Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 March 1915 — NEW SWITCHING LOCOMOTIVE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

NEW SWITCHING LOCOMOTIVE

A 300 Horse-Power Gasoline Switching Locomotive. From the Scientific American.

MOTIVE POWER IS GASOLINE Switching Locomotive That Can Be Operated at Comparatively Small Expense. In some places it is considered a luxury to use a switching locomotive because of the expense of malntentance and the consumption of fuel, while the locomotive is not in service, says the Scientific American. Hence, unless there is enough work for the locomotive to do the 24 hours of the day the work of switching is done by the engines of freight trains. In order to provide a suitable locomotive for such conditions, in which there will be a minimum of expense for operation and no expense during the idle hours of the locomotive, a gasoline switching engine has been designed and is now in use at Matador, Texas. A photograph of this locomotive is shown herewith. It has a 30V horsepower engine and exercises a tractive effort of 12,000 pounds, at six miles per hour. The engiie is of six-cylin-der type, with cylinders 11 by 15 inches. The power transmission, which is pneumatically operated, is effected by means of a sprocket on the crankshaft connected by chain to a .sleeve working free on the rear driving axle and is then transferred under multiple disk friction-clutch to the forward driving axle, where, by an octaroon clutch, the power is either magnified by a series of gears to produce heavy tractive effort and high torque for starting processes, or is delivered direct to the driving wheels. Once the locomotive is in motion the gears are cut out, and it is operated by the direct connection.