INSTITUTION of ENCI NEERS, the Development Locomotive

THE INSTITUTION OF LOCOMOTIVE ENCI NEERS, LONDON.

The Development of American Locomotive Practice.

BY LAWFORD H. FRY, M.Inst.C.E., Member, London. With an abstract of the discussion upon the Paper,

SEVENTH PAPER (OF TRANSACTIONS).

SESSION19 12.

Read on Saturday, 30th March, 1912, at St. Bride Institute, London,

Presided oyer by Mr. Herbert W. Garratt, M.I.Mech,E., Yice-Chairman of Council.

LONDON : qtrblisbeil bp tbe fnstitution. 4942. Price One Sh3ling net.

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BY LAWFORD H. FRY, M.1nst.C.E.. Member, London.

The subject this evening is " The Development of American Locomotive Practice. " This development is due to the incessant growth of the traffic and to the desire to handle it with the greatest possible economy. In the time at my disposal, I can only trace in broad outlines the development from " Old Ironsides " of 1832, weighing five tons and costing seven hundred pounds, to the modern " Mallet " weighing some two hundred tons and costing about six thousand pounds. The price has dropped, you will see, from about A.140 to about A30 per ton of working weight. For the purposes of this paper the development may be divided roughly into four periods. First, forty years of pioneer work from 1830 to 1870; second, twenty years of growth from 1870 to 189;third, fifteen years of change by the introduction of new types from illgo to 1905, and finally a period of growth in which we are now. To illustrate the characteristics of these periods and to emphasise the logical principles which have directed the development, a number of locomotives will be described. The main dimensions of these engines will be found in the Table; the nupber given to each engine described refers to its position in this table.

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Illustrations are given of the more important modern machines. All modern steam locomotives are direct descendants of Stephenson’s “ Rocket ” (No. I) built in 1829. This locomotive combined three essential elements which are continued in present practice throughout the world :-(I) the fire tube boiler; (2) the draught produced by the exhaust ; and (3) the direct connection between the cylinders and the driving wheels. The “ Rocket ” strain was taken to America in 1831 by an engine of the “ Planet ” type (No. 2) built by Messrs. Robert Stephenson and Co. for the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad. This class of locomotive was the first to use horizontal cylinders, and its many good points were widely copied by both British and Ameri- can engineers. Mr. M. W. Baldwin, the founder of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, studied it before building his first engine “ Old Ironsides,” No. 3 and Fig. I, which was completed in 1832. Mr. Baldwin’s first engine proved extremely successful, and there is impartial and trustworthy evidence to the effect that on one occasion it ran a mile in 58 seconds, a rate of 62 miles an hour, and that it was working up till 1853.

“ Old Ironsides ” was of the 2-2-0 type, having a single pair of driving wheels, with a pair of carrying wheels in front. In 1832 the four-wheeled swivelling bogie was introduced into locomotive practice, by John B. Jervis, the engineer of the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad. Mr. Baldwin adopted the bogie for his second locomotive, which was designed in conjunction with Mr. E. L. Miller, and completed in the year 1834. An important advance is marked by the patent taken out in 1836 by hfr. H. R. Campbell, for a 4-4-0type locomotive. As originally built the driving wheel springs were independent, and the engine rode very roughly on the primi- tive track, but in 1837 Messrs. Estwick and Harrison in- vented equalising beams and applied them to this type of engine, thus giving life to the 4-4-0 type which has proved so popular in all parts of the world. In describing the invention of this type Dr. Angus Sinclair says : “ The clan Campbell led by their chief the Duke of Argyll have won many victories since, breekless, they first emerged from the wilds of Lorne, but no victory so abiding and lucrative as that of Henry R. Campbell, when he added a pair of driving wheels to the slippery locomotive.’’

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With the same weight per wheel the locomotive with four drivers can be made to pull twice as much as the engine with two. This principle, which determined the appearance of the first of the modern wheel arrangements, has led with the growth in train loads to the introduction of six and eight-coupled locomotives, and finally, as we shall see, to the appearance of the multi-coupled “ h1allets.” The three essential requirements of a successful locomotive design are :-(I) that it shall give good heart and lungs as represented by the boiler.; (2) that it shall put enough weight on the drivers to give foothold for a pull ; and (3) that the arrangement of the wheels shall make the locomotive ride easily on the track. The 4-4-0 type always satisfied the last of these requirements, and train loads and speeds were greatly increased before it was outgrown in the other two. In the early years locomotives of the 0-6-0 and 0-8-0 types were used, but these types were eventually displaced by the 2-6-0, the 4-6-0, and lhe 2-8-0 types. The Baldwin Locomotive Works built in 1861 a 2-6-0 engine which was undoubtedly the first “ Mogul ” with a BexibIe truck, while the first “ Consolida- tion ” locomotive (No. 4) was designed by Mr. A. E. Mit- chell, of the Leheigh Valley Railroad, and built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1866. This engine gave its name “ Consolidation ” to the now widely used 2-8-0 type. Going back for a moment to examine some of the details of cpnstruction we find that three improvements of the highest importance in the development of the locomotive originated in America, between 1829 and 1837. I refer to the link motion, fixed eccentrics and counter-balances in the driving wheels. A link motion was applied by W. T. James to a loconiotive built in 1832. This engine, however, exploded, and the link did not find general acceptance in American practice until it was re-introduced from Eng- land about 1840. Fixed eccentrics were also applied by James about 1832, while counter-balances were applied by Coleman- Sellers in 1835, and perpetuated by Rogers, who applied them to his first engine finished in 1837. ‘The four-wheeled bogie and the two-wheeled bissel truck are also products of American locomotive engineer- ing, which are now very widely used, and it is interesting to rtote the conditions which led tu their early adoption in American practice.

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In Europe, and particularly in England, the railways were built through a rich well settled country, and large bums of money could be and were spent in their construc- tion. In America, on the other hand, the railroads served a sparsely settled country, and in many cases it was necessary to construct them at the least possible expense. Iron rails were difficult to obtain and the first 4-4-0type locomotives were designed to run on pine stringers protected by iron straps 2i" x 5/8.". With the well built English road bed engines with a rigid wheel base and no equalisation between the wheels gave satisfactory service. On the pioneer American track trucks were useful in guiding a locomotive round curves, and equalisation was necessary to prevent an excessive load being taken by a single pair of wheels in passing over an inequality in the track. To put it shortly, during the period of inception Eng- lish railway practice owed more to the civil and American more to the mechanical engineer. With the growth of traffic the American permanent way made great advances and nowadays the best road bed in the States is at least the equal of that anywhere else. These two factors, the growth of traffic and improve- ment in the road bed, are reflected in the development of the locomotives. By the end of the forty years that I have characterised as the pioneer period, that is to say by 1870, the heaviest freight service was being handled by " Con- solidation " type locomotives similar to No. 4, weighing about 40 tons and having about nine tons on each driving de. The passenger and a large portion of the lighter freight services were worked by 4-4-0 type engines of the dimensions of No. 5, which weighed about 29 tons, the weight on each driving axle being, as for the " Consoli- dation," about nine tons. At this period probably 85 per cent. of the locomotives in the United States were of the 4-4-0type. During the next twenty years, the improvements in the permanent way permitted greatly increased axle loads, so that the increase in traffic was largely met by increasing the weight of the locomotives, the type remaining un- changed, but the ten-wheeled and " Consolidation " types becoming relatively more numerous. No. 6 is a 4-4-0type of locomotive of 1889, with about 16 tons on each driving axle, so that it had nearly twice the hauling capacity of an engine of the same type of 20 years earlier.

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Soon after 1890 it became evident that to meet the increasing demand of high speed passenger service, more boiler power u7as needed than could be obtained with the 4-4-0 type, and in 1895 Mr. Wm. P. Henzsey, of the Bald- win Locomotive Works, designed the first ‘‘ Atlantic ” *ype locomotive, No. 7. The addition of a pair of trailing wheels enables a considerably larger boiler to be carried with the same weight on driving wheels, and the fire-box can be made wider than when it must be carried between the driving wheels. The name “ Atlantic ” was given to the 4-4-2 type, because this first engine of the type was built for the Atlantic Coast Line, and shortly after locomotives of this type gave remarkable results on the At- lantic City Railroad, between Camden and Atlantic City. The distance is 55-5 miles, and the booked time from start to stop for the summer excursion trains was 52 minutes in 1897 and 50 minutes in 1898. The train sheets for July and August of these years show that with engine No. 8 and a sister engine, with trains varying between 180 and 250 tons behind the tender, the slowest time was 502 minutes, or 66.3 miles per hour, and the fastest 444 minutes for the 55.5 miles or 74.4 miles per hour, all from start to stop. This engine was equipped with the “ Wootten ” fire-box, the first of which was designed about 1877 by Mr. John E. Wootten, Superintendent of Motite Power of the Philadelphia and Reading Railway Company, to burn Xine anthracite coal. To do this successfully a very large grate area is necessary, so that the combustion may be slow and the draught at the grate moderate. If the attempt were made to burn this fine fuel, which does not coke, on a narrow grate, it would be carried straight throughout the flues and up the chimney, without burning. Engine No. ti has 76 square feet of grate, while a soft coal burning engine of the same size would work satisfactorily with about 30 square feet.

No. g is a heavy “ Consolidation ” locomotive built in 1901 €or the Rio Grande Western. This engine weighs -about 84 tons with about 20 tons on each driving axle. No. 10 is an Atlantic type locomotive built in 1904 for the Chi-

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A locomotive of 1890 had twice the hauling capacity of an 1870 engine of the same type, because although the number of couplcd axles remained the same, the weight on each had been increased from 10 to 20 tons. A further increase in the carrying power of the track was difficult to obtain, and the demand for more hauling capacity had to be met by increasing the number of coupled axles. Changes were also necessary to secure more boiler capacity, as the fire-box was cramped by its position between the wheels. In the older practice the fire-box was between the wheels and on top of the frames. Except on Atlantic type engines this was.the widest fire-box used for burning soft coal, the maximum width of grate obtainable being 3ft. 6in. As this was fixed the area of the grate was limited by the length of grate which could be fired. Between nine and ten feet is about as far as a stoker can throw coat properly, and consequently the maximum grate area with this type of engine is from 30 to 35 square feet. Two methods of allowing further growth have been adopted. In one design the boiler is placed high enough to allow the fire- box to spread out over the wheels, while in the other a pair of trailing wheels is added to carry the fire-box behind the driving wheels, thus producing a “ Pacific ” or 4-6-2 type engine. ’The engine with the rear truck having one more pair of wheels, can carry more boiler for the same weight on drivers and is therefore adapted for higher speeds. The same evolution has taken place with the consolidation type, the boiler being raised to place the fire-box over the wheels, or a pair of trailing wheels added, giving the 2-8-i or ‘‘ Mikado ” type of Fig. 5, No. 22. Before dealing with the later developments of the “ Pacific,” “ Mikado ” and “ Mallet ” types, it will be convenient to glance briefly at some American locomotives built for export. The first locomotives to be shipped from the United States, were, I believe, the 17 built by Norris in 1840 for the famous Lickey incline between Birmingham and Gloucester. Space forbids a history of ‘the export trade, but ‘the examples to be shown, which I have chosen rather at random, will give you an idea of its varied character.

KO. IT is a 59-ton engine for a 30in. gauge road in Japan, No. 12 is a rack and adhesion engine to work on a meter gauge road with 10 per cent. grades in Mexico,,

Downloaded from jil.sagepub.com at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on June 4, 2016 DEVELOPMEKT OF AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVE PRACTICE. I I and No. 13 is a 20-ton engine for a narrow gauge road in Norway. Let me take this opportunity of attempting to scotch the legend of the “Locomotive off a peg” which is so prevalent in Europe. It is widely believed that American locomotive builders build only to their own designs and supply their clients from stock. This idea is entirely incorrect. Almost every large railway has its special designs to which the builders must conform. A Pennsylvania differs greatly from a New York Central machine, and neither would be accepted by the Harriman Lines or by the Atchison. In addition the conditions to be met in both home and foreign work vary so infinitely and change so from year to year that it is con- tinually necessary to prepare new designs. [hlr. Fry then showed a number of slides illustrating’ the very diverse types built in America for export.] I now come back to the domestic engines and will consider separately the three most important types of the present day, the ‘I Pacific,” the “ Mikado ” and the “ Mallet.”

The first “ Pacific ” type engine, No. 14, was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1901 for the Govern- ment Kailways of New Zealand. Locomotives were required to use a low grade of lignite as fuel, and with the 4-6-2 wheel arrangement a grate area of 40 square feet was obtained on a gauge of 3 feet 6 inches. In the next year the 4-6-2 wheel arrangement was used by the Brooks Locomotive Works for the Missouri Pacific Railway, and by the Schenectady Works for the Chesa- peake and Ohio. From that time on, as the growth in traffic has required an engine with more adhesion than the “ Atlantic ” type and more boiler than the ‘I Ten- Wheeler,” the “ Pacific’’ type has come into service in iccreasingly large numbers. Pig. 2, No. 15, is a single expansion saturated steam “ Pacific ” type for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad with 5,000 square feet of heating surface and 70 square feet of grate. No. 16 is a “ Pacific ” type engine for the Atchison Topeka and Santa FP, equipped with the Santa FC type smoke box superheater. The use of superheating is taken advantage of to reduce the boiler pressure to 160 pounds, which makes for economy in boiler maintenance, particularly where alkali water must be used.

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No. 17 is an engine built by the American Locomotive Company for experimental purposes, and No. 18, Fig. 3, an engine built to New York Central drawings by the Bald- win Locomotive Works. Both are equipped with Schmidt superheater and weigh, exclusive of tender, about 120 tons. The weight per square foot of effective heating surface is. only about 50 pounds, and as each square foot of heating surface gives about 0.43 horse power, these two engines, can be rated at about 2,300 h.p., or over 19 horse power per ton weight. It is probable that before long it will be necessary to provide in passenger service in America, an engine with more weight on driving wheels than the ‘‘ Pacific ” type, and that the 4-8-2 type will be employed. Some engines of this type (No. ~9)have been recently built by the American .Locomotive Company for the Chesapeake and Ohio, and have shown themselves capable of hauling a train of 580 tons on a grade of 1.82 per cent. (I in 55) 14 miles long at 26 miles an hour. The “ Pacific ” type engines are used for heavy passenger or fast freight. For freight which is timed some- what slower but which requires more boiler power than can be obtained with a “ Consolidation,” the “ Mikado ” or 3-8-2 type engine is used. The name “ Mikado ” was given to this wheel arrangement because is was first used on a number of engines (No. 20) built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1895 for the Japan Railway. The type was first used on an American road in 1902, by an engine built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works for the Bismarck Washburn and Great Falls Railroad. Recent examples of the type follow. Fig. 4, No. 21, for the Southern Pacific, has over 5,500 square feet of heating surface. Fig. 5, No. 22, for the B. and O., uses the same boiler and cylinders as the “ Pacific ” type engine for the same road, so that the two classes can be kept in repair with the minimum of reserve parts. Fig. 6, No. 23, is an engine for the Great Northern Railway of America, and is equipped with an “ Emerson ’” superheater. This engine is reported to haul the following trains :- Grade 0. 3% (I in 330) train 6,700 tons. Grade 0. 4% (I in 250) train 3,600 tons. Grade 0. 6% (I in 167) train 3,300 tons. Grade 0. 7% (I in 140) train 2,200 tons.

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In passing from the " Mikado " to the " Mallet " locomotives the Santa FC type, Fig. ?, No. 24, should be noticed. The first of these engines was built by the Bald- win Locomotive Works in 1903 for the Atchison Topeka and Santa F& Railway, whence the name. This engine, which is driven by tandem compound cylinders, has five coupled axles. This yepresents the last practicable step in increasing the adhesion weight by increasing the number of driving axles in a rigid frame. The rigid wheel base is 19 feet g inches, and while six coupled axles have been used in Ailstria, five axles appear to be the limit where curves are encountered to any extent. If the hauling power is to be employed it appears desirable to use an artkulated engine.

The first " Mallet '' articulated locomotive for use in the United States was the engine shown in Fig. 8, No. 25, built in 1903 by the American Locomotive Company for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Since this date the " Mal- let" engine has taken an important position in American practice. The more modern engines have in the majority of cases two-wheeled trucks front and back. You doubtless understand that the rear group of wheels driven by the high pressure cylinders are carried in a frame which is attached rigid9 to the boiler, while the front group of wheels driven by the low pressure cylinders are carried in a frame which is hinged at its rear to the front of the rear frame and is free to swing laterally under the boiler. This necessitates a flexible steam pipe from the high to the low pressure cylinders and flexible exhaust pipes from the low pressure cylinders to the smoke box. Fig. 9, No. 26, shows a 2-5-8-2 type " Mallet " for the Southern Pacific Raiiway Co. In this engine, as in the majority of the large " Mallets," the hoiler is separable just ahead of the high pressure cylinders, and the front section is arranged as a feed water heater. The feed water heater is kept entirely full without any steam space above the water. Water is admitted at the sides and taken out from the top, the pipe leading from the feed water heater to the boiler proper being seen between the bell and the dome. Fig. 10 shows an end view of a similar engine, and Figs. II and 12, the two sections. Fig. II is the rear section with the high pressure cylinders and the boiler to which they are rigidly attached, while Fig. 12 is the front section with the feed water heater resting on the frame which carries the low pressure cylinders. Fig: 13 shows an oil burning engine having the same dinlensions as the

Downloaded from jil.sagepub.com at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on June 4, 2016 The Development of American Z - ~ ~~ - Number Cylinder Xam and Name Diameter of Boiler Year Railway. and lriv'rt 'ressurc NO. Class hilt. or of Number. Stroke. :ylinder. Lbs. - Inches. * sq. in. 1 2-2-0 2 S.E. 1829 Rocket S. & D. 8 X 1st 569 - 2 2-2-0 2 S.E. 1831 Planet - 11 X 16 60 - 3 2-2-0 2 S.E. 1832 Id Ironside P. G. N. R. R. 99 X 18 54 - 4 2-8-0 2 S.E. 1866 msolidatio L. V. R. R. 20 X 24 48 - 5 4-4-0 2 S.E. 1870 - - 16 X 24 602 130 6 4-4-0 4 Comp. 1889 848 B. & 0. R. R. 1:; X 24 ti6 200 7 4-4-2 2 S.E. 1895 - A. C. L. 19 X 24 $2 180 8 4-4-2 4 Comp. 1896 1027 A. C. R. R. 1;; x 26 842 200 9 2-8-0 4 Comp.

Downloaded from jil.sagepub.com at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on June 4, 2016 Weight of locomotive in Heating surface. Load se! ce. >rate Per area. 'pled Remarks. Total loco. On drivers. Boiler. Supht. axle.

lbs. lbs. sq. ft. sq. ft. -,q. ft __tons. 10,080 - - - - - 23,000 14,500 400 - 6.7 6.5 11,200 7,000 218 - - 3.1 First Baldwin Locomotive. 90,Ooo 80,000 -- - 15.5 9.0 First Consolidation. 65,000 42,000 825 - - 9.4 105,500 71,EOO 1,689 -- 25.3 16 First Vauclain Compound. 129,800 73,000 2,047 - 26 16.3 First Atlantic. 143,000 79,000 1,855 - 76 17.6 Vauclain Compound. 198,700 177,200 3,330 - 35.0 19.8 Vauclain Compound. 177,500 92,500 3,182 - 46.7 20.1 Vauclain Compound. 12,000 12,000 90 - 3.5 2.7 Japan. 59,000 41,000 460 - 9.0 6.1 Rack Loco for Mexico. 43,500 32,000 339 - 7.2 4.7 Norway. 98,730 64,530 1,673 - 40 9.6 First Pacific Locomotiqe. 263,800 166,200 5,017 - 70 24.8 230,850 134,350 3,392 1,202 49.5 20.0 Ssnta Fe Buperheater. 269,000 172,000 4,018 897 59.8 25.6 Schmidt Superheater. 267,000 168,300 3,770 1,013 56.5 25.0 Schmidt Superheater. 330,000 239,000 4,132 845 66.7 26.7 Schmidt Superheater.

119,600 96,400 2,216 - 30 10.7 First " Mikado " Locomotive. 262,000 201,500 5,527 - 70 23.0 274,600 219,000 5,017 - 70 24 28'7,000 220,000 4,720 1,060 78.2 24 Emerson Superheater.

287,240 234,580 4,796 - 58.5 21 First " Santa Fe " Type Loco. 334,500 334,500 5,600 - 72 24.9 First Mallet in America. Loco fitted with reheater and 437,000 394,700 6,393 Reghg;terl 68.4 22.0 [ feed water heater. Emerson superheater. Re- 378,300 359,600 5,040 480 78 22.9 [ built loco. 874 Santa Fe superheater and 616,000 550,000 6,557 .,466RH] 81.9 24.5 [ reheater. 1 Double ball jointed flexibleboiler 392,500 317,300 5,503 370 52.5 23.6 -- 719 RH J - Ssnta Fe superheater & reheater

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preceding but arranged to run cab first to relieve the crew of the inconvenience of smoke in tunnels. The economies obtained by the use of “ Mallet ” locomotives have led many roads to convert existing consolidations to “ Mallets.” Fig. 14 shows an example of this transformation carried out by the Great Northern. The rear portion, four driving axles, cylinders and boiler was a “ Consolidation.” The front truck has been removed and a feed water heater section added to the boiler and carried on a 2-6-0 group of wheels driven by new low pressure cylinders. A still more ambitious combination is shown in Fig. 15, NO. 28. This engine was built up by the Atchison Topeka and Santa FP out of two of the Santa FC type engines previously shown. Of the 24 wheels, 20 are driven. The weight of the engine alone is 275 tons, of which 245 tons is on drivers. The forward section of the boiler, as shown by Fig. 16, contains feed water heater, superheater, and reheater for the steam between the high and low pressure cylinders. The Atchison Topeka and Santa FP. is also responsible for the interesting locomoti~-eshown in Fig. 17 in which a flexible joint made on the accordion principle is placed between the two sections of the boiler. This enables both front and back portions of the boiler to be rigidly fastened to their respective frames, thus avoiding excessive over- hang on sharp curves. In concluding this paper I am conscious of how much I have had to leave out of it. One thing that I should have liked to have dealt with is the reciprocal influence between British and American locomotive practice. That is, however, another story and a long one. All I can say is that from the earliest days there has been a keen rivalry between the two countries, and at the same time a con- tinuous interchange of men and ideas. As this interchange has undoubtedly stimulated the development of locomotive practice in both countries in the past it is to be hoped that it may continue in the future.

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DISCUSSION.

Mr. Garratt opened the discussion by saying that we in Great Britain were very much indebted, no doubt, in designing locomotives, to the very go-aheadedness of our friends on the other side of the Atlantic. There they cer- tainly had more opportunities for developing their locomotives ; for this reason-that their loading gauge was larger than ours. He thought they could go to about 15’ 6” in height. Here we were tied down to a good deal less than that, and were also tied to width, which limited us a great deal. There was one thing we could do ; we could not go any further upwards or sideways, but we could go end- ways, and that would enable us to still hold our own in the competition between ourselves in this country or the Continent and the United States locomotive builders. There was plenty of length on a railway, and as long as you could get round your curves and could make a machine which would pass over them with ease, you had the opportunity of designing a locomotive engine of practically any power you required with well-distributed weight on the axles and over the road. That was quite possible and, in fact, it had been don& He was personally trying to do something in that direction and was doing it. He wished things were a little further ahead, as if they had been he could show them something also. However, they all learned something from each other, and American locomotive practice was very interesting. Tile American design with open frames, bar frames, etc., gave easy access to all the working parts, and on foreign railways, where you had not the engine pits that you had here, this was a very great thing, because it would assist the driver to look after his machine with regard to lubri- cation, etc. Mr. Hulme said it was the first time he had had the pleasure of being at one of the meetings of the Institu- tion, and there was no doubt that he had enjoyed the remarks of Mr. Fry and the splendid slides he had brought. With the extensive runs they had to make in America, large locomotives, which were not required with our shorter runs, were necessary. He thought they were doing some remarkably, good work here with the “ Atlantic ” type engines, and with such engines fitted with superheaters, one of which was now running on the G.C.R., and another was now being turned out of the works. The “ Atlantics” were

Downloaded from jil.sagepub.com at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on June 4, 2016 IS LAIVFORD H. FRY ON THE doing some remarkably fine work between London and Manchester, hauling cars about equal to 22 and 24 cars between these places quite to time, and running at some parts of the journey at 70 to 74 miles per hour. It was bery rarely they had any delays through the locomotive and, with superheating, they were expecting to do even better than this. He did not think we should ever get double engines the same as they had in America, but we could go that way as the Chairman had said. Being fixed to 13’ 3” in height, and 9‘ 3” in width, we could not expect to get any extraordinarily wide engines, but it might be possible to do something with regard to the fire-boxes. The Americans were going in very extensively for the small, carrying wheel and widened fire-boxes, which he understood was done some years ago on the Great Eastern, but all the fire- boxes on the G.C.R. mere within the frames, though it might be possible to go on these lines and get a wider fire- box and greater heating surface. They had obtained, a few years ago, some twelve engines from America. No repeat order had been issued though the engines had done some fine work. With regard to the cylinders fitted to these engines-he thought he was right in saying that it was a matter of ten years since they were built-there had been two scrapped already, but the same valves were in the cylinders when scrapped as were in when the engines w-ere received from the States. That spoke very well for American work with respect to cylin- .ders and valves, although he had running that day engines which were fitted with bronze balanced valves and had run about 90,000 miles with not more than 1/16’’taken off the valves. The cast-iron slide valves of Baldwin’s, however, were the finest valves he had ever seen. He could not explain why the G.C.R. had not had any more engines from America. They built their own and were satisfied with their own make. When they had got the superheater in the “ Atlantic” type for passenger work, they were expecting to make some remarkably good performances. In England we had not the distances to travel as was the ease in the States, and that probably accounted for our not expanding, although during the last ten years extraordi- nary strides had been made in the way of express passenger engines. They had already 4-4-0 type with piston valves and had had various types till they had got the 2-8-2 fitted with Mr. Robinson’s system of superheating, which was doing some remarkably fine work. He thought these en-

Downloaded from jil.sagepub.com at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on June 4, 2016 DEVELOPJIBST OF AMERICAK LOCOMOTIVE PRACTICE. 19 gines were doing equal to anything that was being done in this country in the mineral line, and the " Atlantic" passenger engines were also working very heavy trains single-handed. Mr. Garratt enquired as to the coal consumption both with the mineral and passenger engines, and Mr. Hulme replied that there was no comparison with the Xmericms. The suburban superheater engines which were running 300 miles per day mith two sets of men were burning about 32-34 lbs. per mile, and the " Atlantic " passenger engines came out at about the same rate. He thought that he mas perfectly safe in quoting that from memory. The suburban engines in the London district were doing some extraordinarily fine work as between going out and coming into shops. They had several engines that had run about 130,000 to 160,000 miles just returned to Manches ter. Mr. Garratt said that a good many years ago he had something to do with some American engines and he did not like the boiler work. He hoped the Americans had improved it. In our English boiler practice, when you put a fitting on to a boiler you put a nice little pad on the boiler and made a solid job of it, but some years ago the Americans used to screw steam pipes, water gauge fittings and things into the boiler plates. He presumed that practice was altering. Mr. Fry said that it was to a certain extent. Mr. Garratt, continuing, said that in those days, when he was Locomotive Superintendent on a railway in Cuba, he was scared of American boiler fittings, although, in fact, many of the engines had been running a good many years, and a good many of them had been through the Spanish-American War. If you happened to fall against one of the fittings it was a near thing whether you broke it off or not. Mr. Hulme asked Mr. Fry what results were obtained with steel cylinders. The practice was cast-iron on the Great Central. Mr. Fry replied that there was one experimental engine. It Lvas quite a new thing in the States. The cylinder, of course, had a cast-iron bushing. The body only of the cylinder was cast steel.

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Mr. Hulme remarked that with a cast-iron bushing it would, of course, be equal to a cast-iron cylinder as regards friction. IMr. Price asked if he was right in understanding Mr. Fry to say that in the case of the locomotives where the grate had a greater length than nine or ten feet, there was a mechanical system of stoking, and if so, could Mr. Fry gi\e them any idea as to what this arrangement was Ike. Mr. Burtt said there were one or two questions he should like to put to Mr. Fry, and they were with regard io some of the details of American practice. One very important feature was the frames-the bar frames. Americans seemed to be very fond of them, and he did not quite understand why they stuck to them so much. He believed there were a few engines in America with plate frames. It appeared to him that the bar frame must be excessively rigid and must have a great tendency to fracture, as he thought the section for these was about 6' x 4". Another important point was the steel fire-boxes. He should like Mr. Fry to tell them if there was much copper used. He (Mr. Burtt) thought the fire-boxes were practically all of steel. Another very strong feature was the outside cylinders. He did not wppose there was one engine in a thousand built in America with inside cylinders. Of course, that had been a \-ery debated question in this country but, as they were all aware, the inside cylinder engine was practically the standard here. Another thing very common with American engines was that when they had the carrying wheel it wa- so ex- ceptionally small. He should have thought, considering its small diameter, that there was a very great tendency for it to get hot in running some of the fast trains. Another point characteristically American was the cone fire-boxes. Practically every engine one saw in America now or in the past had a cone fire-box similar to what the Great Western-who were the only people who had gone in for them in this country-were using. There was no doubt that It had got its advantages, but he thought it was a very expensive boiler to make. He should like Mr. Fry to tell them something about the compounding. He believed that practically all the compound engines in America were on the " l'auclain "

Downloaded from jil.sagepub.com at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on June 4, 2016 DEVELOPMEST OF AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVE PR.4CTICE. 2 I principle. They evidently must have had greater success in America with compounding than we had had here. He thought every one was prepared to admit that the compound engine was proving a failure in this country. Another thing was the “ Belpaire ” fire-box ; he believed there were a few engines built in America with these fire-boxes, but that it was not the practice. It was very common on the Continent, but one did not see much of it in the States. He should also like Mr. Fry to tell them if there was any reason why the water pick-up was not used in Am- erica. It seenied that they were using huge tanks with 9,oov gallons capacity.

Mr. Fry : “ Ten thousand gallons.” Mr. Burtt, continuing, said that that made matters worse . There was another point of interest, and that was the tandem compound. He believed this was tried some 20 years ago on the North British, and he thought it had proved a failure. He was also of the opinion that the Great IVestern built an engine on the tandem principle, but that it was not continued. He should also like Mr. Fry to tell them about the boiler pressures. Cast-steel cylinders ; he should like to know what the pistons were made of-brass or cast-iron. Could Mr. Fry tell them the difference between the “ Vauclain ” principle of compounding and the ordinary compounding. Mr. Hulrne said that the batch of engines made in the States for the Great Central Railway had copper fire- boxes. This line was experimenting with steel tubeplates -fire-boxes of copper except for the tubeplate, and they had had very good results. Mr. Garratt asked what practice was observed with regard to washing out-hot or cold. Mr. Hulme replied that they had not a hot water in- stallation, but had two Gresham’s injectors fitted to two hydrants with a steam pipe to the stationary boiler.

Mr. Garrrtt: “ Your water comes in at a fairly high temperature. ”

Mr. Hulme: “ It is fairly hot. About go degrees.”

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Mr. Burtt said with reference to the steel fire-boxes that a ccrtain railway he knew of at the present time were going to try steel lire-boxes, in fact some steel fire-boxes had been ordered from America to be fitted into an engine to compete nith copper. blr. Solomon asked whether steel fire-boxes mere not used on the North Western at one time by the late Mr. Webb. Mr. Burtt: ‘‘ Yes, that nas so.” Mr. Garratt, with regard to the material fireboxes were made of, said he should like to make one remark. If you had got engines abroad where skilled labour was difficult to obtain steel fire-boxes were apt to become very troublesome. You could not patch steel, but you could do anything with copper. You cpuld get a “second-hand ” workman to patch a copper fire-box, which, of course, he could not do with a steel one. He therefore thought that a copper fire-box was a very useful proposition, especially as he had been in countries where skilled labour was scarce. Mr. Hulme said he supposed that the general practice in the States was all steel tubes-not many copper.

Mr. Fry replied “ Steel or iron.” Mr. Hulme said that the general practice on the G.C.R. now was steel, and they were getting good results. Mr. Gartatt asked Mr. 1;ry a question with regard to axle loads. He thought in the States the axle loads on a good many of the principal lines were very much in excess of what we could go to here. He thought they ran up to 35-26 tms. !Mr. Fry replied that the maximum was 25 tons 12 cwts. per axle. 22-24 tons were quite common practice nowadays. Mr. Garratt said that, of course, we could not go so far as that here. He did not know whether any of them were acquainted with the design of the locomotive he had got out. He got this design out with the view of dis- tributing the axle load, because our rails, bridges and so forth kept us down to, taking it all round, 16& tons per axle, although the late Mr. Stirling had about 20 tons on his 8’ 6” single-wheelers on the Great Northern. The only thing under these circumstances was to increase the number of axies and distribute the weight, and that was why he thought out his type of engine. You could distribute the

Downloaded from jil.sagepub.com at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on June 4, 2016 DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVE PRACTICE. 23 weight over as many of the axles and as great a distance as you liked. In the “ Mallet,” which was a very pretty machine, and very concentrated, you had got the weight very much together, and if you had a bad road and a lot of bridges, this weight was very difficult to handle, but if you could distribute the weight, you had got over the difficulty. Mr. 6. James Wells said he had been very interested, but was a little disappointed because Mr. Fry had had no tribute paid to him for the work he had done in the way he had advanced the subject. He (the speaker) had worked personally at one or two of Mr. Fry’s papers, and felt that whatever had been done on this side of the Atlantic, we owed a very great deal to what had been done on the other side. He should like Mr. Fry to tell him one of the reasons why the brick arch was so little used in the States. He thought some jo per cent. of the locomotives had no arch in the boxes. He knew we were not always correctly informed, but he was under the impression that the firebrick arch was rather an exception than the rule. Mr. Fry said the brick arch was used on a large number of American engines. Mr. Wells said that Mr. Fry had spoken about the difficulty of firing large boxes. He could sympathise with the firemen very much, for on one particular occasion he had had the task of putting 39 tons of coal through a very small hole into a fire-box, and that task was spread over three hours. There was one other question about the balanced compound. He noticed in the illustrations shown that all four cylinders took hold of one axle. Would it not be better practice to have two cylinders on one axle and two cylinders on another ? It seemed to him that with all the cranks on one axle, there was a risk owing to the rolling of the locomotive of throwing an exceptional amount of stress through on the other end of the axle, which seemed an objectionable matter. One other thing he noticed was quite new, and that was lengthening the locomotive. He had heard of a steamer being taken into dock, cut in half, and 40, 50 or 100 feet or so put in, but he had never before heard of a locomotive being lengthened. Some might have seen the type of carriage used on the Great Northern where some of the older type of coaches had been put on three bogies.

Downloaded from jil.sagepub.com at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on June 4, 2016 Mr. Taylerson asked, with reference to the feed water beater, whether there were any particular makes and if they had been in use a great number of years. In the long type of boiler with superheater and feed water heater for the steam returning from the compounding, how did they get to the superheater in case the tubes leaked ? He should also like to know the temperature of the water entering the boiler after leaving the feed water heater, and also whether the number of degrees on leaving the chimney was less on engines with superheater than without the superheater. Mr. Solomon said he was very interested in Mr. Fry’s slides, and he noticed that there was one type of locomotive which appeared rather interesting, and that was the single driver type which was built, he believed, for the Philadel- phia Reading Railway some years ago. He should have liked to have heard whether that type was ever perpetuated or was simply experimental. He thought it was rather a pretty engine from what he remembered of it. It was a 4-2-2 engine which, he believed, had the cab in the centre of the boiler.

Mr. Fry said this was very similar to the “ Atlantic ” type, but the train loads were too heavy for it ; it did not get enough foothold. Mr. Solomon said he imagined that to be the case. It seemed rather an interesting experimental design. Mr. Taylerson asked if Mr. Fry could tell them on what date the Westinghouse Brake was first used on locomotives. Mr. Fry was then asked by the Chairman to reply to the discussion. Mr. Fry said he had enough questions to answer to furnish him with the subject matter for another paper at least, but he would deal with them as quickly as he could. In the first place, with regard to boiler fittings, the point raised by Mr. Garratt ; there were at present at work in the United States somewhere about 60,000 locomotives, and a very large proportion of these had the boiler fittings screwed into the boiler. They were not giving trouble at all. In some cases at present, there was a tendency to use flanges to fasten the fittings to the boiler for convenience in renewals, not from any trouble in blowing out of the fittings.

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With regard to the quality of the boiler work ; the last locomotives he had anything to do with the erection of were 20 for the Paris-Orleans. These engines were built in the States, shipped to and re-erected in France, about six years ago. These all went into service without any caulking being necessary on the boilers. With regard to the mechanical stokers ; there were eight types under trial in the States at present. Apparently the most successful was the " Crawford " stoker, which was being developed on the Pennsylvania Lines west of Pittsburg, under the direction of Mr. D. F. Crawford. In this, the coal was taken from the tender into a crusher, transported by a conveyer from the tender to the locomotive and forced up under the fire. There was a cast-iron trough running down the centre of the fire-box, and the coal was forced up through the bottom of the fire. The tests made showed excellent results, and it was said that the boiler pressure was kept so level that anybody riding on the engine for the first time thought the gauge had got out of order. There was absolutely no variation. Other types of stokers were giving good results when they worked. They scattered the coal through an opening under the fire- door. Undoubtedly, before long, one or more types would have established itself in American practice. With regard to the temperature of the water coming out of the feed water heater ; the temperature was brought about to the temperature corresponding to the steam pressure. Single driving axle ; it was as he (the speaker) had previously stated-the train loads became too heavy and the engine did not have enough adhesion ; " the type died early from lack of adhesion " as he had heard it said. With regard to Mr. Burtt's question regarding bar frames ; there was a certain amount of conservatism in the use of the bar frame. The first American engine had a wooden bar frame, That was replaced in a very short time by an iron har. In the early days they must remember that in America the iron industry had not reached the point it had in England. It was difficult to get plates that would serve as locomotive frames, whereas bars 12" square could be worked up by any smith. The bar frames were introduced to meet the conditions of manufacture which existed there. They had since been developed and were now made generally of cast-steel. The Committee of American Master Mechanics had studied the question, and reported that

Downloaded from jil.sagepub.com at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on June 4, 2016 breakages with bar frames did not appear to be greater than breakages with plate frames. One road using plate frames reported 10per cent. of frames broken each year. Steel Fire-5oxes.-Apparently, they justified their ex- istence by giving good service. So far as he could find out steel fire-boxes and copper fire-boxes in the same service gave approximately the same ton mileage. He had seen steel fire-boxes which had had to be renewed at the end of about nine months owing to extremely bad water, and others which had been in service for 30 years. Oulside Cylinders.-Apparently, the outside cylinder was able to live on the American roads in the early days because counter-balancing was introduced. In England counter-balancing was not introduced so early as in America, and an outside cylinder engine without counter- balancing ran too irregularly. At present, in America, they were using cylinders up to 29” in diameter. There was not much room for two 29“ cylinders inside the frames, and the crank axle for cylinders of this size attained in- conveniently large dimensions. The coned boiler; that was really done to cut down the weight on the truck wheels. One had a certain given diameter at the fire-box and did not want to throw .more weight than was necessary on the carrying wheels in front ; therefore, you coned down your boiler. It did not add much to the cost of the boiler. It was largely a question of equipment for manufacture. With regard to the compounding ; compounding was an interesting question. As he had said something like 3,000 sets of “ Vauclain ” cylinders were applied, but at present most of the engines thus equipped had been retired ftom service. The Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Rail- way used “ Vauclain ” compounds, but most of the other roads had gone back to single expansion except where they were using the balanced compound. In respect to the balanced compound, both types of couplings had been used. If one coupled all four cylinders to one axle the stresses on that axle were increased, but the engine could be balanced more easily. If one coupled to two axles, one had to trans- mit some of the balance effect through the side rods. There did not in practice seem to be much to choose between the two. It was largely governed by convenience in arranging the cylinders and rods.

I‘ Belpaire ’’ fire-box ; they built a good many of these. The Pennsylvania Railroad had adopted the ‘I Belpaire ”

Downloaded from jil.sagepub.com at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on June 4, 2016 DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVE PRACTICE. 27 fire-box for standard. He could not think of any other American road that used it as standard, but for export work they built a considerable number. They had built a great many copper fire-boxes for export work, but there were no copper fire-boxes in use in the States. The water pick-up; that varied a good deal. On the Eastern roads, which approached more nearly to the English conditions, one found the water pick-up. The Pennsylvania used it quite considerably. On the Western roads, running 2,000 miles across the Continent, and running hundi-eds of miles without coming to important stations, it was not necessary. It paid better to carry water in the tender than to put in the troughs and keep men in attendance. Usual boiler pressure ; with respect to the boiler pressure nowadays, he had prepared a table giving the dimensions of the engines he had shown them, and they would find that the boiler pressure ran usually from 180 to 225 lbs. per square inch. With the advent of the superheater, there was an effort being made to reduce boiler pressures, and probably 200 Ibs. per square inch was the best all-round pressure for obtaining efficiency and still keeping boiler repairs down to reasonable figures. Westinghouse brake; he was afraid he did not know exactly the date when that was introduced. Mr. Garratt, in moving a vote of thanks to Mr. Fry, said he would like to add that locomotive work was capable of being talked about for a long time, and the more they talked about it, probably the more they would learn. Per- haps, sometimes, there might be a little bit of feeling between American and English locomotive men, but that did not matter-the locomotive went on just the same. Mr. Bennett said he had great pleasure in seconding the vote of thanks to the author for his most interesting paper he had presented to the Institution. Mr. Fry briefly replied to the vote of thanks extended to him.

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Fig. 3.

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Fig. 8.

Fig. 9. 3

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I Fig. rb.

Fig. 17.

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