By A. H. Smith, Vice-President of the N. Y. C. & H. R. R. Co.

In examining into the state of an art of such far-reaching importance and such diversified nature as that of transportation by rail, it seems necessary to acquaint ourselves with its beginnings and growth; to determine the elements upon which its development relies and the necessity which has invoked the various steps of improvement in the plant devoted to transportation and the art of employing and controlling it in the performance of a public service.

The lay observer will scarcely appreciate, in the absence of the actual analysis, that there exists so many branches of this subject, each branch of which, by itself, may be considered the object of a separate professional science and a distinct human industry.

EARLY RAILROAD HISTORY.

Railways had their origin in tramways laid over 200 years ago in the mineral districts of England, which conveyed coal to the sea. Animal motive power was used. By the discovery, in 1814, of the adhesion of a smooth wheel to a smooth rail, it became possible to consider the employment of the tractive power of a rolling locomotive, and for some time subsequent to this, to the trial trip of the "Rocket," in 1829, which may be described as the first successful steam locomotive, the experiments were along these lines.

While industrial railroads similar in character to the English existed in this country, the Baltimore & Ohio was the pioneer American railroad built for public use. On July 4, 1828, the first rail was laid by Charles Carroll, the only surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, and thirteen miles were opened for traffic in 1830. In the same year the West Point Foundry began building locomotives, producing the "De Witt Clinton," in 1831. It weighed three and one-half tons, and was built for the Mohawk & Hudson Railroad, the pioneer company of the present New York Central Lines, which had been chartered in 1826, four years before actual construction was begun.

The line was opened from Albany to Schenectady in 1831; to Utica in 1836, and to Buffalo in 1842. Connections to New York and Boston were built in rapid succession.

About this time, in Pennsylvania, the Columbia Railroad was built from Philadelphia to Columbia, on the Susquehanna River, forming the pioneer division of the present Pennsylvania System.

Several companies were chartered about the same time in Massachusetts.

Following the panic of 1837 there was little industrial development and a lull in railroad construction, but with 1850 begins the era of rapid extension and the welding of short connecting lines under single ownerships. The consolidation was vigorously objected to at first. Originally there were eleven companies owning and operating the line between Albany and Buffalo. Between Buffalo and Cleveland, changes of passengers and freight were made at Dunkirk and Erie. The latter change was made necessary by the difference in gauge; to the east six feet and to the west four feet ten inches. Plans for the consolidation of some of these lines made in 1853 entailed for through operation the change of the gauge east to conform to that west of Erie, to obviate transfer. This proposition so aroused the inhabitants of Erie that they resorted to violence. In December, 1853, they tore down the railroad bridge, no trains going through until February, 1854. This same bridge was rebuilt in 1855, but again torn down and burned by a mob. Finally a compromise ended what is known as the Erie War and the gauge was changed, from which time dates the beginning of definite through operation.

In 1851 the Erie Railroad joined New York with Lake Erie. The Baltimore & Ohio reached the Ohio River. Two years later the Atlantic seaboard and Chicago were connected by rail, which the following year reached the Mississippi River. These extensions to the Western Frontier opened the traffic between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.

In the early days the public desire for rail transportation facilities led to numerous enterprises securing public financial support, but owing to the disaster that was experienced in some of these enterprises the Ohio law prohibited any town, county or State from rendering such assistance. When the Louisville & Nashville Railroad was built, Cincinnati found it imperative to have railroad communication to the South, but the prohibition of the aforesaid law prevented public assistance, and the scheme was devised of building and owning a line. This line went south through Kentucky to Chattanooga, was built and operated, and eventually leased to the Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific.

The railroads played an important part in the conduct of the Civil War, many of them being practically devoted to the transportation of Government troops and supplies. Great damage was done to the many lines in the South owing to the military operations. By the close of the war there had been no pronounced advance in protection by the appliances which are now commonly employed in the control of train operation. This was largely due to the light equipment, slow speeds and sparse traffic.

The first Pacific railroad was begun, with Government aid, in the '60s. With the opening up of the West and the return to industrial pursuits of the people after the close of the war dates a remarkable era in railroad extension. In the decade from 1880 to 1890, 70,000 miles were built in the central and western districts, opening vast unoccupied agricultural, grazing and mineral sections to immigration and development. The panic of 1893 exerted considerable influence on railroad construction during the following decade.

The period since 1900 has been more one of reconstruction and improving existing lines; the growth of industries and population tributary to existing lines necessitating this course.

The vastness of the railroad industry may be imagined when one considers that from fifteen to twenty per cent of the capital of the United States is invested in railroads. As an exhibit of the growth and importance let me quote the following statistics of railroad growth by decades since the first operation:

Such is the exhibit of progress in the extent of railroads, broadly viewed. With the growth in extent the elements of safety have multiplied and have become very numerous; in fact, an almost indefinite subdivision of railroad property and operation in respect of safety might be conceived. We will consider, however, the beginnings and the growth of a few of the more important and striking items and their relationship to the state of the art, as portraying in a more graphic manner the adjustment, if you may call it such, of safety to progress, or, as the subject has been assigned to me, "Progressive Safety."

AIR BRAKES.

As the density of traffic, and the speed, together with the weight of equipment, developed, following upon the greater transportation to be undertaken, the question of brakes was an important factor. More efficient brakes were needed; the essential characteristics being that they should be continuous throughout the length of the train, simultaneously applied and released, with a single point of control.

In 1869 George Westinghouse, Jr., brought forth what is known as the straight air brake, consisting of a pump, main reservoir, three-way valve, brake cylinder and train line. Application was made by admitting air from the main reservoir into the train line. The brakes were released by reducing the train-line pressure into the atmosphere through the three-way valve. The brakes were useless if there was a leak, a burst in the air line or a parted train.

With these shortcomings in mind, the automatic air brake was produced in 1873, in which the method was reversed. With the addition of an auxiliary reservoir under each passenger car and a triple valve, application of brakes was secured by reducing the train-line pressure, while admitting air from the main reservoir raised the pressure and released the brakes. On the application of the automatic air brake to freight cars it was found the reduction of pressure was not quick enough to set the rear brakes promptly, and in consequence accidents occurred from the bunching of the cars.

The consideration of the brake question by the Master Car Builders' Association in 1885, and public tests under their auspices in 1886, at which time the manufacturers were represented, did not succeed in stopping freight trains without violent and disastrous shocks. So discouraging did these tests seem for the time being, that a report was made, suggesting that the successful application of such brakes on long trains could only be accomplished by electricity. However, the following January witnessed the introduction of the Westinghouse Quick-Action air brake, which corrected the previous trouble and made practicable the application of air brakes to long freight trains. Continuing from this time there has been marked improvement and development in all features of the apparatus, without, however, modifying the essential elements of which it is constituted.

With the solution of a means of train control came a further growth in their size and weight; sooner or later this had to emphasize the necessity for efficient coupling devices. Not only were there accidents due to the primitive link and pin couplers, but the various standards in existence both complicated the operations of coupling and uncoupling of cars and involved the question of interchange and safety.

AUTOMATIC COUPLERS.

Owing to the large number of accidents, Mr. F. D. Adams, of the Boston & Albany Railroad, recommended to the Master Car Builders' Association, at its third convention, in 1869, that a uniform height should be established for couplers; their failure to meet when cars came together being considered the cause of numerous accidents. In 1871 that convention adopted 33 inches as the standard height for standard-gauge cars. At the convention of 1873 Mr. M. N. Forney urged that a committee investigate the cause of accidents and make recommendation. This committee in the following year gave as the principal cause the same as reported by Mr. Adams eight years before. They pronounced the tests of automatic couplers to date a failure. Another committee at this same convention gave the first recognition to automatic couplers by reporting that a great advantage would be derived from a uniform drawbar, such as would be accepted as a standard and which would be a self-coupler. During several years following various models were examined, but nothing was found to meet the demands. In 1877 Mr. John Kirby, of the Lake Shore, reported that his company intended to equip 100 cars with self-couplers, and at the same meeting Mr. Garey, of the New York Central, told of having been waited upon by a committee of yardmasters, asking for dead blocks or some such safety device. This turned the attention of the Association from the coupler to the dead block. In the year following they invited the Yardmasters' Association to act in concert with their committee in reporting upon means of safety for protection of yard and train men in the performance of their duties.

This was the situation when on March 19, 1880, the Massachusetts Legislature instructed the Railroad Commission to investigate and report with recommendation as to means of prevention of accidents in the coupling of cars. They reported that they preferred to be guided by the action of the railroad companies, and any device made standard by them would, in their opinion, be the best recommendation for such device.

In 1882 the Connecticut Railroad Commissioners recommended to the Legislature that automatic couplers be required on all new cars.

In 1883 the Massachusetts Commissioners expressed the hope that the Master Car Builders' Association would at its convention agree upon some type of coupler for freight cars.

In 1884 the Association selected Mr. M. N. Forney to conduct tests of automatic couplers and report. Attention was called at that time to less than a dozen varieties that were worthy of consideration. With this action of the Association as a guide, the Massachusetts Commissioners undertook to solve the problem, and announced that they would not prescribe any coupler that had not been tested in actual traffic, but notified the railroad companies in the State that all new cars, and cars requiring new couplers, should be provided with one of five kinds specified. It happened that the kinds specified would not couple with each other.

In 1885 public tests were held at Buffalo by Mr. Forney. Forty-two couplers were tested, twelve of which were recommended for further tests. In the following year the trials made of power brakes on freight trains made it very evident that the link and pin type of coupling would not suffice, and it was eliminated from further consideration.

In 1887 the Executive Committee reported in favor of the Janney type of coupler and all other forms that would automatically couple with it under all conditions of service. This report was adopted in 1888 by a vote of 474 for and 194 against. The Executive Committee then undertook to establish contour lines, drawings and templates as standard, but found that the Janney patents covered the contour of vertical plane couplers. This was remedied in 1888, when the Janney Coupler Company waived all claims for patents on contour lines of coupling surfaces of car couplers used on railroads members of the Master Car Builders' Association, which enabled the Association to formally adopt in all respects this type of coupler as standard. At the convention of 1889 such action was taken, on motion of Mr. Voorhees, General Superintendent of the New York Central Railroad, and since that time this type of coupler has been the standard, and called the "Master Car Builders' Coupler."

In 1893 Congress enacted a law requiring all railroads engaged in interstate commerce to provide on all cars and locomotives a continuous power brake capable of being controlled by the engineman in the locomotive cab, and also automatic couplers which would operate by impact. January 1, 1898, was the date set by which these changes must be made—subsequently extended two years. We now have uniformity in height and contour to insure perfect contact between all classes of equipment, and a positively locked knuckle. The design and attachments to car body are prescribed of a strength in excess of the power of locomotives, and in modern friction draft gear the strength reaches 250,000 pounds.

SIGNALING.

The need of indicating the conditions of the road to trains came with the increasing traffic and speed. As these conditions developed in England before they did here, the first steps were taken in that country. In 1834 the Liverpool & Manchester introduced the first system of fixed signals, consisting of an upright post with a rotating disk at its top, showing red for danger and the absence of indication by day and a white light by night for clear. On the opening of the Great Western Railway this method was improved. Experiments by Messrs. Chappe, the inventors of optical telegraphy, showed that under certain conditions of illumination the color of any body would disappear. This demonstrated that the form, and not the color, of the day signal could be relied on. It was also found that a long, narrow surface could be seen further as projected against the horizon or landscape than the same area in a square or circle. Making use of these results, Sir Charles Gregory, in 1841, designed and erected at New Cross the first semaphore signal. There was no communication between stations; each signalman displaying his signal at danger after the passage of a train until a certain time had elapsed, when it was cleared. The only information conveyed to the engineman was that the preceding train had passed the station at least the required time before him.

The failure or inability to act with sufficient promptness at the display of the danger position, and the consequent collisions, led to the installation of additional signals to give advance information to the engineman of the position of the signal he was to obey. Thus we have clearly portrayed the inception of the present block and caution signals.

Mr. C. V. Walker, of the Southwestern Company, introduced the "Bell Code," which was the first audible method of communication between signal stations. The same year Mr. Tyer supplemented this with electric visual signals, the object being to give the operator indication of the signal having been received and given, and at all times to show the exact position of the signal itself. This suggested the space interval between trains, in place of the time interval, making signal indications definite. In 1858 the positive block system was established in England, based on the space interval system.

Making use of telegraph communication, Mr. Ashbel Welch, Chief Engineer of the United New Jersey Canal and Railroad Company, devised and installed during 1863 and 1864 the first block system of signals in this country, on the double-track line between Philadelphia and New Brunswick. Signal stations were suitably spaced, and at each station a signal was provided, visible as far as possible each way. The signal itself was a white board by day and a white light by night, indicating "clear," shown through a glass aperture two feet in diameter in front of the block signal box. For the "danger" indication a red screen fell to cover the white board or light. On a train's passing a station the signalman released the screen, which fell by gravity, and did not raise it until advised by telegraph that the preceding train had passed the next station, thereby maintaining a space interval. Thus was evolved the telegraph block system, still generally used, with modifications of apparatus and signals, on lines of light traffic. Elaborations of this system were later installed following more closely the English practice, perhaps reaching the most complete development upon the New Haven and New York Central lines, where it is still in use. Notwithstanding numerous improvements in apparatus, the same practice of fixing a positive space interval by means of communication between block stations still holds. The addition of track circuits for locking and indicating purposes and interlocking between stations, more fully effected by the introduction of the "Coleman block instrument," in 1896, has thus evolved the controlled manual block system as now used.

AUTOMATIC SIGNALS.

In 1867 Thomas S. Hall patented an electric signal and alarm bell, used in connection with a switch or drawbridge. Its shortcoming lay in the fact that a break in the circuit or failure of the latter gave no danger indication. To correct this a closed circuit was necessary, although more expensive. In 1870 Mr. Wm. Robinson devised the plan of having the circuit closed at the point of danger, if conditions were favorable, and opened a short distance in advance of the signal. The wheels of the approaching train depressed a lever, which closed the circuit and cleared the signal, unless interrupted at the point of danger. Subsequent modifications were made, whereby the circuit once completed remained so through the agency of an electromagnet, and reopened when the train passed out of that portion of the track governed by the signal.

In 1871 Mr. Hall put in operation the first automatic electric block system, on the New York & Harlem Railroad, between the Grand Central Station and Mott Haven Junction. It was normal "safety." The wheels of a passing train striking a lever completed a circuit, which put the signal to danger, after the train, and held it so until the succeeding signal went to danger, when a separate circuit was completed, which released the former signal, allowing it to return to clear.

The disadvantage in having the wheels of a train strike a lever to complete the circuit led Mr. F. L. Pope to experiment. After a successful attempt in transmitting an electric circuit through an ordinary track with fishplate joints, he made a signal test at East Cambridge, Mass. A section of track was insulated from the rest, with a wire circuit, including a battery and electromagnet for operating the signal, fastened at either end to the opposite rails. The metal wheels and axles completed the circuit, throwing the signal to danger against following trains. A detent served to keep the circuit closed until the next signal was reached, when a separate circuit released the detent, permitting the signal to clear.

In 1879 this system was put in service, and, with some alterations, still remains in some localities.

Following the original manual semaphore and the controlled manual system of operation came the pneumatic and electric systems, for localities which required a great number of signal movements. With the development of motors and batteries capable of economic operation, automatic signals of the semaphore type have been successfully and widely installed.

In the semaphore system numerous failures have occurred, due to the formation of ice and sleet upon the blades. This has led to the introduction of the so-called "upper quadrant" operation; that is, the motion of the signal being from horizontal to an upwardly inclined position and back.

On account of the widespread prevalence of electric lighting and the building up of the territory adjacent to railroads, changes in the color indication of night signals have been adopted, generally in such localities using green instead of white for the safety indication.

INTERLOCKING.

Developing with the manual operation of signals, and as a safeguard against mistakes of the signalmen, interlocking grew up as a means for preventing conflicting signals being given at the same time. As with signals, so with interlocking, England led at first. After a trip to that country in 1869, Mr. Ashbel Welch recommended the advantage derived from the English method of operating switches and signals in large yards and terminals, where the entire control fell to one man so located as to be in touch with the whole situation and equipped with a machine that would not permit of setting up conflicting routes. The plea resulted in the order of a twenty-lever Saxby & Farmer interlocking machine, which was installed in 1874 on the New Jersey Division of his line. Railroads were prompt to see its advantage, and in a short time machines performing the functions were made and installed in this country, not only for the protection of railroad intersections, but for the control of large terminal layouts. In 1876 the first power-operated interlocking system was perfected, which was the pneumatic type. In 1900 an all-electric interlocking system, advantageous where distant functions were to be embraced within the operation of the plant, and applicable to localities where electric traction was in use, was devised.

The more recent development of power-operated interlocking systems, with complete electric indication of the conditions on all tracks, has made it possible for larger systems to be consolidated under the control of a central plant, and thus under the direction of a central authority; these machines, being of a completely interlocked character, insure greater safety by the central control, as well as greater facility of operation.

TRAIN DISPATCHING.

In this country the first radical departure from the time interval and flagging method of operation came in 1851. The New York & Erie Railroad had established a single line of telegraph between Piermont, on the Hudson River, and Dunkirk, on Lake Erie, for company business. The Superintendent of Telegraph, Mr. Luther C. Tillottson, and the Division Superintendent were together in the Elmira depot on an occasion and learned that the westbound express from New York was four hours late. At Corning an eastbound stock train and a westbound freight at Elmira waited for the express. With this information, Mr. Tillottson suggested that the freight train at Elmira could be sent to Corning and the stock train at that point ordered to Elmira, with perfect safety, before the arrival of the express. The move was successful and encouraged similar operation, which shortly led to the adoption, with some modifications, of this train-dispatching method on the Susquehanna Division of the Erie. Its adoption over the entire line followed, in spite of the great opposition which Mr. Charles Minot, the General Superintendent, met when planning for its introduction. Some of the conductors and enginemen went so far as to resign rather than run on telegraphic orders against the time of another train.

This system spread rapidly to other lines and, in company with other features of railroad operation, has been progressively developed and improved. One of the important elements of safety in the dispatching practice has been the tendency to the same words in the same sequence to convey the same instructions, insuring a uniform understanding of the instructions instead of permitting a discretionary phraseology in originating or a misunderstanding in construing the order transmitted. The rules for train dispatching now prescribe the use of standard forms of expression for orders governing the movement of trains.

Within the past few years experiments have been made with a system of train dispatching by telephone, now in successful operation upon some important lines, and growing in extent. Advantage lies in the ability to use trained railroad employes who cannot work under the telegraph system, not being telegraph operators. The telephone-dispatching system not only insures a rapid distribution of information, but by its greater capacity enables a more complete knowledge of the state of the line to be had in the controlling office, as well as in all the offices tributary to the dispatching system.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE LOCOMOTIVE.

While it is not our intention to take up your time with the recital, even in condensed form, of the development of all the items which go to make up the parts of a railroad, we cannot forego the opportunity to speak briefly about the locomotive, the motive power, giving action and effect to transportation.

As early as 1680 Sir Isaac Newton predicted steam-propelled carriages, and even made suggestions bearing on their design. Through the eighteenth century various types of steam vehicles appeared, more as curiosities than anything else, some of them forerunners of the locomotive and others of the automobile. It was not until 1803 that anything really deserving the name "locomotive" was built. Richard Trevithick, a Cornish miner, constructed the locomotive bearing his name, curiously enough as the result of a wager. On trial this machine did convey ten tons of iron for nine miles on a cast-iron tramway by steam power, winning the wager. The desire of Christopher Blackett, a mine owner, to use steam motive power in place of animals led to the practical demonstration of adhesion. On this principle, Blackett's Superintendent, William Hedley, built his "Puffing Billy," a complicated affair of levers, beams and gears. On the completion of the Liverpool & Manchester Railroad, the directors, being undecided as to the motive power, offered a prize of five hundred pounds for a locomotive that would fulfill certain conditions. The test came off at Rainhill, in October, 1829, on a level piece of track about one and one-half miles long, between four competitors. Stephenson's "Rocket" won and gave the world the mechanical combination essentially represented in locomotive practice since that time. American locomotive practice followed the Stephenson model. Among the early builders were Phineas Davis, Ross Winans and Matthias Baldwin. The four-wheel engines of the English type proved injurious to the light rail and sharp curves on our early roads, and to overcome this Mr. John B. Jervis, Chief Engineer of the Mohawk & Hudson Railroad, introduced the four-wheel "Bogie" truck. For some twenty years this design remained, until in the '50s the demand for more tractive power brought about the addition of another pair of coupled drivers, thus evolving the well-known "American" type. Additional drivers were added with the demand for increased tractive power, leading in turn to the development of the "Mogul" and "Consolidated" types.

In the decade between 1880 and 1890 more drivers, such as in the ten-wheel type, began to be used in high-speed service, and the adaptation of wide fire-boxes to the American type necessitated the addition of a trailer truck to support the rear end of the locomotive frame, and brought about the "Atlantic" type, in 1895.

The "Pacific" type, or the most modern high-speed passenger locomotive, is a development of this. In 1888 Anatole Mallett designed the articulated locomotive. In 1904 the first one of this type was placed in operation on an American railroad, and since that time has gained favor where maximum tractive power on heavy grades is required.

There is perhaps no more striking illustration of the progress of the art than can be obtained from an examination of the illustrations of the various types of locomotives built and operated since 1829. It all bespeaks a tremendous growth, based on a tremendous necessity. We can point to the strengthening of all parts commensurate with the work to be done; to the perfection of detail in materials; manufacture, maintenance and inspection; and possibly observe with pride that the motive power of the railroads of the present contributes an almost negligible part of the difficulties of modern railroad operation, due to features of design or control.

CAR CONSTRUCTION.

One of the early problems in transportation was to secure the carrying capacity of cars as well as safety. We have pointed out how it was necessary to add a guiding truck to the English locomotive, designed to adapt the same locomotive safely to American conditions. Both the excessive wheel loads on four-wheel freight cars and the greater liability to accident or derailment led at an early time to the use of four-wheel trucks under cars. Between 1831 and 1834 Mr. Ross Winans, of Baltimore, made improvements on cars on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. He applied the swivel four-wheel truck, the outside bearing for axles, and the application of the draft gear to the car body and not to the trucks. The increase in lengths of passenger cars, with corresponding increases in weight, led, about 1880, to the quite general employment of a six-wheel truck instead of a four-wheel truck, and even eight-wheel trucks were used for a time, but rejected on account of the excessive length of wheel base and other complications.

In 1879 the Allen wheel, consisting of built-up construction with forged-steel tire, was introduced and rapidly became applied to cars in the most exacting service. Originally the tires were imported from the Krupp Works, in Germany, but later were manufactured here.

Great interest attaches itself at the present time to the manufacture of solid-steel forged wheels, on account of the reduction in parts.

In the latter '80s experiments were made in the development of steel framing for car construction, and built-up steel underframes were introduced shortly after; at first on cars for mineral traffic, where excessive weights and capacities were required. The success of this type of construction has led to its adaptation at the present time to all classes of equipment, and not only steel underframes, but complete steel construction in certain classes of service where the conditions require.

With the increase in through passenger service we note the appearance of the vestibule, protecting the communication between cars. Originally this vestibule was narrow, about the width of the car door, and was introduced about 1882, although experimented with as far back as 1845. The equipment of the "Exposition Flyer," operated from New York to Chicago during the World's Fair, was the first, we believe, to appear with full-width vestibules, these being originally designed as offering less atmospheric resistance to high-speed trains, but having subsequently been found a more economical, attractive and safer form of construction.

The question of steel cars and composite steel and wooden cars is having very careful investigation and experiment at the present time. While considerably used, the results of the use of these cars must be awaited. After the factor of safety has been determined the question of tare weight per passenger carried will naturally arise. In this country our weights are now far in excess of all foreign railroad practice. This enters into the resistance and cost to produce the service.

CAR HEATING.

The original method of heating passenger cars by direct radiation from coal or wood stoves was a source of discomfort to the passengers as well as a menace in case of disaster. This brought about in the late '80s the introduction of the "Baker Hot-Water Heater," which was a great improvement for the comfort of passengers, but still left a fire in the car. In many instances of collisions and derailments during this period, especially in winter, the cars were set on fire and the wreckage consumed from the fire scattered from the stoves or heaters. Experimentally, steam from the locomotives was used, but the difficulties in securing satisfactory couplings between the cars, the drain on the boiler, and the fact that the locomotive was sometimes detached from the train, were obstacles. One of the Western roads even attached a separate car for the sole purpose of supplying heat and light. The growth in the capacity of locomotive boilers, and the perfection of the couplings between cars, have led to the present practice of car heating, which entirely eliminates the presence of any fire or source of danger from that source.

CAR LIGHTING.

Car lighting has passed through the same stages as house lighting, possibly more gradually, on account of the greater difficulties. The old low-roofed passenger cars were illuminated by candles about two inches in diameter, placed in racks along the sides of the car. With the advent of mineral oil, just before the Civil War, the candles gave place to oil lamps. Great difficulty was experienced in maintaining a steady flame, until the principle of the student lamp was adopted. The flame was shielded from the outside air by a chimney, and the central draft to the burner provided the air necessary, at the right point, to insure combustion. For more than fifteen years this method prevailed, and while the presence of oil lamps in wrecks contributed fuel to the flames, the proof that they were in any way the principal cause was lacking. Still, to eliminate this contributory feature, attempts were made to use ordinary coal gas, compressed in tanks on each car. This, however, proved unsatisfactory. In 1870 a system of compressed gas made from crude petroleum had been invented by Julius Pintsch, of Berlin, and by 1887 had been put into a number of cars on European railroads. The light was too dim to satisfy American conditions. It was only a question of time, however, for its proper and adequate development to our needs, when its use became general, on the perfection of the lamp and burner.

For the last fifteen years electric lighting of various types has been in use on cars in an experimental way. While possessing advantages, perhaps, in safety, owing to low voltages and small quantity of current, its general use has not yet been entirely practicable, owing to the complications involved, either in generating and satisfactorily controlling the current upon the cars, or in supplying it at terminals through storage batteries.

So far we have been considering largely features either of equipment or train control. Perhaps more important than these is the permanent way. Compared with engines, cars, signals and dispatching, the variety of problems presented in the construction and maintenance are many. We perhaps owe to the ancient beginnings and highly scientific development of the profession of civil engineering and its branches the fact that these problems of construction and maintenance are so well met and the source of so little anxiety in connection with railroad transportation at the present time. American engineering ingenuity and courage have devised structures to meet every requirement of railroad development. In bridge construction for centuries the simple beam or the arch were the only spans employed. The natural barriers to construction of railroads required something more than either. Between 1830 and 1850 many wooden trusses were built in the Eastern and Middle States after the design of Burr and Palmer. S. H. Long's introduction of counter-braces in truss construction in 1830 was a long step in advance, and after ten years the celebrated Howe truss was brought out by the inventor. Four years later came the Pratt truss. In 1859 several riveted lattice trusses were built for the New York Central, varying from 40 to 90 feet in length, by Howard Carroll. The Lehigh Valley built a Whipple-Murphy pin-connected bridge of 165-foot span.

This progress in truss construction enabled the railroads to bridge streams and secure continuous roadway.

As an interesting historical note in connection with railroad bridges, we find that the first railroad bridge was built across the Mississippi River at Rock Island in 1856. It had hardly been completed, at great expense, before St. Louis steamboat interests demanded its removal as a nuisance and an obstruction to navigation. The United States District Court so adjudged it, and ordered its removal within six months. The presiding judge in his opinion stated that "if one railroad is able to transfer freight and passengers without delay and expense of changing at the river, financial necessity will compel competing roads to provide themselves with the same facilities," which led him to foresee great interference to river traffic and great mischief in the establishment of such a precedent.

The case was appealed, and Abraham Lincoln was the counsel for the bridge company before the United States Supreme Court. He argued that both the river and the railroad were great highways for the people, and while at the immediate time the water traffic was possibly greater, he predicted that the time might come when the railroads might equal or exceed the traffic on the river, and he consequently felt that each interest was entitled to equal consideration. His broad grasp of the subject secured for his company a reversal of the decision of the lower court, and the bridge remained.

With the advent of steel the possibilities of bridge construction may be said to have become almost unlimited, and their design exceedingly simplified and standardized.

EVOLUTION OF THE RAIL.

Equally important is the evolution of the rail and its fastenings. The type of metal rails of which the bottom served as the running surface for flat wheels guided by a flange on the rail gave place to "edge" rails on which flanged wheels used the upper surface of the rail before the day of the steam locomotive.

Of the edge type, the first were cast iron, fish-bellied, in sections about three feet in length. They were supported by stone blocks or in cast-iron chairs which were in turn made secure to the stone. Later the same type was made of wrought iron by John Birkinshaw, in England, who rolled it up to 15 or 18 feet in length.

From 1820 to 1850 the flat strap rail, spiked to longitudinal timbers, in turn supported by cross-ties, was largely used in this country, as it was the only shape that could be rolled here. In 1834 Mr. Strickland designed the Bridge, or "U"-shaped section, which was used on some of our earlier roads and was the first style of edge rail rolled in this country, in 1844.

The present "T" section was invented in 1830 by Colonel Stevens, Chief Engineer of the Camden & Amboy Railway, and until 1845, when it was first rolled in this country, had to be imported from England. The poor quality of the iron at this time required such a broad support, in the design of the rail, for the head, that no satisfactory plate fastening could be secured. Iron shoes, into which the rail ends fitted, were the means of connection.

The greatest improvement dates from 1855, when the first steel rails were rolled in England. Ten years later they were experimentally rolled here. In 1867, through the introduction of the Bessemer process, which made possible their manufacture at a greatly reduced cost, began a revolution in track construction.

While the decade from 1880 to 1890 witnessed the greatest rate of railroad building in this country, it also witnessed the substantial substitution of steel rails on our lines. The earlier rails weighed from 50 to 70 pounds per yard. The increasing weight of equipment brought out a heavier section, and fifteen years ago there was a large percentage of mileage on which weights of 90 pounds and over—and even 100 pounds—per yard had been introduced. Under special conditions rails weighing as high as 140 pounds per yard are used.

With the increasing weights of rails, and the development of steel manufacture, greater attention has been paid to details of analysis, process of manufacture, shape and laying, and it may be briefly stated that all these matters are uniformly prescribed at the present time.

Our rail fastenings, ties and ballast have kept pace with the development of the rail and equipment. An orthodox part of the rules governing the maintenance of railway property places in the hands of the maintenance force standard plans and specifications, not only for the elements, such as rail and ties, but for the complete make-up of the finished track structure and roadbed, and these plans are the result of current experience and study of the several railroads, and of the various associations of engineers, maintenance officers and manufacturers, and it is safe to say that these plans, specifications and standard practices represent the best known state of the art.

GRADE-CROSSING ELIMINATION.

In the early days both the railroads and public ways used the natural surface of the ground, as a matter of economy. The public question then was how they were to get the railroads, and not how they were to restrict them in the manner of their construction. The districts traversed were sparsely settled and trains were few and slow in their movement; the highways were little used; all of which made for freedom from accident where the two crossed.

The conditions in England were vastly different. There the country was thickly settled and an assured traffic was evident from the inception of the enterprise, which would warrant expenditures on original construction that could not be entertained by the promoters of our first companies. So it was not through any blindness that made grade crossings grow up in this country, but it was purely the result of economic conditions which precluded their elimination.

With the increase in population and the development of the country came the need of increased transportation facilities. More frequent, faster and heavier trains were moving up the railroads and a greater number of people came to use the highways. The inevitable result followed, and at length the great number of accidents occurring at the grade crossings attracted public attention.

The Legislature of Massachusetts took the first action in 1869, when it provided for the appointment of a Railroad Commission, to investigate and report upon "Safer and Better Methods of Construction and Operation." They very promptly took up the Grade-Crossing question.

At this time in

This showed that the railroad network in Massachusetts was more extensive in proportion to the area of the State than existed in Great Britain. In their report the Commission suggested the avoidance of future crossings of railroads and highways at grade, and the propriety of the railroads changing some existing crossings which presented no great difficulty or expense.

In 1873 a law was passed providing for the separation of grade when a town and railroad effected an agreement. The cost was to be apportioned by a Commission appointed by the Superior Court. This law did accomplish something, but hardly abolished existing crossings as fast as new ones were built. Under it the Fitchburg Railroad did away with twenty-five between 1875 and 1890, bearing varying portions of the expense.

In 1885 an Act provided that the County Commissioners could order the abolition of a grade crossing on a petition of twenty legal voters if the cost would not exceed $3,000. Again, in 1888 the Legislature asked the Governor to appoint another Commission to investigate and report upon a scheme for gradual abolition and the method of apportioning the expense. In February, 1889, this Commission, composed of Kimball, Weber and Locke, submitted systematic plans, with estimates, etc., in which they fixed forty years as not an unreasonable length of time for the completion of the work. The next step came in 1890 with the passage of the Grade Crossing Law, which provided that the directors of a railroad or the authorities of a town or city could petition the Supreme Court for a Commission on the Abolition of a Grade Crossing. This Commission was to determine the manner of the separation and by whom the work was to be done, and how the expense was to be divided as between the railroad, city and State. Before the report was presented to the Court for approval it was incumbent upon the Commissioners to ascertain that the aggregate proportion of the State's liability in this connection would not exceed $500,000 per year for ten years. While on the one hand the Legislature authorized this expenditure of $5,000,000 to abolish the crossings of highways with railroads at grade, they granted charters indefinitely to electric lines to cross steam roads at grade.

The New York State Board of Railroad Commissioners was created in 1882 and its membership appointed by the Governor. Among the functions which they immediately assumed was the question of public safety in connection with crossings at grade of railroads and highways. The consideration which this received and the complaints of unsafe conditions, as well as the complications and adjudications involved, led to the passing of the Grade Crossing Law, which went into effect July 1, 1897.

Not only by the New York State law, but by the Massachusetts law, the method of elimination, as well as the apportionment of expense, is specific. The initiative is open to both the railroad and to the community, and the rapid progress of eliminations in these two States may be taken as an endorsement of the wisdom of such legislation, paving the way, as it does, for more progress on the question of eliminations than it is believed would ordinarily take place where no specific rule existed for the undertaking.

While the exact conditions throughout the country are not definitely known, it is believed that progress is being made quite generally in this direction. The influence of grade-crossing elimination upon the safety of operation is of such importance as to deserve serious consideration, as I will further suggest. Perhaps the elimination of grade crossings, thereby separating the public from the railroad except as authorized in connection with their patronage of it, is one of the most important factors as safety.

HUMAN ELEMENT IN OPERATION.

Notwithstanding the great improvements in roadbed, track, bridges, signals, equipment and other respects, all securing increased service and safety in railroad operation, the human element is a vital factor. With a view of raising the standard of individual service, a system of physical and educational examinations has been adopted. In the early days of railroads the individual service was possibly less definitely classified and qualified than must prevail under the exactions of modern conditions. In keeping with the progress in mechanical and safety devices and the necessity of a better system, we have today a preliminary examination, both physical and as to fitness. Employes must pass examinations as to vision, color sense and hearing, and their knowledge of the fundamental rules and regulations, as well as the fundamental knowledge of road, appliances and equipment. These examinations are repeated from time to time as the class of service and further advancement of the employes may require. Many of the large railroads have established schools, with capable instructors, where employes may receive instruction upon the performance of their duties, as well as affording them an opportunity to fit themselves for promotion.

Beginning with the General Time Convention some thirty years ago, the need to standardize railroad practices and systematically qualify employes began to be realized.

The Convention, largely through the efforts of Mr. W. F. Allen, saw that, as time is the term in which railroad schedules are expressed, it was a fundamental necessity that there should be standard time, and that the timepieces of employes which should govern their observance of instructions and schedules must conform to the standard. This led to the present system of standard time; to the system whereby employes must compare watches with standard clocks; must have watches inspected regularly and record taken of same; must compare watches and register before trips.

The General Time Convention led to the formation of the American Railway Association, consisting of the executive and operating officers of the railroads of the United States and Canada. The Association considers problems of railroad operation, construction and equipment, and recommends practices for their solution. Their investigations, conclusions and recommended practices embrace train operation, dispatching, block-signal operation, air-brake operation, physical and educational qualifications of employes, regulations for the transportation of dangerous articles, clearances, rail manufacture, safety appliances, inspection, car construction, track gauge, train heating and lighting, methods of loading, etc. Marked progress has been made in co-ordinating the work of the various organizations of railroad officers with the work of the Association, to secure the benefit of the broadest and most careful consideration of the subjects.

Assurance, therefore, exists that the experience and knowledge of railway management and officers will be brought from time to time into the text and fact of standard practices, promoting convenience by close interline relationships and uniformity of regulation, and causing a uniform, systematic and careful regard for safety.

BY WAY OF RECAPITULATION.

So, to recapitulate:

From a few miles of crude tramways the world has in a century built 500,000 miles of steam operated and 100,000 miles of electrically operated roads; instead of spragging the wheels we rely on the automatic high-speed brake; the coupling of cars has become an imitation of the action of human hands instead of risking their destruction; each train finds the condition of road ahead and protects itself by the agency of electric circuits and semaphores, the sequence of whose operation discloses on behalf of safety any obstruction of the route; four-wheel barrows are replaced by steel cars, larger than the miner's cabin, and carrying more than his month's output; instead of traveling on a tramway stage coach, the passenger finds available for his comfort a modern hotel on wheels, with every luxury known to-day—electrically lighted, steam heated, weather-proof; the old strap iron, which became detached and penetrated the car floor, frequently impinging passengers to the roof, is replaced by the bar of steel weighing 100 pounds to the yard, whose manufacture, installation and maintenance is prescribed with every degree of refinement known to the chemist and engineer; we have learned to treat sub-grade, drainage and ballast as an architectural science, and our bridges, from the single-log span, now make continuous roadbed for high-speed operation, even over the continental rivers.

Some one has said that the builders' art consisted in making the structure proclaim the purpose for which designed, and to my mind there is nothing which quite so dramatically fulfils this as the modern steam locomotive. How many of you have seen a huge Pacific locomotive, drawing a train of 600 tons at a speed of 70 miles an hour, yet under control of one man, just the same as Stephenson's "Rocket," which could have been lifted off its track and set on the ground by four strong men, and which was a world-wonder when for a short distance it attained a speed of twenty miles an hour? We know that our engineman with a Pacific locomotive and the high-speed train can stop his train with the air brake in a definite distance.

These comparisons, briefly as might be, between, we will say, the beginnings of the nineteenth and of the twentieth centuries, show how the commercial growth and increase of trade have produced a demand for transportation to be performed, and with the performance an economic revolution. We have, in a general way, though with far less than the thoroughness of which the subject is worthy, outlined what might be called the "state of the art," of railroad plant and operation, in a relative sense.

Progress of a pronounced character has occurred. That this progress has been accomplished by increased safety is demonstrated by common knowledge and confirmed by the records, both of the railroads and the public authorities. As an illustration, take the statistics of the Interstate Commerce Commission. The increased safety of railroad operation is indicated in part by the following figures:

We may assume that never before in the history of railroad transportation was there presented a bigger problem than to-day. The weights are greater; the distances are greater; the speed is greater; the population is more dense; prices and wages are higher, and the public service more exacting. A gathering of the official representatives of the nation and of every State, possibly with a desire for uniform and concerted action, even though it may be unofficial, points with emphasis to the attitude from which the public contemplates the employment of the railways in their behalf. It is, I believe, an accepted fact of our political constitution at the present time that the public, through its authorized representatives and through lawful channels, has a right to be reasonably assured in this respect. I believe that the co-operation manifested, as well as the inquiries by the various railway boards, has in a great sense aided in reaching our present standard of excellence, to which we can point with pride in comparison with any other national railway system of the globe. We are becoming more familiar—the railroad management and employes—with the standpoint of the public, and the public is becoming more familiar with the problems of the railroads. The mutual aim is: First, safety and service; and, second, economy. The public concern for the safety and service is for its own protection, and the railroad management must give both with economy.

So far we have been dealing largely with the progressive safety of railroad operation as furthered by the action of the railways, either initiatively or responsively, as the case might be. We have described the improvement in roadway, equipment and appliances; the standardizing of regulations for operation; the selection of employees and their government.

With the better understanding of the problem of the railroad by the public through and in connection with the special boards represented here today, it might not be amiss to express the hope that such needs as cannot be met without the active support of public opinion and perhaps legislation will be clearly brought out. One of the thoughts that occurs to me was suggested by a recent exhibit, from the records, of the loss of life, damage to railroad property, as well as injury to persons and property conveyed, due to the presence of unauthorized persons upon railroad property, whether wilfully or carelessly trespassing. As an illustration of its seriousness: during last year over 5,000 trespassers lost their lives on railroads besides a large number injured. Numerous mishaps have been traced to acts of trespassers, which may be the secret of many unexplained casualties. The railroads are a highway for the migration of tramps and unemployed persons, who commit petty depredations, jeopardize the safety of trains and the lives of employees and passengers. It seems of no avail that thousands of the worst class are arrested by railroad police forces and convictions secured, as the sentences in the majority of cases serve rather to aggravate, than to mitigate, the evil. One line arrested over 9,000 trespassers during the past year, and secured convictions in 75 per cent of the cases; but in half of them sentence was suspended, which usually meant that the offender used the railroad to escape from the scene. I do not wish to be understood to asperse the administration of justice, nor to insist that offences of a serious character are always committed by railroad trespassers, but the hazard involved is one that should not be permitted to exist, the railroad property destroyed or damaged bearing no relation to the risk of persons and property transported, and to the enormous loss of life involved.

I feel that the attention of those accustomed to broadly viewing problems of public concern should be brought to bear upon these facts, with the hope that measures may be taken to insure greater safety in this respect, as well as to save the waste of life and property now resulting from or incident to the practice. I might venture to suggest that the loss of life is far greater than entailed through decades by boiler explosions or rear-end collisions, the seriousness of which I do not wish to deprecate; and the situation might warrant special record of the facts being obtained in behalf of the public through the regular channels.

Wherein lies the increased safety of the future may perhaps be the query in many minds. It is universally sought.

It would be mere conjecture on my part, and, with your indulgence, I am not inclined to prophesy. As I see it, the great problem is to make our progress sure, taking no doubtful measures, adopting no specious devices which may appeal to us at first blush until we have satisfied ourselves that no greater risk is involved by the change.

The multiplication of rules enjoining obedience, together with devices for additional protection, may yield a false sense of security if fundamental obedience to existing rules and efficiency of existing appliances is one bit impaired by the addition. We must not embrace paper reforms, even though clamor and pressure be great. An "ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure," we grant, but reverse the proverb, and the pound of prevention may over-whelm us. The public official would seem to be in a judicial position, mindful of public justice and safety, basing his judgment and acts upon facts alone. Improvement in general safety and character of railroad operation must be the product not only of an enlightened public opinion and the conservative wisdom of public representatives, but progressive and careful management, coupled with a sense of discipline and responsibility and industry of railroad employees, who must jointly share the obligations of the problem.

Speaking of the compliance we have cheerfully made to the suggestions of the public representatives—the Commissions—in regard to improvements of service, facilities and conditions of operation, etc., we believe in the long run that these things mean a better standard and greater security for railroad property, as well as the enormous benefit that accrues to the public by reason of proper and efficient railway service, and we have only thoughts of admiration for the attitudes of the Commissions as we have found them. They have a large problem. We are glad to avail ourselves of their wisdom, and believe it to be the means whereby the responsibility of the carriers to the public is secured, and through whom the responsibility of the public to the railroads must be voiced.

Gentlemen, I thank you for your kind attention, and the favor, which I acknowledge, of being permitted to address you as best I may upon a subject to which we are all devoted. In the absence of a distinct literature on the subject that your worthy President assigned to me, my efforts are perhaps a bit crudely devised, having no pattern. In another generation we may perhaps evolve a distinct species of railroad statesman and an encyclopedia from which we will be able to point back to the beginnings and the efforts at mutual advice, and to the growth and knowledge that have ensued, just as we have seen the day of small things in railroads to be the beginning of a constant growth to the wonders of today. I am sure that the American people can congratulate themselves upon an institution of the character of your Convention and of your several honorable bodies, and trust that this meeting will be such that you will feel that you have made definite progress in your concurrent aims.