March i, 1902.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



171 



THE USE OF RUBBER ON BRITISH RAILWAYS. 



By an Occasional Correspondent. 



SOME time ago* the writer gave an account in these pages 

 of the rubber requirements of British railways, treating 

 the subject in its general aspects. It is now proposed 

 to refer to the subject again, with rather more atten- 

 tion to detail on one or two points, the importance of the 

 issues involved to those who are most closely concerned seem- 

 ing to warrant this recurrence to matters which have certainly 

 not been exhaustively treated of in our trade literature. 



Commencing first with the locomotive, reference may be 

 made to the fact that practically no rubber is used by our loco- 

 motive engineers. Rubber packings for piston rods, etc., have 

 been almost universally replaced by asbestos cord, and the 

 rubber buffer spring has in like way been superseded by the 

 volute steel spring in the great majority of cases. In certain 

 cases, but more for engines used only for shunting purposes, 

 the Eames non-automatic vacuum brake, an American inven- 

 tion, is in use, and this necessitates the use of rubber dia- 

 phragms. In this connection it may be said, on the authority 

 of a locomotive engineer, that the diaphragms which have been 

 supplied from America, with the rest of the brake fittings, have 

 failed to give satisfaction under the somewhat trying condi- 

 tions of use. I understand that these diaphragms are now being 

 supplied by English makers, and are found to last longer be- 

 fore necessity arises for their renewal. This statement is given 

 for what it is worth ; it may easily be that engineers in a 

 similar position to my informant may have had different ex- 

 periences. 



Although, with regard to the use of rubber buffer springs, 

 it cannot be said that a rapid decline is apparent, there can be 

 little doubt that the business has seen its best days, though 

 until the central coupling system becomes more generally 

 adopted, a demand for rubber 

 will exist. At present the cen- 

 tral coupling is almost entirely 

 confined to what are known as 

 twin trains, which are run on the 

 suburban services of our large 

 towns and which run backwards 

 and forwards without any un- 

 coupling. Certainly its adoption 

 in main line traffic is to be seen 

 with respect to the corridor 

 coaches of the through trains of 

 the Great Central railway, and 

 it is permissible to expect that 

 this form of coupling will see 

 further development in Great 

 Britain, because there is a grow- 

 ing tendency to adopt American 

 methods on our railways — a 

 matter to which a further speci- 

 fic reference will now be made. 



This, for us, new procedure is 

 the employment of larger coal 

 and goods wagons on our railway systems. Not that any real 

 progress in this way has to be recorded, for the move is but in 

 an embryonic condition; still, even at this stage, it seems to 

 merit attention here because of the prospective increased de- 



• The India Rubbkr World, June i, 1900— page 239. 



Central Car Coupling. 



1. Showing position when Iwo 

 cars are fUlfdwith Ihe American 

 Coupling and brought together. 



2. Showing position when the 

 car with the coupler is to he con- 

 nected with a car with the pre- 

 sent style of I.ritish Coupler. 



mand for rubber air brake tubes. In the Sheffield & Twinberrow 

 patent coal wagon, which is now being built to the order of the 

 North Eastern railway, 35 tons of coal are carried as against 10 

 tons in the ordinary wagons, but without going into further de- 

 tail, which would be somewhat remote from the scope of this 

 article, the advantages of the new departure are that the engine 

 has to haul less dead weight in proportion to the amount of 

 freight carried than is now the general rule. Should these 

 wagons come into extensive use, there can be no doubt of the 

 increased demand for rubber pipes for either the Westinghouse 

 or vacuum brakes, unless the decision to adopt continuous 

 brakes should be reversed, a contingency which hardly seems 

 likely. With regard to the use of Westinghouse pipes, bare or 

 having a canvas sleeve, the general rule is to adopt the sleeve, 

 and one large railway company which gave up this appendage 

 as useless has again reverted to its use. It certainly seems de- 

 sirable to have some protective covering corresponding to the 

 hemp covering universally used on the vacuum brake pipes, 

 more especially in the case of those railways which exact a five 

 or six years' guarantee. It must be remembered that these 

 pipes are continually under pressure, amounting in the case of 

 express trains to 70 or 80 pounds, and in slow trains to 50 or 60 

 pounds on the square inch. Where the sleeve is not used, it is 

 found that the usual seat of disaster is just by the nipple, and 

 it is easy to understand that this should be so, seeing that this 

 is the spot which experiences the rough and greasy touch of the 

 shunter's hand. 



There is nothing new to report on the subject of the rubber 

 pipes used for steam heating in trains ; the rubber continues as 

 of old to excite the wrath of railway engineers, because it does 

 not retain perennial youth under the trying circumstances to 

 which it is subjected. Although metallic tubing does not seem 

 to have made any converts for this purpose, it is being regularly 

 used on the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway for the feed pipe 

 between tender and engine, and it would certainly seem to be 

 of more utility than rubber in those cases where liquid fuel is 

 used. 



O.i more than one occasion reference has been made in this 

 journal to the tender forms for rubber goods issued to rubber 

 manufacturers yearly by the railway companies of the United 

 Kingdom, and comment has been made upon the stipulations 

 sought to be enforced therein. In no case, however, do our 

 home railways give minute specification of detail, such as is to 

 be found in the specification forms for India-rubber fittings 

 given out on behalf of various Indian and colonial railways by 

 their resident London engineers. One such engineer in large 

 practice is Sir Alexander Rendel, and from his offices and 

 worded presumably under his immediate supervision, go forth 

 yearly tender forms for the various stores required by the rail- 

 ways over which he has control. Of course we are here con- 

 cerned only with rubber goods, but it may be mentioned that 

 all the specifications issued from these offices contain similar 

 instructions as to matters of detail and which, in the opinion of 

 a number of contractors, far exceed the conditions which ought 

 legitimately to be imposed. It is said that though there is 

 always a good deal of grumbling among contractors at having 

 to conform to Sir A. Rendel's specifications, yet there is no 

 lack of applicants for the work. If this is really so, it certainly 

 does not seem fair to attempt to shuffle out of responsibilities 



