r.\i;s IN wKKiK NEAi; Fditr wayne. ixd.. avg. i::. 1:111 



The Crti- on the rifrht. No. TilTl. is a wmx on (liner, and is unflaniaur-d. 'riic Itadly daniagi^d 

 this instanff wocid stocid lii-tt* r tlian stn-I. 



■h ncxi In il is an all-steel riiliinan. In 



for berths in wooden cars, because tlicy know that such are inore 

 comfortable. 



Pinching cold and sweltering heat are not the only arguments 

 against the metal car. It is stiff, unyielding and rides hard. It lacks 

 the elasticity of wood. It jerks and jolts more. Technical men in the 

 steel car business have published tables, diagrams and figures intended 

 to demonstrate the elasticity of steel, for the purpose of creating senti- 

 ment in favor of the steel car. Maybe their figures are right, but 

 they are so technical and are so overloaded with higher mathe- 

 matics that tlie ordinary human being can get no meaning out of 

 them. But the ordinary individual has no trouble in understanding 

 that a steel ear at high speed jerks, shakes, oscillates and quivers 

 more than a wooden car and is harder on muscles as well as on the 

 nerves. The tourist is deprived of much of the enjoyment of his trip, 

 and the business man and the invalid lose their needed rest. In addi- 

 tion to these discomforts the steel car is noisy. A little time on the 

 road is apt to loosen bolts, wear bars and beams till they rattle in the 

 joints, and this adds annoyance whieh is absent from the wooden ear. 



STIOHL SI.KKl'KK RAMMED BY EN(!INE 



Metal pinles and steel doors offered little 

 wreck occurred at Odessa, Minn., Dec. 18, mil. 



—28— 



protection bi-re. This 



Most people are willing to sacrifice considerable comfort if safety 

 is increased by doing so. The chief claim of the advocates of the 

 steel car is that it is much safer than a car of wood. In fact, this is 

 about the only claim put forward for it. Practically the whole argu- 

 ment is based on that proposition. It would be a very strong argument 

 if it had facts to back it, for any device or appliance that will ma- 

 terially lessen danger in railroad travel will receive earnest con- 

 sideration from the traveling public. Since this is the chief claim 

 made by the steel car people, it is projier to examine it somewhat 

 closely to see what merit it may have. 



The principal sources of danger are collisions with other trains on 

 the same track, or in leaving the track altogether. In the first instance 

 the worst damage is done by telescoping — one car running into and 

 through another and crushing the passengers within. The second 

 danger comes when the cars go off the track at high rate of speed. 

 Kither accident is serious and is apt to cost the lives of passengers. 

 Xo appliance has yet been devised to prevent such accidents altogether, 

 and the question is, whieh car, the wooden or the steel, offers best 

 ]irofection to the passengers. 



The first argument is that the metal car is less liable to catch fire 

 I ban the wooden car. The conclusion in this instance is in favor of 

 th(; metal, car, but not as nuich in its favor as some suppose. Years 

 ago fire was justly dreaded, because cars, if not heated with stoves 

 were at least lighted with oil lamps, and in serious accidents the 

 wr(>ckage was liat]le to take fire. At present, however, no cars on 

 trunk lines are heated with stoves or lighted with oil lamps. Heat 

 is by steam from the locomotive and light by electricity, neither of 

 which can start a fire in a wreck. Since the source of fire is almost 

 wholly removed, the wooden car is in little more danger of burning 

 lliau a metal car. 



The evidence seems to be incontrovertible and almost undisputed 

 that steel cars are harder to keep on the tracks than wooden cars. 

 It is due to their greater weight and rigidity. They take curves less 

 readily, and are harder to manage in negotiating crossings. Their very 

 construction seems to render them more liable than wooden cars to 

 go off the rails. Instances are not wanting where steel cars have left 

 the tracks while wooden cars in the same train passed safely. The 

 rigidity of the metal cars is believed to be responsible for their pre- 

 disposition to leave the rails on curves and crossings, and doubtless 

 their great weight is responsible for some of the trotible. 



When a car at high speed is thrown from the track, it encounters 

 conditions which test its strength in the severest manner possible. 



