Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 192, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 August 1910 — NEW FREIGHT TYPE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

NEW FREIGHT TYPE

SOME GOOD POINTS OF THE RECENT MALLET LOCOMOTIVE. Has Two Sets of Engines, Each Complete in Itself—Modified From,. French De- - sign.

Dp to a few years ago the locomotive commonly used for freight serv-

ice In the United States and Canada was of a type known as the Consolidation. It had four driving axles and a leading twowheel truck to enable It to take curves more easily

and safely. It weighed In working order and not including the tender from HO to 125 tons and ha<f a tractive power of from 30,000 to 40,000 pounds. The period covering the last five years has seen the introduction updn our railways of a new type of locomotive, modified from that of a French designer, Mallet, and according to Moody’s Magazine it bids fair to become standard on lines of heavy traffic and staep grades. The Millet locomotive has an enormous boiler, mounted on two sets of engines, each with its own cylinders and driving wheels. Each engine is complete in ltsel'f and of approximately the Size and dimensions of a standard Consolidation. - v * It possesses two points of advantage, namely, its ease and flexibility In taking curves and its greater power. The former Is attained by arranging one set ofWngines with its frame hinged or pivoted so that it may adjust itself to the curvature of the track. The latter is obvious, since two engines are more powerful than one If enough steam is supplied for both.

Steam from the boiler enters the steam chests and does its work in one set of cylinders, and when exhausting from these does not puff out of the stack directly into the air, but passes through a pipe having a flexible joint into the steam chests of the second set of cylinders, finally passing through suitable exhaust passages to the smokestack and thus to the atmosphere. _ % -x One of the engines, the second one just mentioned that receives the exhaust steam from the first, or high pressure cylinders, is mounted on a frame that can turn or swivel independently' of the rest of the structure. The steam pipes leading to and from this set of cylinders are made with flexible joints in order to permit such motion. This Is the feature that makes It possible to operate such a long locomotive, since a rigid wheel base of from 50 to 60 feet is out of the question on a crooked road. The length being greater than that of a standard locomotive, is a draw rback, because turntables must be rebuilt to accommodate these new r monsters, as the engine alone is almost as long as an engine and tender together that w T ere standard many years ago. In addition to this, the men running them find that.it is difficult to get an unobstructed view of the track ahead on account of ttie great length of the boiler. This was the case in running through tunnels and snow sheds where the smoke and gases hang low and make seeing ahead a very uncertain matter with an ordinary locomotive. On those portions of the Southern Pacific where oil is used as locomotive fuel this difficulty is overcome by running the new Mallet compounds backward, so that the cab is at the head end In running, thus giving the engineer the best possible view in front of him. The tender is coupled tp the smokestack end of the engine, where the cow-catcher is usually placed, and the oil is piped from the tender to burners in the firebox. The tractive force of the Mallet locomotives varies from 70,000 to 106,000 pounds, equal to that of two Consolidations of the largest type. They have been built for eight of our railway systems, and in every instance have come up to the expectations of designers and traffic officials. They save the wages of one train crew-, they can be operated to produce one horse power on a smaller coal or oil consumption than the engines commonly used and even when used merely as helpers or pushers save the necessity of breaking trains into tw6 sections at the foot of a grade.