HARDWOOD RECORD 



41 



but helps to defraiul ami oheapen the wares of liis neiglil>c>r. The 

 same amount of lumber would probably be sold in the end, as I 

 Jiaven't heard of any lumber getting stick rotten for the last few 

 j'ears, neither at the mills nor in the yard of tlie manufacturer. 

 Don't lose the i>oint. 



In conclusion, help all of us by helping yourself; every carload 

 you sell at a loss has its influence. Get busy and figure, not only on 

 paper, but by actual test — the cost. 



It would be presumptuous for me to say you should get so much 

 per thousand feet for your dimension. If you are so fortunate as to 

 be located where you can supply it at a less figure, do so and reap a 

 portion of the benefit of your foresight, luck, or what3ver it may be, 

 and undersell me, but bear in mind, I will still sell all I can manu- 

 facture at my price. Bon't lose the point. The manufacturer will 

 always pay for dimension, as much as it will cost him to make it, if 

 he must. 



'' 'i ;!)^Oio . ^^^iaSv:/^}l!ro^t^fc)^MM^.TO-:iM!ffilMiW^li4^ 



HISTORY OF A FORTNIGHT IN THE STEEL CAR 

 EXPERIMENT 



If the Pennsylvania Bailroad were the paid emissary of the 

 lumber interests and of wooden car buildeis, it could scarcely 

 do nuue efficient work in their behalf than it has during the pasT 

 few months, and notably duriiig the past two weeks. This rail- 

 road company is by far the largest owner of steel passenger car 

 equipment of any system in the country, and has vigorously 

 touted it, with arguments of increased safety to the traveling 

 public for two years past. This company has had a series of 

 disastrous wrecks, from one cause or another, with its steel cars, 

 far in excess of calamities of a similar sort that have befallen it 

 during years with the former type of equipment employed. 



The wreck of the fast train at Warrior's Bidge, Pa., on Febru- 

 ary 16, resulting in the death of five persons and the injury of 

 well towards one hundred, is a matter of daily newspaper history. 

 The cause and full details of the wreck will probably not be 

 known definitelj- until there is an oiiiciai report on it, but it is 

 alleged that the equalizing bar on the seconrl of the two loccnio 

 tives drawing the flyer broke, and a heavy piece of metal fell 

 upon the roadbed. Two wooden coaches, the first two in the 

 train, passed safely over the obstruction, but the nine steel cars 

 following were derailed and sent hurling down the steep embank- 

 ment towards the .luniata river. The speed of the train was so 

 great that although the automatic brakes were set, the two 



locomotives and the two cars ran a half mile before they were 

 stopped. 



The jieojde who lost their lives were in one of the dining cars, 

 and the second diner was "crushed like an eggshell, and the 

 passengers were pinned under tons of debris." 



The Philadelphia newspaper accounts state that the sides of 

 the steel cars were terribly twisted and bent. While it may not 

 be absolutely demonstratable, from the fact that the forward 

 wooden cars stuck to the track, it is fair to assume that if the 

 train had been entirely of this type of cars, it never would have 

 left the rails. This feature of steel train wrecks seems to be 

 the contributing cause of a large majority of them, i. e., the 

 inability of rigid steel cars to stick to the track. Their very 

 structure seems to contribute to their going off the rails for causes 

 that would not derail wooden cars. Many other accidents to steel 

 trains indicate their radical weakness in their inability to take 

 cross-oveis, switches and curves successfully. 



NOT AS BAD AS FIRST REPORTED 



Although it is well known that it is difficult to get a true 

 account of a Pennsv'lvania Railroad wreck through the medium 

 of Pennsylvania newspapers, there is one markedly distorted 

 feature of the reports found in them that is remarkable. 



The Philadelphia North American says: "This is said to be the 

 first time on record that a train comiiosed of all-steel cars hag 

 been wrecked on the Pennsylvania, and hail it not been for these 



THE STEEL CAR WI!ECK AT WARRIORS RIDGE, PA., FEBRUARY 1«. 1012. 



