Table Of Content$6.00
Ibmey
Matthias N.
THE RAILROAD CAR BUILDER'S
PICTORIAL DICTIONARY
WithaNewIntroduction byJohn E Stover Over800Illustrations
DOVER AMERICANA
TheGifttobe Simple: Songs, Dances and Ritualsof the
American Shakers, EdwardD.Andrews. (20022-1) $2.00
The PeopleCalled Shakers, Edward D. Andrews. (21081-2)
$3.00
Shaker Furniture: The Craftsmanship of an American
CommunalSect,EdwardD. AndrewsandFaithAndrews.
(20679-3) $2.75
Great Georgian Houses of America, Architects' Emergency
Committee. (22491-0, 22492-9) Two-volume set $9.00
Handbook of Gasoline Automobiles 1904-1906, Association
of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers. (22440-6) $3.50
Handbook of Automobiles 1915-1916, National Automobile
Chamber of Commerce (A.L.A.M.) (22689-1) $4.00
Handbook of Automobiles 1925-1926, National Automobile
Chamber of Commerce (A.L.A.M.) (22690-5) $4.00
Pre-Revolutionary Dutch Houses and Families in North-
ern New Jersey and Southern New York, Rosalie F.
Bailey. (21985-2) $5.00
The Eyesof Discovery: America as Seen by the First Ex-
plorers, John E. Bakeless. (20761-7) $3.50
Tulip Ware of the Pennsylvania-German Potters, Edwin
A. Barber. (22053-2) $3.00
Wild Fowl Decoys, Joel Barber. (20011-6) $4.00
TheTravelsofWilliam Bartram,editedby MarkvanDoren.
(20013-2) $3.00
The American Builder's Companion: An Unabridged Re-
print OF the Final (1827) Edition, Asher Benjamin.
(22236-5) $3.00
Law and Authority jn Colonial America, edited by George
Athan Billias. (22167-9) $2.50
HistoriesoftheDividing Line BetwixtVirginiaandNorth
Carolina, William Byrd. (21831-7) $3.00
American Folk Tales and Songs, Richard Chase. (22692-1)
$200
(continuedonbackflap)
BY
Matthias N. Forney
WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY JOHN F. STOVER,
PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, PURDUE UNIVERSITY
DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC.
NEW YORK
A Note on cion that material has been omitted, the present edition
the Pagination eliminates these blank spreads, pointing out the situa-
tion each time. For instance, on page 307 will be
found the indication "308 & 309 blank," and the next
page will be 310. Moreover, in three places material
In the original edition several double-page spreads has been shifted from left-hand pages to right-hand
were left blank, although included in the page number- pages to avoid blanks on the right. NO MATERIAL
ing. To avoid confusion, unsightliness and the suspi- HAS BEEN OMITTED.
Copyright © 1974 by Dover Publications, Inc. Master Car-Builders' Association by Matthias N. Forney,
All rights reserved under Pan American and International Mechanical Engineer, assisted by Leander Garey, Sup't of
Copyright Conventions. the Car Dep't, N. Y. Central b- Hudson River Railroad, And
Calvin A. Smith, Secretary of the Master Car-Builders'
Published in Canada by General Publishing Company, Association. Published by The Railroad Gazette, No. 73
LtdP.u,bl3i0shLeedsmiinllthReoaUdn,iteDdonKiMnilglds,omTobryonCtoon,stOantbalreioa.nd Com- BroAadnweayw,iNnetrwo-dYuocrtkio.n 1h8a7s9.been written specially tor the
pany, Ltd., 10 Orange Street, London WC 2. present edition by John F. Stover.
abrTihdigsedDorveepurbleidciattiioonn, offirstthepuwbolriksheodrigiinnal1l9y74p,ubilsisahnedubny- LInitberranraytioofnaClonSgtraensdsarCdatBaoloogkCNaurmdbeNru:mb0e-r4:867-42-2977849-722
The Railroad Gazette, New York, in 1879. The original title Manufactured in the United States of America
page read as follows: The Car-Builder's Dictionary: an illus- Dover Publications, Inc.
trated vocabulary of terms which designate American rail- 180 Varick Street
road cars, their parts and attachments. Compiled for the New York, N.Y. 10014
—
INTRODUCTION
TO THE DOVER EDITION
Barely a century ago, in the first decades after the Civil Central Pacific had provided the first rail service out to
War, the whistle of a steam locomotive was perhaps the the West Coast. In 1879 tlie railways of the nation were
most exciting sound to be heard in America. Few other on the threshold of a decade of record-breaking new con-
countries have had a railroad history so vital to the national struction. More than 70,000 miles of new road were to be
development. The new rail lines in western Europe gener- built in the decade of the 1880's, an increase which ex-
ally served towns and industrial cities long in existence ceeded any other ten-year period in our history.
in America the railroad often created the towns, filled in The recovery from the depression seventies was indicated
tlie frontier, and made possible the full maturing of an in- by the 4,800 miles of new track completed in 1879. The
dustrial society. The generation after Appomattox was the year 1880 saw 6,700 miles built; 1881 saw 9,800 miles
golden age of railroading. The appearance of The Car- completed, a record promptly passed by the 11,500 miles
Builder's Dictionary, in 1879, came at a time when the constructed during 1882. Construction slowed a bit in the
future of American railroads indeed seemed bright. middle eighties, but in 1887 an all-time high of 12,878
Railroads were booming in America in 1879. That year miles was laid in twelve months. For the ten years as a
marked the tenth anniversary of the Golden Spike cere- whole, the rate of construction averaged better than 19
mony of 1869, when the newly completed Union Pacific- miles of new line completed each and every day of the
decade. At the end of the eighties only five nations in the The first edition of The Car-Builder's Dictionary itself
world, Germany, Great Britain, France, Russia and Austria- illustrates still another facet of the vigorous railroad in-
Hungary, had even a tenth of the trackage found in the dustry. These were years of rapid technological change
United States. for railways, and this volume displays the latest innova-
In the same years there was also a marked growth and tions and advances in tire art of car building. Priced at
expansion in both railroad employment and total revenue. two dollars, the dictionary was published by The Railroad
During the seventies and eighties railroad workers, in both Gazette, a weekly illustrated journal of railroad news.
number and influence, ranked high in the labor force of Mattliias N. Forney, who was editor of the Gazette, com-
the nation. Between 1870 and 1890 railroad labor more piled the \'olume under the sponsorship of the Master Car-
than quadrupled, growing from 163,000 to 749,000 workers. Builders' Association.
Railroad employees in 1890 accounted for more than three Forney, who had served an apprenticeship under Ross
per cent of the gainfully employed in America, and many Winans, was a skilled draftsman and machinist, and had
thousands of additional workers were directly or indirectly earlier worked for the Baltimore & Ohio, the Illinois Cen-
dependent upon the industry. tral and the Hinkley Locomotive Works. Forney was also
Rail revenue grew more slowly, because of tlie general an inventor, and held patents for innovations or improve-
price deflation, and particularly because railroad rates and ments in railway seats, furnace doors, signal equipment,
fares declined markedly during the period. Between 1871 steam boilers and interlocking switches. The most impor-
and 1879 total rail revenue grew only from $403 million tant of his 33 patents was one issued in 1866 for an "im-
to $529 million, reflecting the general hard times of the proved tank locomotive," known as the Forney engine, and
decade. Annual gross revenues nearly doubled during the designed for suburban service. Five years before the
next ten yeais, and by 1889 stood at a record high of just Dictionary, in 1874, Forney had written the standard text
over a billion dollars. Catechism of the Locomotive.
The years before and after 1879 were indeed years of Block signaling and a manual interlocking system by this
hectic and active railroad invention. A substantial fraction time were permitting improved and safertrain control. More
of the twenty to thirty tliousand patents issued annually powerful locomotives were pullinglonger andheasaer trains,
in the seventies and eighties were railroad-oriented. In the which often included new types of freight equipment. A
pages of this book, both in the section of "Engraxings," and few fortunate passengers were able to enjoy steam-heated
in tlie concluding advertisements, tliere are dozens of illu- cars after 1881, and even read by the new electric lights
strations of patents issued in the years just after the Civil after 1887. By the early eighties more and more companies
War. were installing automatic couplers and air brakes, inven-
In these years tlie variety of railway innovation and tech- tions originally patented a dozen years before.
nological advance seemed to be almost infinite. During the TheCar-Builder's Dictionaryis ofcourselimited to freight
1870's changes were being made, in the North at least, and passenger equipment. The "Dictionary of Terms"
toward the adoption of a single standard track gauge of found in the first two-fifths of the volume includes more
4 feet SVz inches. The Grand Trunk of Canada in 1874, than 2400 notations covering a broad range and spectrum
and the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western in 1876, of subjects. In the following section of "Engravings" more
shifted to standard gauge. And the six-foot-broad-gauge than 800 illustrations and figures co\er the same general
Erie finally got in step by the early summer of 1880. In material.
the same years many lines were putting down steel rail in In the section of illustrations and drawings tliere is far
the place of iron. By 1880 probably a quarter of all track more material on passenger equipment than on freight.
in the nation was steel, and annual production of the new- After all, one does not find such items as seat hinges,
type rail had climbed to the million-ton mark. bertli springs, towel rods, spittoons, water coolers, lamps or
Standard time, sponsored by the industry, was adopted car stoves in the freight equipment of a century ago. This
across the nation by the railroads on November 18, 1883. emphasis on passenger facilities was in marked contrast to
the railroad revenue dollar in the 1870'.s and 1880's. In A great \ariety of railway products are presented in the
annual dollar revenue during these two decades freight concluding section, "Advertisements." Anvils, brakes, journal
traffic was generally two and a half to three times as bearings, locomotives, refrigerator cars, paper car wheels,
large as that produced by the passenger service. narrow-gauge rolling stock, barbwire fencing and padlocks
Some relatively new kinds of freight equipment are in- are among the items displayed in the 84-page supplement.
cluded in the volume. Shown in the grouping of freight- There is even some humor included in the ad of a Newark,
car bodies is a horizontal tank car, a type of equipment New Jersey, maker of railroad car varnish. In defining a
first introduced about a decade earher. Shortly after the "misplaced switch" the manufacturer writes: "The school-
appearance of The Car-Builder's Dictionary additional im- boy's notion of a birch rod applied in tlie rear. The switch-
provements in stock-car design were to be made by Alonzo man should also remember that the locomotive has a tender
C. Mather, a young Chicago businessman. Mather became behind."
interested in providing a more humane treatment of live-
stock being shipped to market. Throughout Forney's volume particular attention is given
Much of the material described or illustrated in Forney's to two very important technical innovations which were
work is of course common to both freight and passenger being introduced in these years: tlie automatic coupler and
equipment. Wheels, axles, trucks, brakes, draw-gear equip- the air brake. Perhaps a tenth of all the figures and
ment and couplers are all necessary to the entire roster of illustrations deal with tliese two inventions. The seventies
rolling stock. Such items are found on the car carrying and eighties were years in which most forward-thinking
pigs to market, or the smoking car filled with traveling railroad men were looking for improvements in the braking
salesmen and drummers. The volume also contains brief and coupling of railroad equipment. —
sections on horse-drawn streetcars, baggage and freight In the early years after the Civil War all trains fast
trucks, hand cars and simple bridge trusses. freights, local mixed trains, even the new mail or express
—
trains were plagued by a pair of devices, the link-and-pin of these inventors was a Confederate \eteran. Major Eli H.
coupler and the hand brake, which seemed to make all Janney. Using a penknife, Janney carved out his first model
railroad service slow and dangerous. Slowing a train with coupler while working in a dry-goods store near Alexandria,
hand brakes was always hazardous. As larger cars were Virginia. Janney's coupler, which he patented in 1868,
built the clearances beneath bridges and overpasses were worked like the hooked fingers of two hands. He improxed
reduced. When the locomotive engineer's whistle for his device by 1873, and by tlie late seventies Tom Scott
"down brakes" sent the freight brakemen up to tlie top was appro\ing the Janney coupler for use on tlie passenger
of tJie moving cars, the risk to lifd and limb was tlie cars of tlie Pennsylvania Railroad. But many railroad presi-
greater if the work was being done in snow, ice or dark- dents were slow to adopt tlie coupler because of tlie cost,
ness. and in the first years few orders came to the Janney Car
The old link-and-pin coupler was just as dangerous. This Coupling Company.
old-style coupler was so arranged that, in practice at least, About the same time a young Union .\rmy veteran,
the average brakeman could steer the "link" into the socket George Westinghouse, was inventing the air brake. The
and drop the "pin" only if he stood between the cars to be young New Yorker got his idea from French tunnel engi-
coupled. This was so hazardous that train brakemen of neers who were cutting rock \\'ith compressed air. He ob-
diat day were often recognized by tlieir crippled hands tained a patent for his brake in 1869, and tliat same year
or missing fingers. When a boomer brakeman was seeking saw his invention dramatically tested when tlie new brake
employment, often tire yard master or railroad official saved from destruction a farmer's wagon stalled on a rail-
would be satisfied that the applicant was qualified if he road crossing track. But railroad officials were still hard
could show a hand with one or two fingers missing. to sell. When tlie >oung in\entor approached tlie presi-
In tlie postwar years dozens of inventors were issued dent of the New York Central, the old Commodore re-
hundreds of patents for new or improved couplers. One portedly roared: "Do you pretend to tell me that you could
