Gasoline Locomotives

Not satisfied with crippling the street railways and furnishing active competition to the short-haul steam roads, the ever-growing motor industry is now beginning to appropriate the very tracks of the steam locomotive. It is likely that this invasion will never be crowned with complete success. Yet it is equally likely that the gasoline locomotive will in a few years be a familiar sight on branch lines of most U. S. railway systems.

The latest experiment--for it is still such--in rail transportation under gasoline power will be tried on the Rock Island, on whose rails Mack Truck will soon place the "Mack Rail Car." This new engine has resulted from three years' study of the problem; it is practically regular railway equipment, and can be coupled into two, three-or four-car trains with 90 horse power motors on each truck.

The main argument for the new gas locomotive is its saving in labor costs. On a daily mileage of 200 miles, all overhead costs on a steam train amount to from $1.20 to $1.50 per mile. Advocates of the gas locomotive claim that similar overhead costs on their new trains can be held down to 60-c- a mile. Thus, savings on a gasoline over a steam train would amount to $12,000 to $36,000 per year, depending on mileage.

The new "Mack Rail Car" has an all-steel Pullman body, weighs about 30 tons and is over 54 feet long.