The Key Article
The article opens with an introductory historical summary which describes the use of railways or tramways before the invention of the steam locomotive in mining districts in England (just as in the article Mauch Chunk, Vol. 17, p. 903, early mine transportation in America is described) and the way in which their use induced the development of high speed locomotives and how the first American trans-continental railroads were built. The student will find next a section of general statistics of railway mileage for the world, with a summary of American railway building, especially in the Far West since 1896. The following section is on economics and legislation in general, followed by separate treatment of British railway legislation and of American railway legislation. The great problem of government control and operation of railways as practised in various European countries is also discussed and is of interest in connection with contemporary American tendencies. The safety of railway transportation is treated in a section containing in compact form the most valuable classified statistics. A section on Financial Organization compares American and British conditions in a most illuminating way.
Of even greater importance to the technical student are the remaining sections of this great article, namely:
(1) Construction, with subsections on Location, Cuttings and Embankments, Gradients, Curves, Gauge, Permanent Way (including ballast, ties, fish-plates and other rail joints, and rails), Bridges, Rack (or cog) Railways, Cable Railways, Mono-Rail Systems, Switches and Cross-overs, Railway Stations (for passengers and for freight), Round Houses for Locomotives, and Switching Yards. This treatise on construction is equivalent to 22 pages of the type and size of this Guide, and is in itself an adequate brief manual for the use of the construction engineer, with valuable illustrations in the text.
(2) Locomotive Power, including subsections on Fundamental Relations, Methods of Applying Locomotive Power, General Locomotive Efficiency, Analysis of Train Resistance, Vehicle Resistance, Engine Resistance, Maximum Boiler Power, Draught, The Steam Engine, Tractive Force, Engine Efficiency, Piston Speed, Compound Locomotives, Balancing of Locomotives, Classes of Locomotives, Current Developments. This section of the article is a little longer than the preceding,—it would fill 25 pages of this Guide,—and has illustrations, tables, and formulae. It is written by Prof. Dalby, the principal British authority on locomotives.
(3) Rolling Stock, dealing with dining, sleeping, passenger and vestibule cars, wood and metal, their heating and lighting and their weight and speed; with freight cars, their weight and speed; and with car-couplers and brakes.
(4) Intra-Urban, or city street railways, elevated and underground, by W. B. Parsons, formerly chief engineer of the New York Rapid Transit Commission.
(5) Light Railways for rural and interurban service and portable railways.
Other Major Articles
The next article to be read is Tramway (Vol. 27, p. 159), dealing with the earliest railways used in coal mines, American and English, without locomotive power; and with modern street railways,—surface lines, steam, cable and electric, the last being subdivided into three classes, overhead or trolley, open conduit and closed conduit. The different types of street cars are discussed, and there are summaries of legislation and of commercial results, with general statistics.