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for this purpose, but they have been superseded, in 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 coming in use for the heavier class of en- 
gines, or “steamers,” as they are called. The engines 
usually fit 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 
