11A 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[May 1, 1891. 
we would discover that trains are no less interest- 
ing and pioturesque than ever the old lumbering 
dead and gone stage coaches were ; for there ie 
beauty in an engine — leaving on one side the 
smoking, puffing, evil-breathed metropolitan or 
suburban engines — the beauty of strength and speed. 
Had not Dickens and Hnzlilt and other literary giants 
of that day told us in their best of the joys of the 
ride on the stage coach, and hid from us its many 
discomforts, we would have seen less of romance in it 
than we do now. 
ENGINE 759. 
At any rat?, I found much to admire in En- 
gine 759 as she ran up the line at Ipswich station, 
coming to a stand after her steam from Yar- 
mouth. She is practically the only express engine 
fed by liquid fuel, There are other liquid fuel 
engines, many in Russia, a few in the United 
States, and in South America, but none are en- 
titled to be called ‘t express” engines, engines which 
do long runs at a high speed. Engine 759 is now 
some eighteen months old, and she is in the pink 
of condition. She differs from the ordinary en- 
gine in appearance by having on the tender, in 
stead of some tons of coal, an iron tank, and in 
her cab one to the manner educated would have 
noticed a few more taps aud handles and levers 
than usual. 
A r.EFUSE C’E VALUE. 
I had travelled down with two officials of the 
Great Eastern Railway Locomotive Department at 
Stratford, and was told of one of those mecha- 
nical revolutions, of which tins century has seen 
so many. The story is a curious one. The rail- 
way company have at Stratford gas works where 
they make from shale oil the gas which is burned 
in their train?. In the making of this gas refuse 
in the form of thin tar is given off, and this 
having been run into soma stream at Stratford, 
the authorities came down on the company for 
river pollution. That it was possible to further 
pollute any stream at Stratford was a surprise to 
me. However, the company had to get rid of 
their refuse in some way, and it occurred to Mr. 
James Holden, the Locomotive Superintendent, 
that the best he could do vrith it was to burn 
it. He hit on a plan of burning it under the 
stationary boilers used for making the gas, and 
suddenly, from a mere refuse, this by-product had 
become valuable. Little led to much. Mr. Holden 
went on to invent a system by which the refuse could 
be used as fuel on locomotives, and at once effected a 
revolution iu the fueling of engines. 
SOLID AND LIQUID FUEL. 
There were great difficulties to be got over. In 
this country it would be of little use designing 
a system which would render engines U’eles.s for 
solid fuel, or one such a nature that the par's 
are complicated and easily thrown out of action. 
It has, further, to be under the ready control of 
the driver. Another and chief difficulty is the 
blast. All these points have been fairly met. 
Dealing with the b ast first, I must explain that 
wlicii burning I quid fuel the blast required is mucli 
fofler than when burning coal alone. A gre ater 
quantity of air must pc.ss through the body of the 
lire wlirn coal is used. Means were found to 
enlarge and reduce Dio blast pine, and thus lit the 
engine for t-ither toal cr liquid luel. Accom- 
panyii.g this i? a sketch of the engin-?, wi'li the 
Ircnt removed to show the blast pipe. The dia- 
nie'cr tlu-rn shown is (lin., and it 13 thit diameter 
which is “ on ” wlicn the liiiviid is btdng burned; 
but v.lim coal ibric is being used, tlie timnan 
touchea a levc-r, the ring abovo cemea down, anl, 
being conical, reduces the blast pipe to 6 in. 
diameter. When the large diameter is in use 
there is less wear and tear of fire-box and tubes, 
and less back pressure on the cylinders, and the 
engine in consequence works more freely. It will 
be seen that this arrangement of enlarging the blast 
pipe, which has been invented in connection with 
this system, is of high value. 
HOW THE EIBE 13 EED, 
To explain thoroughly the ingenious arrange- 
ment of Mr. Holden’s apparatus would require 
much technical detail. How it is done is simply 
this ; — The liquid fuel is conducted from the tank 
lhrou;.h pipes to the “ injectors," These (two in 
number.) are placed below the footboard in front 
cf openings provided in the fire-box. Doming 
from the boiler are steam pipes, all easily regu- 
lated by the bunch of bandlrs shown in the sketch. 
The steam passes through these pipes to the in- 
jectors, there meeting the oil and driving the 
atomized fuel into the fire-box. But before com- 
bustioii takes place the stream of pulverised liquid 
is met by still another gush of steam known as the 
ring jet, which induces a strong current of air, 
and the fuel is thrown into tbe fire as a fine spray, 
charged too wiih abundant oxygen for rapid com- 
bustion. Then there are other cunning contrivances 
— a lever whu h regulates or stops the flow of fuel to 
the furnace, a handle which, turned, sends a jet of 
steam through a coil m the tank to warm it in cold 
weather or liquefy it when it is thick, and various 
other matters, all tending to great economy in 
working and in fuel. As to the relative value of 
the sjsttm with that of solid fu l, that also is 
important. One pound of the fud is equal to 21b. 
of coal, which means that, as with a peund cf coal 
81b. of water can bo evaporated, a pound of liquid 
fuel will evaporate 16. b. cf water. The fuel costs 
25s a ton ; coal to do the samo work (two tons) 
costs 3,5s — a big saving alone. Of ten engines of the 
same class, one using liquid fuel requires per en; ine- 
mile (wbich includes standing in eheds, sidings, &c,), 
111b. liquid and 12 lb. solid fuel. The others 
require 34;b. solid fuel pir engine-mile. The 
weight on the tender is reduced by a couple of 
tons, and the saving all round is something like 60 
percent. Tho gentleman who has had Ihis depart- 
ment of the Stratford Woiks in hand form tbe 
first, tells me that tho fuel used to cost them §■] 
a gallon. They are now paying Id a gallon for it. 
They add to it a refuse cii obtained from the 
Backton Oas Works, a creosote or green oil left 
over after tar distillation, which costs from l^d to 
Sd a gallon, and brings up the cost of the fuel to 
about three halfpence per gallon. 
THE START. 
But all this time Engine 769 has been standing 
waiting the signal tobegone. Here is her ofiicisl 
description : — Driving wheels, four coupled, 7ft. 
diameter ; cylinders, I 8 in. by 24in. , weight, in 
working order, 40 tons. Our times were : — Ipswich 
4.22 ; Liverpool Street, 6 o’clock — nearly seventy 
miles to be d ne in an hour and twenty-eight 
mi,.utes. A few yards away ro.se the tree-clothed 
h;li, crowned with a pretty red-brick house, which 
S' rves to make Ipswich Station one of tho most 
sti'ikii g in the Eastern Counties. Even the tunnel, 
with wiiich it lias been pierced, hardly disfigured 
it, and on such a day — sunshiny, warm, and 
blue slyi d — after a spell of London fog it was 
enough to sm ge 4 the still far-off spring. I climbed 
into the cab of Engine 759, and saw the fuel 
pipes at rest. The fire was a dull glow, for it is 
one of tho benefits arising from tlie ute of liquid 
fuel that none of it is wasted wlitn the engine is 
