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Show NEW KIND &F ReAB. Tractor Train to Be Bun Over - the Highway General Bailroad An Eastern newspaper contains a description de-scription of a tractor train now being constructed by a New York engineering concern, which, If successful, is expected ex-pected to "revolutionize'' transportation methods In certain sections of the far West. The concern Is building the train for the Pacific Coast Borax company, and it consists of an engine and seven cars, to be used In the Death Valley of southern California. It is expected that the train will displace it large force of mules and drivers and effect an annual an-nual saving of $100,000. A macadam road 100 miles in length Is being built across the sunds of the desert, and through a pass over a mountain, along which the train will be operated. The engine, or movable power plant, has two three-cylinder seventy-flvc-horse power engines, 10x15, and running at 300 revolutions. revo-lutions. These are directly connected to a 100-kilowatt generator from which, the current is transmitted along the' coupling tongues to the care, each of' which has two motors. The speed ia to be four and a half miles per hour and the whole train Is equipped with airbrakes. air-brakes. Each car has a carrying capacity ca-pacity of fifteen tons, weighs flOOO pounds and runs on steel wheels. The total cost of the train is $80,000. The method of control is simple, the gasoline motor being started by compressed aln and the electric controller and steering wheel being in the protected front of: the engine. |