EDITORIAL NOTES. 



253 



purpose on the Kansas Pacific Eailway, sub- 

 mit the following report: 



On Tuesday, May 22, 1877, a train consist- 

 ing of five passenger cars, two baggage cars, 

 with locomotive and tender, "weighing in the 

 aggregate 357,430 pounds, and carrying one 

 hundred and thirty-five passengers, was taken 

 to a piece of level track, about five miles west 

 of the city, and subjected to the following 

 test, viz. : 



1st. The engineer was directed to run at the 

 ordinary speed of twenty-five miles per hour 

 and to apply the brake while under such head- 

 way, so as to ascertain the time required to 

 bring the train to a full stop and the actual 

 distance rjn after such application. 



2d. Same as the above, except that the train 

 was run at a speed of thirty miles an hour. 



3d. Same as before, except that the train 

 was run at the highest possible rate of speed. 



4tli. Test of the automatic action of the 

 brake by causing the coupling pin between the 

 locomotive and train to be removed while the 

 train was in motion. 



5th. Test of the value of the brake in case 

 of fire or other accident when the bell cord 

 fails to notify the engineer, made by applying 

 the brake from within one of the cars while the 

 train was in rapid motion. 



6th. Test of the rapidity with which a train 

 may be stopped and backed up to avoid a col- 

 lision with another train. 



DISTANCES. — A distance of one-eight of a 

 mile was first marked off, then one of 300 

 feet, then seven others of 100 feet each, all 

 plainly and prominently designated with bright 

 colored flags and.boards. 



Time-keepers were selected and properly 

 stationed, and at about 2 p. m. tl e tests were 

 made in the order above mentioned Avith the 

 results given below, viz. : 



We consider the results very satisfactory 

 and gratifying, and find, upon comparing 

 them with these of the competitive trial on 

 the North British Kailway, in 1876, that, other 

 things being equal, the stops were made in less 

 time in every single instance. 



Theo. S. Case, 

 li. J. Latshav/, 

 M. W. St. Clair. 



Con3. 



*This distance incJudes the forward run as well as 

 the backing up, aod the time also covers botli motions. 

 The rate of speed in backing wa.s ten miles per hour. 



ENGINEERING IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS 

 [Correspondence.] 



The Colorado Central Eailroad Company, 

 a corporation now operating a system of nar- 

 row gauge railroads in the Eocky Mountains, 

 in connection with the ordinary 4 foot Si inch 

 gauge, have inaugurated a special system of 

 narrow gauge railway, by which to overcome 

 and to surmount mountain summits too steep 

 to be overcome by ordinary grades, in the usual 

 manner. The problem presented is, to build a 

 narrow gauge track from Black Hawk t<i Cen- 

 tral City. The distance between the present 

 terminus, at Black Hawk, and Central is one 

 and a half miles. The elevation at Central 

 above the Black Hawk depot is five hundred 

 feet, vertical, which would give for a direct line 

 a grade of three hundred and seventy-five feet 

 per mile, which, of course, is not possible, as 

 the bare locomotive could not haul itself up 

 with its tender. 



To overcome this difficulty and to lengthen 

 the line sufliiciently to reduce the three hundred 

 and seventy-five feet grade practicably, the line 

 is laid and located along the side of tde moun- 

 tain, southeast from Black Hawk, with a steady 

 ascending grade of from one hundred and fifty- 

 eight to one hundred and seventy-two feet per 

 mile, terminating in a piece of level track 

 three or four hundred feet long, upon which 

 the train can halt. Where the ascending grade 

 changes to a level grade a switch is placed, 

 which moves the switch-rail to another track, 

 which, in the same manner, ascends in a re- 

 verse course, and above the first track ascend- 

 ing from Black Hawk. This second ascending 

 track winds northwest along the high moun- 

 tain slope until it reaches an altitude suffi- 

 ciently high to extend, with some six hundred 

 feel of level grade, into the upper end of Cen- 

 tral City, in Nevada Gulch, some 8,500 feet 

 above the sea. In this part of the line, or 



