SODA LOCOMOTIVES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1448, 5 January 1887, Page 3

SODA LOCOMOTIVES.

The Philadelphia Record nays : — At tr« Baldwin Locomotive Work* there nre fn course of construction four locomotives, which are designed to be run by soda, whloh takeß th* pace of fire tinder *fee boiler. S 'n ban much of tho Hame power as co»l, wlhon f . any of the ganes which that fu»l rm'te. The engines are nyw npnrly finished and are to be shipped w : iJ'in 'wo W"kn to Mlpnft«D" l in, Min^ , and ar- to be run ov «h A s f reets of timt c'ty. whnr«» nteam enginps r» forbidden. The engine bn* munh thn B»rafl appcarjiPO" sb a pj»*Ber#er cur. It io about 16ft lo g, entirely br»xf<d m, with no visible smoktistaiks nr rip»s, as them Is nn <ix' «vist or refine, Tho boM^r Is of eorper, $4]jn. In dimeter and 'sft lop?, bavnc tubes run* ; nlng through It as m utenm boilers. Inside the b ilrr wtM be placed five tons of n da, whioh upon balnu dampened by a ]"t of Fteam. prorlncri an intense heat. When the acta Is thoroughly sahurated, vhich will oooar m nhnvt v hours, the not'on ceapee, and then It is neoowary to restore 1 it t 1 ) its original state by foroing thru jh . tbe Voi'er a BiTe^ra of Bupefhoatßd Rteßtn „ from f stationary boiler, which drives tho ' molit.nre entirely from the soda, when it ' Is a^ain ready for nnr>. The exhaust rteam > from the cylinders ia nsed to naturate the soda, and bp this means all rpfn^e m mcd Soda engines are now used m Berlin and other European cities very Buocensf ully, and i they often ♦r»ver*e the Sfc GlhaH tunnoi, under the Alps, where the s'oam oncines I cannot be coed because the length of the } tunnel rendern it Impositlhln to divise a j system of ventilation which will carry off t the foul gates generated by a Icp motlvp. 1 80 overpowering would these gases beaome th>t snffooi^ion would eneue.