They

these track brakes, that is the very time they won't work. are all right on a dry rail and in dry weather; but when it comes to an icy track, they act just like a toboggan for the car to run down the hill on. In braking a train the most effective plan that we have found is to use an automatic brake for braking the coach, and an independent brake for braking the grip-car; that is, we do not brake the grip-car and the coach combined. The automatic brake, for braking the grip-car and the coach together, is very powerful; and unless handled very carefully will subject the train to very sudden stops. Now, for ordinary purposes-and it is of material benefit to the coach also-we have found that to use the brake on the grip-car alone will stop the train very effectively, and the automatic brake is used only when it is absolutely necessary. I think it would be very desirable for gentlemen running cable lines, especially with grades, to have a sand-box that would be reliable. There are any number of sand-boxes in use, but they are very unreliable; the only reliable one that I have found so far is a man with a bucket in his hand sprinkling the sand on the track.

The President: If Mr. Longstreet is in the room, he will excuse me for calling upon him. I think he can give the Convention some information in regard to a contrivance of which he knows. Mr. Longstreet was not present.

REMARKS OF MR. F. E. KING RELATIVE TO SANDING RAILS.

Mr. King, of Springfield, Mass: I might say, as it is a matter of interest, particularly to gentlemen representing small roads and heavy grades, that I am one of the representatives of a road of eighteen miles of track, six different lines, and on no line have we a grade less than five feet to the hundred, and extending for fifteen hundred or two thousand feet; and we have a grade of one thousand feet, nine feet to the hundred, with a curve at both the top and bottom of the hill. You may have seen a report of an accident in Springfield. I am the Superintendent of the road there. I appreciate the remarks of Mr. Lawless in regard to sand boxes. It is better to have a man to put on the sand. But, as we all know, sand under certain conditions of weather is almost useless, unless you put some salt with it. It is necessary to use salt to cut the ice; you have got to use the salt in conjunction with the sand to get the benefit of the sand. The conditions under which the

accident occurred were these: As many of you know at this season of the year we are not safe without the use of sand. We have to depend very much on sand on the grades at this season of the year; for just now large numbers of leaves fall upon the rails. For the last few weeks leaves have been falling upon the rails, and the car wheels pass over and smash these leaves; and they thus form a sort of vegetable lubricant, which, on a drizzly day, makes a slime which is almost as bad as oil. It was under such a condition of things that this accident occurred. A car on the thousand foot grade, with a curve at the top and bottom, had reached nearly the centre of the hill and passed under an oak tree, from which a number of leaves had fallen. The driver had complied with his instructions and had brought the car to a dead stop at the top of the hill. This we insist on; that the driver before descending the hill shall bring the car to a dead stop. Having reached nearly the center of the hill on the down grade, walking every step-also in compliance with the instructions-he reached the oak tree and the car immediately shot ahead, and evidently was beyond the control of the driver. In accordance with his instructions he kept the horses before the car with the view, if absolutely necessary, of throwing them and stopping the car and thus saving the passengers. The car went clear to the foot of the hill and around the curve and remained on the track. One of the horses fell down, and he fell outside of the track, instead of falling in front of the car; and, of course, that pulled the other horse around and the car in passing by was pulled from the track and turned on its side. Several passengers were injured. It is our policy to settle upon some basis which we may agree upon, and have succeeded in doing so in all but two cases. The point is this, that as a precautionary measure, in the month of September, before the leaves begin to fall, we supply all our cars with sand in pails placed in the car. I appreciate the remarks of Mr. Lawless, because while the sand box may be in perfect condition in dry weather, yet when the weather is damp, just as under these circumstances when you cannot dry your sand, you cannot depend upon it. It is all right for a few weeks, before you get really cold weather; but when the weather is cold and the rails are covered with ice you need salt in your sand; and the minute you have cold weather and put salt in your sand, which acts in producing a moisture in the sand, your sand won't

run. We have to depend on our men; the judgment of the driver. If the track needs sand he is supposed to see that it is put on before he attempts to descend.

REMARKS OF MR. JAMES H. SMALL CONCERNING DEVICES FOR STOPPING CARS ON GRADES.

Mr. Small, of Jersey City: I have had some experience in regard to hill work, and am occupied upon the same at the present time; and perhaps I can make some suggestions that may be of use. A number of years ago I was connected with a road in Glasgow, Scotland, where they have very steep grades and very slippery tracks at certain seasons of the year. We made it a rule that every car should be supplied with a sand box at the face end of the car, hung to the dashboard, and that each one of these boxes should be filled with sand every morning before the car went out. It was the duty of the foreman of the yard to see that they were filled, and no car allowed to go out without having its box full of sand. If the sand was used up during the day, the driver was required to have the box filled again, there being a pile of sand in the depot yard all the time; good, sharp sand for this purpose; and the result was that the cars were comparatively safe going down hill, so long as nothing gave way connected with the brakes, a nut come off, chain or rod break; or something of that kind. In that case, we were entirely lost.

I find now that there is no trouble at all coming down grades of six and seven per cent. We have a grade on my road of about one hundred feet rise in probably twelve hundred feet distance; and for a number of years we have had a man go out every morning, before the first car went over the road, a man specially detailed for that purpose, to salt and sand the track; and then we keep boys on the hill, who continually sand these tracks as occasion may require. We find little difficulty in checking the speed of the cars on that grade, so long as the tracks are properly sanded and salted; but the trouble is very frequently that something gives way about the brake. There have been a number of accidents of this character; sometimes a nut comes off or a chain or rod breaks." I have had a car that was taken into the shop and completely overhauled, and on the first trip it made after coming out of the shop it ran away on the hill. When half way down a nut came off, and the car went down to the foot of the hill. This accident

cost four or five hundred dollars for damages; it might have cost as many thousands. I have been studying to see how I could make it so that a car could not, under any circumstances, get away on the hill. I put a skidding device into operation last winter, attaching an iron shoe to chains and attaching these chains to the sill of the car in front of the wheel; and they are hung on a joint or rod, bent to the point; and by simply turning that rod, the skid drops on the rail, and the wheel runs up against it, and stops the car dead. I found, in several instances, that this device worked splendidly. I was not entirely satisfied with it, because in bringing the car up so suddenly, it is very apt to break a chain or split the timber, and then, of course, you are entirely lost. Lately I have begun to work on this matter, and have put down a double rail in the centre of the tracks all the way up the hill. I put a shoe in the centre of the car, about midway between the axles, fastened to a piece of timber attached to the cross timbers of the car; and on the timber I put a lever, and at the end of the lever an iron shoe, and then I have a brake-shaft on the front end of the car operated in just the same manner as the ordinary brake. When the usual brakes give out, or when the track is so slippery that the car slides, the driver just puts on this extra brake; and then, if the ordinary brakes are in perfect condition, we have no trouble at all in stopping the car. This extra shoe on these centre rails will lift an ordinary car right off the track, if the brake is put on hard enough. I was on the hill the other day, and a nut came off one of the brake beams, and immediately, as soon as the driver found he could not hold the car with the ordinary brake, he put on the extra brake and brought the car to a dead stop. I think I have something now that is a pretty sure protection against cars going down the hill.

Mr. Wm. Richardson, of Brooklyn: Will Mr. Small state what weight it adds to the car?

Mr. Small: I do not think it adds fifty pounds to the weight of the car. We have not weighed it; but I assume it would not weigh over fifty pounds, and the expense is comparatively light. I do not think the cost would exceed ten dollars per car, if a number were to be fitted up.

REMARKS OF MR. F. E. KING RELATIVE TO A CAR

BRAKE DEVICE.

Mr. King: I failed to touch upon one point when I was speaking, and which accomplishes the same results as the apparatus just described. I found in Providence, after the accident I spoke of, that Mr. Longstreet, on the Union Railroad, had something in use, lately invented, which was said to be very good. The President of our road and myself went to Providence for the purpose of investigating it, and we found that what they had. which was the testimony of the gentlemen representing the road, and who used the device, was a very sure protection against accidents on grades, as they had found by experience, and we immediately ordered two sets for trial. Mr. Longstreet, if present, could give the names of the inventors, and other information, in case any of the gentlemen here should want to know about the machine. All our cars are equipped with a double set of brakes, each one in its construction and operation entirely independent of the other; one set on the outside, and the other on the inside of the wheels. Now we propose to put on this contrivance that has lately been invented, which also brings into action a shoe brake, if you choose to so call it, constructed with a rubber face, which is brought to bear on the head of the rail, and the manipulation of which enables you to get the benefit of the weight of your car on the same general principle as that referred to by the gentleman who spoke last. It is simple in its construction, and we believe it will meet all the requirements of the severest cases.

Mr. Love: I would like to hear from Mr. Sage. He made some suggestions as to different matters connected with horserailroading; and I want to know what he thinks about them. I hope he will give us his views on these matters.

REMARKS OF MR. HENRY W. SAGE ON MISCELLANEOUS STREET-RAILWAY SUBJECTS.

Mr. Sage, of Easton: I stated this morning very explicitly what I wanted to say. I have a few little things which I think we should talk about, so that we may understand matters applying directly to horse-railroads. What improvements are necessary; the best springs; the easiest running gear; the best manner for heating and lighting cars; which is the best rail, and in what