WHEEL-SLIPPING.
As the engine gets well on to the grade, and is exerting heavy tractive power, the wheels are liable to commence slipping; and it is very important that they should be prevented from doing so. An ounce of prevention is known to be worth a pound of cure; and it pays an engineer to assure himself that no drips from pump-glands, or feed-pipes, or cylinder-cocks, or from any other fountain, are dropping upon the rails ahead of the driving-wheels. There is no use telling an engineer of the decreased adhesion which the drivers exert on half-wet rails, from what they do on those that are clean and dry. Knowing the difference in this respect, every engineer should endeavor to prevent the wetting of the rails by leaks from his engine; for hundreds of engines get “laid down” on hills from slipping induced by this very cause.