"bad" for the train as well as for the "coo." To many Americans who, like most people remote from prevailing conditions, are quick to criticize, it would seem that such accidents, infrequent though they may be in Great Britain, would suggest the use of the American "cow-catcher" as an additional safeguard; in fact about 1882 while the Eames Vacuum Brake Company was running its American built (Baldwin) locomotive on a night express train on a British line, it struck some obstructions placed designedly on the line by unknown persons, and I recall reading the report of the government officials who investigated the accident, in which they stated that the escape of the train from serious injury was owing to the fact that the engine was equipped with the American cow-catcher which swept most of the obstructions from the line.

Now this testimony to the efficiency of the cow-catcher is very flattering, but recently some miscreants piled stones on the track of the railway which passes my home, and even if the cow-catcher swept some of the obstructions away, enough remained on the rails to derail the engine, fortunately with nothing resulting more serious than its retirement to the shop for three or four days. This is but one of many such accidents which have come under my notice in the past, and too often of a more serious character, and it has occurred to me that it might be good practice to add the life guard of our English cousins to our locomotives, attaching it either directly in front of the forward truck wheels to the main frame, or to the frame of the truck itself, as is done on some English engines with "double bogie" trucks. Approaching so closely to the rail, it would certainly clear away many obstructions that would necessarily lie below the bottom of the higher cow-catcher.

It could also be attached to the rear end of tenders or to the tender truck frames, and in such a way to either engine or tender as would not seriously, if at all, interfere with repairs, while its very shape and position would undoubtedly enable it to force many obstructions from the rail more effectually than can be done by the cow-catcher with its lower sections placed diagonally to the lines of rails. C. H. CARUTHERS.

THE SUPERINTENDENT'S RESPONSIBILITY.

BOSTON, October 21, 1912.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE RAILWAY AGE GAZETTE: The letter of W. G. Lee, in your last issue, page 722, discussing discipline and other things connected with train work, is highly suggestive. While the head of a brotherhood is looked upon by railway officers as a partisan, it must be admitted that in this letter Mr. Lee sets forth in telling fashion a good many significant truths. I am particularly interested in his reference to seniority. He says that men who cannot pass examinations are not promoted; if a man does pass-and the officers are the judge of his fitness-he is entitled to promotion.

This is a definite challenge to the railroad superintendent who complains at the seniority rule and bemoans its bad results on his own road. The superintendent does, indeed, bear the responsibility of judging of a man's fitness when he is up for promotion. A superintendent who acts on any other basis than his own best judgment is derelict.

To act on this high standard is difficult, of course. The usual complaint, when it is followed down to its simplest terms, is that no superintendent's judgment can be sufficiently accurate and penetrating. A man passes an examination, but later it is found that he is not so good as the examination seemed to indicate. But the man is then settled in his new position and it will require a fight to get him out of it. Is there not a remedy for this? I think so. The superintendent must judge more minutely; he must go fully into detail; the good and bad qualities of our enginemen, for example, must be described at length. Going into detail the officer will be forced to be just. Being just when making records on paper will tend to strengthen his spirit of justice when he is dealing face to face with a committee. More

over, the superintendent must revise judgments when necessary. Suppose that fireman B is promoted, and after a year it appears that he is not quite up to the requirements of his position. It is a plain duty to the public-if the high speeds are to be expected and if the highest standards of engine running are to be maintained to put fireman C in the place of B. Is it out of the question to take this course? Having chosen half a dozen enginemen who are rated as 80, 70 and 65 per cent., and finding that they really measure only 70, 68, and 64, is there no way to cure the error until one of the men kills a passenger or commits some other error which merits discharge? Knowing that these enginemen ought to measure up to a percentage of 85 or 90, the superintendent has no right to rest until he has done everything within his power to bring all of his men up to this standard. Can any committee of employees successfully find fault with or complain of the superintendent who gives this close attention to the discipline of enginemen and who makes his acts so plain and clearly understood that no one can gainsay his fairness and intelligence?

I am a friend of the superintendents; and you may even say, perhaps, that I am a partisan of that class. It irks me to see a smart labor leader vanquish a superintendent because he-the labor leader has greater skill, experience and resources. But I want to say that the rank and file of the brakemen and firemen do really believe that they have a substantial grievance in the conduct of the railroad officers whose decisions they have occasion to study and to act on. Their grievance is based largely on the persistent way in which, after raising rates of pay, these officers try to neutralize the increase by grotesque and absurd interpretations of the rules. A superintendent may go too far in this course. Two wrongs do not make one right. If you have agreed to pay too much, do your best to get better service. Putting kinks into the regulations about hostler service, or adding puzzling conditions to the hours of service regulations, could hardly be expected to do much to correct a fundamental wrong, such as too high a rate of wages. "Beating the labor leader at his own game," is no lasting credit.

We have here a specific demand, voiced by a labor leader, that the American railroad superintendent live up to his duty to judge of the fitness of his employees; which implies the duty of acting on such judgment, filling all places with the best men that can be had, and getting rid (or reducing to lower rank) all men who are unfit. Does the existence of a troublesome grievance committee afford any excuse for neglecting this duty to the public? Or a tender feeling for an unfortunate blunderer, or for the officer of the road who is the blunderer's brother-in-law? Train service demands 100 per cent. men, for a single disastrous collision in twenty years reduces the percentage of safety below 100 to an extent that nobody wants to put up with. Admitting that perfection is not to be attained we still are bound to strive in that direction more vigorously than we have yet striven.

L. E. M.

MANCHURIAN RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION. The line from Changchun to Kirin, in central southern Manchuria, has almost been completed and will probably be opened to traffic by December 1. This line will open up a very fertile district. It will be 79 miles long, 48 miles of which are already opened to traffic. At first traffic over the Tumenling pass will be carried on by a light railway which, however, will eventually be replaced by a

tunnel.

TRANS-SAHARA RAILWAY.-According to French newspapers the parties sent out by the French government to explore the Sahara desert, Africa, with the idea of ascertaining whether or not it would be possible to build a railway across the desert, have now completed their work. The report is said to be most satisfactory, and it is believed now that all the obstacles can be overcome. If the government should decide to go on with the matter the entire plans may be completed by the end of the present year.

The Lake Superior & Ishpeming is primarily an ore-carrying road, shipping ore from its own, as well as from several independent properties, through the ore docks at Presque Isle Bay, Marquette, Mich. A wooden dock of ordinary construction has been in service there for about 16 years. In 1910 it became necessary to consider the erection of a new dock. The increase in cost and scarcity of suitable timber and the high cost of maintenance and operation of the wooden dock led to an investigation of the relative costs of different forms of construction. Estimates showed that a concrete and steel dock would

Late in 1910 plans were prepared and the contract for the structural steel and machinery were let on a percentage basis. A fee for engineering services was a separate consideration. Concrete work and pile driving was let and arrangements made for dredging. The railway company furnished certain materials and did some parts of the work. One item was the construction of an approach fill containing 600,000 cu. yds.

The general dimensions of the structure are as follows: The dock proper is 1,200 ft. long, 75 ft. above water, 60 ft. wide at the bottom and 54 ft. wide at the top. There are 200 ore pockets,

cost about 167 per cent., and an all-steel dock 185 per cent. of the cost of a timber dock, but excluding the cost of operation, and including the cost of maintenance over a term of years, he total cost on a long term basis was found to be very much ess for the concrete and steel design than for either of the thers.

The concrete and steel dock plan, as finally adopted, was resented by the writer representing the Wisconsin Bridge & ron Co. This concrete construction was quite similar to that reviously used by the writer for the design of supports for rge ore bins at the stamp mill of the Ahmeek Mining Co., in Loughton county, Mich.

*See descriptions of the Duluth & Iron Range dock at Two Harbors, inn., in the Railway Age Gazette of January 5. 1912, the Great Northern ck at Allonez, Wis., in the Railway Age Gazette of January 26, 1912, d an editorial discussion of these docks in the latter issue.

each of 250 to 300 tons capacity. Four railway tracks extend the whole length of the dock. There is an approach fill one mile in length on a 1.5 per cent. grade, a trestle 600 ft. long and a tail trestle 60 ft. long.

The structure is supported on about 10,000 piles which are enclosed between two lines of 12-in. sheet piling. These lines of sheet piling were tied together across the top, from wale to wale, with 14 in. tie rods and the space between is filled with dredged sand. These tie rods were embedded in the bottom of the concrete slab. The sheet piling was of 12 in. x 12 in. Oregon fir with 4 in. x 4 in. hardwood strips nailed on two sides to form a dove-tailed tongue and groove. After the sand filling was in place the concrete slab, dock walls and column footings were placed. The 3 ft. slab was reinforced laterally and longitudinally by old wire hoisting rope in long lengths. This rope

was obtained from mines in the neighborhood at scrap prices and was from 1 in. to 11⁄2 in. in diameter. A feature of the dock wall construction was the use of a steel facing plate extending from the bottom of the concrete to a height of three feet above low water. This plate is supposed to prevent the disintegration of concrete from freezing and abrasion of ice, government breakwaters in the neighborhood built only a few years ago showing the need of some protection of this sort.

The total length of slab is over 1,500 ft. and it was built without expansion joints. The whole foundation is extremely rigid and it is so massive that it is capable of withstanding very heavy "bumps" from large vessels.

The work of placing the foundation slab was followed by the

mately 12 ft. The handling of the concrete and the design of the forms for use over and over again were large engineering problems in themselves. In a re-design of the structure the concrete part of it would probably be modified in some respects to simplify the work.

As stated before, no expansion joints were provided in the 1,200 ft. of dock but expansion joints were placed at each end where it joins the steel trestles. During the last winter and summer no cracks of consequence have developed, although the dock was placed in service several months ago. It is so massive and rigid that practically no vibration from trains can be felt even when brakes are suddenly applied.

The designs of the chutes and operating machinery were

erection of the reinforcement for the columns, struts and bin partitions to the full height of the structure. The semi-circular bin fronts and some other parts of the steel work were not erected at this time.

The main columns of each bent are each 28 in. by 36 in. in size and are connected in pairs by 12 in. vertical walls. They are each reinforced by four 21⁄2 in. x 22 in. x 14 in. angles, box laced. The columns and walls, which also carry load, were really figured as plain concrete carrying between 400 and 500 lbs. per sq. in. The slight reinforcement shown was put in to prevent cracking and to form a positive means of tying the whole structure together both laterally and longitudinally.

Forms were placed and the concrete poured in lifts of approxi

worked out specially for this dock and differ materially from those previously in general use. It is believed that this is the first instance in which the chute winding cable, drums, counterweight cable and swinging counterweight are laid out in such a way that the chute, which weighs 8,200 lbs., is perfectly balanced in every position. Each set of six adjacent chutes on a side is operated from a 2 in. line shaft driven by a 15 h. p. motor. Each hoist is operated from this line shaft by a friction clutch. Two or more hoists on one line shaft may be operated together, the time required to raise or lower a chute being only 20 seconds. To move the chute the operator must first release and hold the automatic brake with the left hand; then hold the lever of the friction clutch in operating position with the right hand.

keeping the truck moving alongside the car the bags were all put in before the car had got beyond the end of the platform. A run of 1,200 ft. with a load of 4,500 lbs. has been made in 16 minutes, including the time taken to return the empty truck. With one truck two men, handling newspaper mail, in one hour did work which usually had required the service of four men. two hours.

Trucks carrying a load of one ton are run up grades of from 5 to 25 per cent. The trucks can be run on platforms 8 ft. wide, turned into a freight car door and run into either end of the car for loading or unloading. Where space is limited the large capacity of the trucks is an important advantage. Twenty trucks will carry 20 tons of freight; with ordinary two-wheel trucks this quantity usually requires a procession of 160 workmen.

Mr. Watlington presented some estimates which he had made relative to the economies possible in handling freight. He finds that the average income of the railways of the country for the freight which they carry is $1.07 a ton. From estimates based on 15,000,000 tons of L. C. L. freight, the statistics of which had come under his observation, he concluded that the average cost of handling, including the work at the starting point, at destination and at transfers, is 62 cents a ton; which would leave but 45 cents a ton for transportation over the road. Real estate in cities has increased in value so rapidly that the freight house problem is a difficult one. At one station in Chicago, the cost of handling outbound freight is 52 cents a ton, whereas 20 years ago it was only one-half as much, the average trucking distance being then shorter and the house less crowded. Over-head hauling is an attractive proposition, but to use this method you must rebuild your freight house. Mr. Watlington gave facts concerning the over-head hauling apparatus in a new freight house of the Baltimore & Ohio, at Baltimore, and that of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, at St. Louis.

At St. Louis, the present average daily tonnage is 330 tons, far less than the capacity of the plant. The over-head apparatus there cost $90,000, but the real estate investment was several millions. It was this high cost of land that necessitated the expensive machinery. The apparatus worked successfully the very first day that the house was open. The cost per ton then was 70 cents. In spite of greatly reduced tonnage it has now been reduced to about one-half that. With tonnage near the capacity of the plant the cost will go below the prevailing rate in St. Louis, which is about 35 cents a ton where all the work is done . on one level.

Mr. Brown gave statistics of the work of two trucks for a month on a New York pier. These trucks worked 26 days of 11 hours each and made an average mileage per day of 13.6; average tonnage per day. 225; per hour, 20.3. Total number of loads, 230; average length of haul, 158.5 ft.; average number of pieces per load, 29.8; average time per load-loading, unloading and running time-2.89 minutes. This work was done by a gang of eight men, two on the trucks, three in the car, and three on the boat from which the freight was taken. Mr. Brown thought that the work could have been done economically by six men. This gang of eight men in the average day handled and was paid for 247 tons; that is to say, an average of 22 tons a day had to be handled by the two-wheeled truck or by some other method. The men earned $2.40 a day, or at the rate of 8.7 cents a ton. Mr. Brown estimates that the maintenance of the trucks cost about four mills per ton of freight hauled.

Fifty-two baggage trucks at the Pennsylvania passenger station in New York, during the month of April, cost for maintenance 89 cents per truck. In this calculation the cost of electric power is estimated at 21⁄2 cents per kilowatt hour. Some Buckwalter trucks are now being made with a 7 ft. platform and with rear wheels 9 in. in diameter, so arranged that the truck can go into the corner of a freight car. Within two or three months it is expected that 200 of these trucks will be in use on a large railway. Mr. Barrett, who had used the electric trucks at Jersey City, made comparisons with telpherage, tending to show that that method would be more costly than electric trucks. He said that

the results at the Erie pier, which had been referred to, were accomplished in spite of unfavorable conditions on the pier, which was built 48 years ago. He referred to the fact that the freight which had been handled at the Erie pier was miscellaneous merchandise distributed into a large number of cars, whereas the work described by Mr. Brown was a simpler proposition, the freight being taken from the boat direct to one car at a time. Freight thus handled from boats to cars, or cars to boats, costs, at Weehawken, N. J., by old methods, about 8 cents a ton.

Mr. Coria related his experience with 20 electric trucks at Savannah. To load the trucks to their full capacity it was found necessary to rearrange the stowage of cargoes in the holds of the vessels. At first there was congestion around the hatches of the ships, the trucks having to wait for the hoister to lift freight from the lower decks; but this was overcome by using a flat board about the size of the truck bodies, fitted with rings on each corner; with this board a load for a truck is lifted at one hoist. The flat board is returned on the empty truck for the next load. This arrangement is for small packages. In handling grain, flour, nails, etc., rope slings are used. Twenty bags of grain of 100 lbs. each are taken up at once in a double sling and set on the truck. An electric truck will carry as much long pipe as can be taken on eight hand trucks. An electric truck carrying 1,500 lbs. will travel at 138 ft. a minute; a hand truck carrying 400 lbs. in similar service averaged 156 ft. per minute. In trucking freight an average distance of 1,170 ft. the cost was found to be 9 cents a ton, while with hand trucks for this distance the cost was 17 cents a ton. At Savannah the average distance from the main discharging berth to all the warehouses is 637 ft., and variation in tides makes differences in the grades from 37 per cent. to zero. Seventy per cent. of the freight can be carried on electric trucks and for the balance it is necessary to employ hand trucks. The negro laborers are educated within a few days to run an electric truck.

RAILROAD CONSTRUCTION IN COLOMBIA.-The Pacific Railway, which is now under construction from the port of Buenaventura on the Pacific coast of Colombia, west to Cali, department of Cauta, about 60 miles, and has contracted with the Colombian government to extend the road northeast to Girardot, about 125 miles, where connection will be made with the Girardot Railway, which runs northwest to Bogota, about 50 miles. Bogota at present has no railroad connection with the coast. The contract also calls for the construction of branch lines from Cali south to Popayan, about 75 miles, and from Cali north to Manizales, about 110 miles. The construction work on the Popayan and Manizales branches is to be commenced immediately upon completion of the main line from Buenaventura to Cali, which should be some time next summer. The Manizales branch will pass through the towns of Pereira and Cartago. The Columbian government will apply 50 per cent. of the customs duties collected in the custom houses on the Pacific coast to this construction. The headquarters of the company are at Cali.

RAILROAD CONSTRUCTION IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS.-Construction work on the line from Aringay on the coast of the province of Union in the central western portion of Luzon island, east to Baguio in the province of Benguet, about 20 miles, is progressing rapidly, even better than the officials of the company thought possible at the beginning. Over nine hundred men are working at the Baguio end of the new road, from which more than four miles of grading work has been completed toward Aringay. At Aringay working toward Baguio is a camp of 1,200 men, which will be increased in the near future to 4,500 men. About two miles of track has been laid from Aringay, and the grade is completed for nearly seven miles further. Hydraulic streams are being used to cut down the dirt grade, the water being obtained from the Irosen river. The main tunnel in this line has already been driven 165 ft. into the cliff to its full height. The work is already more than half finished.