THE FASTEST LOCOMOTIVE

Clutha Leader, Volume V, Issue 196, 12 April 1878, Page 6

THE FASTEST LOCOMOTIVE

BUILDER IN THE "WORLD. 7 0 Lately in Jackson, Michigan, at theengine works ol the Michigan Central Railway, a competition took place be- A tvveen two gangs of workmen as to-ii which could soonest put a locomotivetogether, and send her out of the shopin running order. Heretofore the usual '-.. time for doing this work, with a gang k of five or six men, in the Baldwin Loco- a. motive Works of Philadelphia, has been* from nine days to two weeks. When, ' n therefore, the fact was published that the same feat had been accomplished at , Jackson by Robert Stewart, with 14- - men, in 25 hours, and by Walter Eddington, with his gang in 16g hours, the engine builders of the country were- 7 loud in their expressions of disbelief,. i This piqued tbe Jackson men, and they determined to transcend all previous- ; efforts. Accordingly on November 16, tbe parts of two new locomotives, which- ; had never been placed together, were collected, while on the two trucks were " the boilers. As the clock struck seven,, \ two gangs of 14 each, one commanded by Robert Stewart, and the other by " Walter Eddington, sprang to their': work. The boilers were raised by jacks- , on the massive frames, the driving- ! wheels secured in iheir places, the i cylinders, valves, link motions, connect- :■ ing rods, levers, smoke-stacks, jacket bolts, &c, numbering altogether thousands of pieces, were secured in their '** respective places. . The fires already lighted, convert into steam the water- : run in shortly after the start. Eddington's gang beats the other about a " minute in the finishing touches. The engineer, standing in his place, blows the whistle, turns on the steam, the driving wheels revolve, and the first engine moves down tbe yard. A few seconds later the other, with a shrill clarion whistle, follows its completed oompanion. The spectators, 200 in \ nuKiber, who watched every detail ot ' the work with breathless interest, break -' into a cheer, to which the grimy work- -. men, drenched in perspiration, give- > a hearty echo. Two hours and' fifty ■ minutes is the record from fifty watches,, and the Jackson shops and workmen ' are covered with a blaze of. glory. Thetwo engines were attached to an excursion train filled with employes, and the exultant crew went to Detroit. Each engine made the trip of 76 miles without heating a journal, and they bothran as smoothly as if they had been months in commission. Walter J. Eddington, the winner of the. competition, was born in Northumberland County, Ontario, twelve miles north of Cobourg, and served his apprenticeship, in Coburg* Foundry under James Davidson,, Esq , son of Mr Davidson, once mnnagerof the Bank of Montreal, and now theBank of Scotland, Edinburgh, and brother of James Davidson, Esq., Dunedin. If we are not mistaken, MrStewart is a Canadian also, and a nativeof Montreal. — Canadian Exchange.