ENGINE BURIED IN STEEL SLEEPING CAR. 

 This illustration shows the engine of the second section of the St. Paul 

 train buried in the i-ear sleeper of the first section of the Columbian 

 flyer, as a result of the collision at Odessa. Minn., December 18. 



.\NOTIIKI! VIEW OF FATAL WRECK AT ODESSA. 

 This picture shows how the force of the locomotive on the rear sleeper 

 drove the sleeping car into the diner. All but one of the eleven persons 

 to lose their lives were asleep in the berths of the sleeping car. 



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Steel vs. Wooden Railroad Cars 



NON-TELESCOPING STEEL CARS (?) 



In last issue of Hardwood Record was recounted the terrible and 

 fatal collision of two sections of the steel car Columbian flyer of the 

 Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, at Odessa, Minn., on Decem- 

 ber 18. The illustrations accompanying this article will graphically 

 show not only the serious character of this wreck, but the total rout 

 of the much touted tlieory that steel cars were non-collapsible, and 

 would resist telescoping in an accident of this character. 



A newspaper dispatch from Minneapolis, dated December 26, st.ates 

 that this "was one of the first tests of the new steel construction 

 cars in a collision, and the verdict of the railroad world is likely to 

 be that the steel car is of doubtful value to say the least. Serious 

 flaws were found in the steel construction of the sleeping car, in 

 which nearly all the deaths occurred, anr] though it ploughed into the 

 dining car like a battering ram, it buckled and went to pieces badly. 



' ' ' The flaws in the steel, ' said Commissioner C. F. Staples, after 

 the inspection, 'were of such a nature that it was easily possible they 

 should escape the notice of the builders, but were most serious, and 

 made the wreck much worse than it otherwise would have been.' 

 Commissioner C. E. Elmquist said that the term 'steel cars' applied 

 to some kinds of construction is a misnomer. The commission's 

 expert is making a thorough inquiry and will report on the wreck 

 later. ' ' 



The previous side-swiping and derailment wrecks, in which steel 

 cars have played a inominent part, have proven beyond pcradventure 

 that steel cars afford no protection to their passengers that was not 

 afforded by Ihe wooden cars on reinforced under-work and steel frame- 

 work. Xot a single logical argument has yet been presented in favor 

 of ?teel car construction bj- either railroad car engineers or by the 

 traffic or traveling public, and there is unsurinountable evidence not 

 only on the frailty of steel cars, but of their dangerous character to 

 both life and health, to say nothing of the extravagance of construc- 

 tion and haulage. 



The entire steel car enterprise is a steel trust game looking to 

 increased utilization of its material in any and every place that it 

 can be marketed. The faulty and defective steel employed and 

 turned out by the steel people for the building of cars is .•inotlicr 

 evidence of the iniquitous character of steel trust methods. 



PULLMAN CAE COMPANY ADVERTISING 

 I'nder the heading, "The Making of a Moving .Steel Palace," there 

 was published in the Chicago KeeofdIIerald, .lanuary 1, a full page 



—28— 



advertisement, lierewith reproduced, which was proliably paid for by 

 the Pullman Car Company, as follows : 



What a piece of work is man ' No sooner had he discovered that he 

 wasn't crawling on a flat earth like a fly on a griddle, but was being 

 whirled through space on a giant projectile which revolved about its own 

 axis almost as fast as it hurtled tlirouirh the ether, than he set himself 

 (o emulate the .speed of the celestial spheres themselves. And he hasn't 

 made a bad showing either. No longer is he content to travel in state 

 on the back of a crocodile or lumber througli the slime of jungles on the 

 shoulders of an elepliant. He's succeeded in considerably accelerating his 

 pace since the stone age. 



The whole histor.v of civilization may be said Jo be resumed in the story 

 of man's conquest of the science of locomotion — not that we intend to go 

 into that here. Man now luxuriates in eighteen-hour trains and five-day 

 boats and looks impatiently forward to that blessed day when he shall 

 be able to propel himself backward round the globe with sufficient speed 

 to keep the sun always over his head. Which is all very well ! 



Speed is an excellent thing, no doubt : we can scarcely get loo much 

 of it — above all in America, where we get more of it than is easily to be 

 come by elsewhere. But there is a limit to the desirability of speed. This 

 limit is fixed and irremovable. We desire (even in .\merica) only so much 

 speed as is consistent with safety. 



Ver.v well, but if we can't remove this liniil, we have hit upon a way 

 of doing nearly the same thing. We can keep pushing the limit farther 

 and farther down the avenue of progress by the simple expedient of 

 improving our mechanical appliances for manufacturing speed, by eliminat- 

 ing weaknesses, !)y substituting better materials for i)Oorer. 



That is .just what we have been doing all along. The progress of the 

 scienc'^ of locomolion- which is also, mind you. the progress of civiliza- 

 tion — is neatly and completely summed up in that llltle formula. From 

 its applicaliiin has sprung llu- miracle of the eighteeu-bour train and the 

 five-day boat and all the other devices for obliterating distance and 

 increasing the brotherhood of man. If a man has the sermonizing habit 

 (and who hasn't it a little '0 it's hard to cheek his eloquence when he get.s 

 started on this subject of speed. I'nt the best mid most welemne sermons 

 are farts. Let us see. 



The builders of eighleen-hour trains are fnct-raen, not sermon izer.s. 

 Perhaps they have their bydays when they, too, dream a llltle; but 

 most of their time is better employed. 



Three-fourtlis of their time, say. Is occupied In buIldinK — In keeping up 

 with the iiresfiil ; the other onefourlli In nicely balancing speed iigalnsi 

 safety -in sbapliig the future. "TIs a problem lit to give a man a head- 

 ache. 



'llii' visible result of those headaches confronts us every time we stroll 

 Intc. a train shed and glance down the long lines of linked enrrlnges. 

 I'acli link In the chain, or — If yon prefer to drop the melnidior— each conch 

 nn the ir.iln Is a mod^l of compactness, or sullablllty, of convenience, of 

 strength, of luxury. It represents the nicest adjuslment of our (wo 

 primary remiireiiienis of safety ami sjieed yet worked out. 



There was a lime, not so long ago. whi'U it seemed as If man had 

 pushiil Ills Irremovable limit about as far as It would go. Ills locomotives 

 bad iK'come laigir and more powerful; his rails heavier; his speed ever 



