Rupert wrote:
Back during the Burlington Brake Trials in 1876, test equipment was installed in the waycar at the end of the test trains to measure the severity of the braking effect. The slideometer consisted of a wooden trough 14 feet long and 6 inches wide, screwed to the centre of the waycar. In the trough was a wrought iron weight 5 inches in diameter weighing about 16 pounds which could slide in either direction, and the distance travelled indicated the severity of the movement. As well as the braking effect, the slideometer also demonstrated what happened when the train started moving. It was believed at that time that coupling slack was essential for getting a train moving, but the tests showed that was not the case. The slideometer demonstrated to the industry (members of the braking company’s management were posted to the waycar) that, with slack couplers, the shocks transmitted to the waycar were extreme and that passage in a waycar was dangerous.
I checked a few of my files as I wasn’t sure about the location of the Slideometer. While I think it may have been covered in one of the Railroad Journals more completely, the Westinghouse Air Brake book on Brake Tests only states the device was installed in the “rear car”. Further on it states the shock was being recorded in the rear or 52nd car which indeed would make it the Waycar….there being 50 box cars, a dynamometer, and waycar. BTW, there was a device in the 26th (box) car that recorded the speed, time, distance and brake-beam pressure for each stop.
The Westinghouse book carries a summary of the Master Car Builders proceedings covering the trials of 1886 and 1887. They both state that the CB&Q Dynamometer Car (identified in a number of consists as Car Z) was built by the railroad in July, 1884 which confirms one of the dates in railroad records.
As to the interest in reducing damage from train handling (damage free load restraining devices and draft gear cushioning) this was a result of the growth of long distance trucking and shippers noticing less damage in their goods shipped on the highways. There was recently a link to a training film (IIRC by the Nickel Plate) on the subject directed at switchmen and other train crew professionals to be mindful of controlling switching impact speeds and cornering cars in yards.
Charlie Vlk