Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 June 1894 — The Vestibuleas a Safety Device. [ARTICLE]

The Vestibuleas a Safety Device.

Closely related to the coupler is the -Vestibule, which within the last two years Las become so fashionable. The vestibule is not merely a luxury, but Las a certain value as a safety device. The full measure of this value has not yet been proved. Occasionally lives are lost, by passengers falling or being blown from the platforms of moving trains. Such accidents the vestibule will prevent, and further, it decreases the oscillation of the cars, and thus to some degree helps to prevent derailment. It is also some protection against- telescoping. A few months ago a coal train on a double track was derailed, and four cars were thrown across in front of a solid vestibule train of seven Pullman cars approaching on the other truck. The engine of the vestibuled train was completely wrecked. Even the sheet iron jacket was stripped off from it The engineer and fireman were instantly killed, but not another person on the train was injured. They escaped, partly bocause the cars were strong, and partly, doubtless, because tbe vestibules helped to keep the platforms on the same level and in line, and thus to prevent crushing of the ends of the cars, —H. G. Prout, in Scribner’s Magazine.