Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 197, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 August 1916 — GIVES WARNING OF GALES [ARTICLE]

GIVES WARNING OF GALES

Method in Use on Irish Railroad to Prevent the Derailment of Trains by Wind. The derailment of railroad trains by wind is not an uncommon occurrence In the case of light, narrow-gauge railroads. Mr. R. ‘H. Curtis, writing In Symons’ Meteorological Magazine, tells how this danger has been virtually eliminated on one such line; viz., a stretch of 36 mlleg along the Atlantic coast of Ireland, forming part of the West Clare railroad. Probably there is no other line In the British isles exposed to such violent gales, and during a few years prior to 1909 as many as five “blow-offs” occurred, in which the carriages were completely smashed though there was fortunately no loss of life. In that year Mr. Curtis devised for the railroad a pressure-tube anemometer, with electrical apparatus for giving two warnings by ringing a bell In the stationmaster’s house at Qullty; the first when the velocity of the wind reached 65 miles an hour and the second when it reached 85 miles an hour. When the first warning is given, 2,400 pounds of movable ballast, kept for the purpose at every station, is placed on each vehicle of any train on the line at the first station It reaches. When the second signal is given, trains are stopped until the storm abates. Since the apparatus was Installed, in December, 1909, there has been only one storm-derailment, and this was due to deliberate disregard of the signals.— Scientific American.