New Hampshire Statesman

ACCIDENTS TO RAILROADS FROM FROSTED WHEELS. Let railroad managers and railroad travelers beware of accidents from this time forth until warm weather. Last winter we remember to have had some casualty to chronicle almost daily, from the breaking of wheels of railroad cars, occasioned by the extremely cold temperature. It was soon observed that these accidents usually occurred early in the morning, or at any rate very soon after a car that had been standing in a cold place was first put in motion. They were attributed, we remember, by one of our correspondents, to the sudden elevation of temperature of that portion of the hub or wheel nearest the axletree, caused by the friction when the car is set in motion, and which causes a sudden expansion before the heat can be diffused equally beyond the surface. The consequence is a fracture. The obvious remedies to this are either to keep the cars in a sheltered place when not in motion, or to start them with a moderate speed until the hubs and axletrees get warmed through. A car or locomotive ought to be stalled in winter as carefully as a horse, if it is to be kept in perfect readiness for use. If superintendents of railroads will see to this, we venture to say that accidents from the frosting of wheels will cease.

At one time last winter the Central or Hudson River Road was actually short of running cars from the frequent breaking of wheels during a succession of very cold days.—N. Y. Evening Post.