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Strength of American Railway 0ars.--On the 23d of October, 1878, a southeasterly gale prevailed in the Middle States, which was very severe at Philadelphia.
The anemometer of the Signal Service recorded a velocity of the wind of seventy-five miles an hour. Several steeples were blown down, and several hundred houses unroofed and otherwise seriously damaged.
Among the structures thus injured~ was the depot of the Pennsylvania Railroad, West Philadelphia. It consisted principally of a main building, for waiting-rooms and offices, and two sheds, each 70 feet in width, and about 800 feet in length, extending northward from the main building, and on the side of the hill bounding the Schuylkill on the west. Immediately east of the depot~ and about 25 feet below, are the tracks of the Junction Railroad. From its situation~ the eastern shed was greatly exposed to an easterly storm. During the gale of October 23d, about 7 o'clock A. ~I.~ the shed was blown over upon several trains of cars~ which were under it~ ready to be dispatched.
So great was the strength of these cars~ that they held up the wreck. The 10-inch cast-iron columns, 25 feet long, that supported the roof-girders, fell, in many cases, directly against the cars with the force due to their own weight and that of the whole roof, probably at least 6 tons to each column, impelled by the force of the wind added to that of gravity.
:Notwithstanding this~ not one of the cars was wrecked. In one instance, a column struck a car near the middle~ and snapped off~ but the framework of the car was not broken; the lower part of the column rested against the car--the upper part on its roof.
It has been frequently remarked that in railroad accidents in En-gland~ the fatality and wounding are greater than in the United States~ owing to the fact that the English cars are not built to stand any extraordinary blow, and in the event of a collision or derailment, the cars are splintered to a greater extent than in this country; but it is so rare that a test like the above occurs~ that we think it worthy of a permanent record.
A car that will stand, without injury~ the impact of a 10-inch cast-iron column~ with 6 tons of extra weight, driven by a gale of seventy-five miles an hour~ contains an excess of strength that is very assuring to the traveler. R.
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Proceedings of the New York Railroad Club