230 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 



function is that of a running draft horse. Engines, 

 with the men who ride on them, usually weigh about 

 8,000 pounds, or four tons ; some are a thousand 

 pounds lighter ; others as much, or nearly as much 

 heavier. The chemical engines are less ponderous, 

 varying from 2,500 (this kind employs but one horse) 

 to 7,500 pounds. The hose carriages attached to the 

 fire engines, and drawn by one horse, are, as a rule, 

 about half the weight of the engines, but sometimes 

 much more. Two-wheel carts were formerly used 

 for this purpose, but they have been superseded, in 

 Boston and in most other cities, by four-wheel wag- 

 ons, which, though not so picturesque, are much easier 

 for the horse, inasmuch as none of the weight comes 

 upon his back. 



Hook and ladder trucks, with their men, vary in 

 weight from 4,350 to 10,600 pounds, the trucks which 

 reach the last mentioned figures being hauled by three 

 horses, harnessed abreast. This form of " hitch'" 

 is also coining in use for the heavier class of en- 

 gines, or " steamers," as they are called. The engines 

 usually lit the street car tracks, which is a great ad- 

 vantage ; whereas the hook and ladder trucks are too 

 broad for this, and they are so extremely long that a 

 large part of the weight is far from the horses, which 

 of course makes it more difficult to haul ; but, again, 

 the load is more "springy," not so dead as that of 

 the engine, and the two kinds of apparatus are, on the 

 whole, about equally difficult to pull. Some of the 

 longest ladder trucks, as most of my readers know, 

 are provided with a steering contrivance for the 

 hind wheels, so that the helmsman, who sits imme- 

 diately above the axle, is able to turn them sharply 



