instead of spragging the wheels we rely on the automatic high-speed brake; the coupling of cars has become an imitation of the action of human hands instead of risking their destruction; each train finds the condition of road ahead and protects itself by the agency of electric circuits and semaphores, the sequence of whose operation discloses on behalf of safety any obstruction of the route; four-wheel barrows are replaced by steel cars, larger than the miner's cabin, and carrying more than his month's output; instead of traveling on a tramway stage coach, the passenger finds available for his comfort a modern hotel on wheels, with every luxury known to-day--electrically lighted, steam heated, weather-proof; the old strap iron, which became detached and penetrated the car floor, frequently impinging passengers to the roof, is replaced by the bar of steel weighing 100 pounds to the yard, whose manufacture, installation and maintenance is prescribed with every degree of refinement known to the chemist and engineer; we have learned to treat sub-grade, drainage and ballast as an architectural science, and our bridges, from the single-log span, now make continuous roadbed for high-speed operation, even over the continental rivers.

Some one has said that the builders' art consisted in making the structure proclaim the purpose for which designed, and to my mind there is nothing which quite so dramatically fulfils this as the modern steam locomotive. How many of you have seen a huge Pacific locomotive, drawing a train of 600 tons at a speed of 70 miles an hour, yet under control of one man, just the same as Stephenson's "Rocket," which could have been lifted off its track and set on the ground by four strong men, and which was a world-wonder when for a short distance it attained a speed of twenty miles an hour? We know that our engineman with a Pacific locomotive and the high-speed train can stop his train with the air brake in a definite distance.

These comparisons, briefly as might be, between, we will say, the beginnings of the nineteenth and of the twentieth centuries, show how the commercial growth and increase of trade have produced a demand for transportation to be performed, and with the performance an economic revolution. We have, in a general way, though with far less than the thoroughness of which the subject is worthy, outlined what might be called the "state of the art," of railroad plant and operation, in a relative sense.

Progress of a pronounced character has occurred. That this progress has been accomplished by increased safety is demonstrated by common knowledge and confirmed by the records, both of the railroads and the public authorities. As an illustration, take the statistics of the Interstate Commerce Commission. The increased safety of railroad operation is indicated in part by the following figures:

For the decade following the beginning of the records, namely, 1888 to 1897, the fatalities were 1 in 45,300,000; for the next decade, bringing it down to the present time, the fatalities were 1 in 54,900,000; the gain in ratio being, for the nation at large, fully 20 per cent.

Looking at the conditions in the State of New York, where the density of travel is considerably in excess of that of the country as a whole, we find a report of the State Engineer in the year 1862 showing ratio of fatalities of 1 in 28,200,000; the average for six years, 1902 to 1907, inclusive, shows 1 in 200,000,000; an increase in relative safety of 800 per cent.

We may assume that never before in the history of railroad transportation was there presented a bigger problem than to-day. The weights are greater; the distances are greater; the speed is greater; the population is more dense; prices and wages are higher, and the public service more exacting. A gathering of the official representatives of the nation and of every State, possibly with a desire for uniform and concerted action, even though it may be unofficial, points with emphasis to the attitude from which the public contemplates the employment of the railways in their behalf. It is, I believe, an accepted fact of our political constitution at the present time that the public, through its authorized representatives and through lawful channels, has a right to be reasonably assured in this respect. I believe that the co-operation manifested, as well as the inquiries by the various railway boards, has in a great sense aided in reaching our present standard of excellence, to which we can point with pride in comparison with any other national railway system of the globe. We are becoming more familiar--the railroad management and employes--with the standpoint of the public, and the public is becoming more familiar with the problems of the railroads. The mutual aim is: First, safety and service; and, second, economy. The public concern for the safety and service is for its own protection, and the railroad management must give both with economy.

So far we have been dealing largely with the progressive safety of railroad operation as furthered by the action of the railways, either initiatively or responsively, as the case might be. We have described the improvement in roadway, equipment and appliances; the standardizing of regulations for operation; the selection of employees and their government.