THE GRAVITY RAILROAD.
"About all we lack now," said Dutchy, when the windmill had been
completed, "is a railroad."
"Then suppose we build one," was Bill's unexpected rejoinder.
We all thought he was joking, but he wasn't.
"I don't mean a steam railroad," he said, "but a gravity railroad."
"A what?"
"A gravity railroad. Oh, you know what that is--a roller toboggan--the
kind they have down at Coney Island." And he went on to explain how we
could rig up a simple roller toboggan on our island.
His plan was to build an inclined trestle on the high ground just below
the lagoon, and then run wooden tracks along the shore down to the
pontoon bridge, and across the mill-race to Kite Island. We started
first to dig a road down to the bridge, because the bank was quite high
at this point. The task was rather greater than we anticipated, but we
kept steadily at it until we had cut a fairly good road through the
bank, though the grade was rather steep.
Before proceeding with the trestle and track we thought the best plan
would be to build our car, and then we could use it as a gauge to
determine how far apart the rails should be set.
THE CAR.
[Illustration: Fig. 297. Putting the Car Body Together.]
First we got a 2 x 4-inch scantling, and cut from it two lengths, each 4
feet 6 inches long. These were laid on edge just 30 inches apart, and
then a number of boards were nailed across from one scantling to the
other and sawed off flush with their edges. The floor thus formed was
now turned over so that the scantlings lay uppermost and the sides of
the car were then nailed on with their edges overlapping the ends of the
floor boards. The sides, which were about 18 inches high, were each made
of two boards firmly battened together. Great care was taken to securely
nail both the flooring and the sides to the scantlings, because these
scantlings were to carry the wheels of the car. The car body was
completed by nailing on the end pieces which overlapped both the
flooring and the side walls.
THE FLANGED WHEELS.
[Illustration: Fig. 298. The Car Wheel.]
Next we sawed out the wheels of our car. From a board of hardwood 3/4 of
an inch thick four disks, 12 inches in diameter, were sawed out. Then
from a board 1 inch thick four 9-inch disks were sawed out. We cut these
disks in the same way as we had made the disks for our surveying rod
(see page 78), by making cuts across corners and finally smoothing off
the angles with a draw-knife. A half-inch hole was now drilled in the
center of each disk. Then on each large disk a smaller one was placed,
with the center holes of the two coinciding and the grain of one lying
across the grain of the other. In this position they were firmly nailed
together, making a wheel like those used on a railway car, with the
small disc forming the tread of the wheel and the large disk serving as
a flange.
THE CAR AXLES.
[Illustration: Fig. 299. Car Body with Axles in Place.]
For the car axles we bought four 1/2-inch bolts, 6 inches long, with two
washers and two nuts for each bolt. In each side of the car, about 8
inches from the ends, we nailed face blocks; that is, blocks of wood for
the wheels to bear against. These face blocks were only 1/2 inch thick.
Then in these blocks holes were drilled which were carried clear through
the scantling. The holes were just large enough for the bolts to fit
snugly in them. The bolts were inserted from the inside, so that their
threaded ends projected out at each side of the car. A patch of wood was
nailed to the scantling over each bolt head to prevent the bolt from
slipping back into the car. Then the wheels were mounted on these bolts,
which served as axles.
MOUNTING THE WHEELS.
[Illustration: Fig. 300. Section Showing How to Fasten on the Wheel.]
First a washer was placed on the axle, then the wheel was applied, with
the larger or flange disk against the face block, after which another
washer was slipped on. A nut was screwed against this washer just
tightly enough to keep the wheel snugly in place, and yet let it turn
freely on its axle. Then to keep this nut from shaking loose a second
nut was screwed on against it. While one fellow held the first nut from
turning, another screwed the second nut against it as tightly as he
could. The second nut is technically known as a "jam nut," or "lock
nut." The car was completed by laying a couple of boards across from one
scantling to the other to serve as seats.
THE RAILWAY TRACK.
[Illustration: Fig. 301. The Inclined Trestle.]
[Illustration: Fig. 302. Joints of the Track.]
The trestle was now begun. First we erected a level platform, which was
to be the starting point of the railway. This was made very substantial
by planting the corner posts firmly in the ground and then bracing them
together with diagonal braces. A couple of planks leaning against the
platform at one side provided a convenient means for mounting to the
top. From the platform the trestle ran down at an easy incline to the
ground. It was made of 2 x 4-inch scantlings supported at intervals on
posts driven into the ground. The opposite posts were firmly braced with
boards fastened diagonally across them. The scantlings were to serve as
rails, and so we fastened them at the proper distance apart with ties
nailed to the under side. But to be sure that the rails were not too far
apart or too close together, the car was rolled over the track and the
rails were set to keep the tread disks of the wheels on them and the
flange disks just clear of their inner edges. The ends of the rails were
cut off at an angle, making a slanting joint, as shown in Figs. 301 and
302. They were fastened firmly together by nailing a piece of board on
the bottom and also on the outer side.
THE CARPENTER'S MITER BOX.
[Illustration: Fig. 303. Carpenter's Miter Box.]
To make sure that the ends were all cut to the same angle, we made a
carpenter's "miter box." Two sideboards were nailed to a baseboard,
making a trough large enough for the scantling to be set in it. Then we
sawed through the sides of the trough at an angle of 45 degrees. When we
wanted to cut the end of the scantling at an angle it was placed in the
trough, and with the saw set in the saw cuts, as a guide, we were sure
that they would all be cut at the same angle.
LAYING THE TRACK.
[Illustration: Fig. 304. How the Track was Anchored.]
From the bottom of the inclined trestleway we continued the track down
the slope to the river; but for the sake of economy, instead of using 2
x 4-inch scantlings for the rails, we bought a number of 2-inch planks
at Lumberville, and had them sawed up into strips 2 inches wide. These
2-inch square rails were fastened together with slabs nailed on at
frequent intervals. To maintain the proper gauge the car was rolled over
each pair of rails, which were nailed first at the ends and center. To
anchor the track we drove short posts into the ground so that their
upper ends lay flush with the surface. A post was provided under each
joint and one under the center of each rail, and then the slab ties were
nailed securely to these posts. In imitation of a full-sized railway, we
made it a point to "break joints" on our track; that is, to make the end
of one rail come in line with the center of the opposite rail, as shown
in Fig. 302. Our track was continued across the pontoon bridge and ran
around the west shore of Kite Island. The track was straight as far as
the shore of Kite Island, whence, by an easy curve, it was carried
around to the log cabin.
THE FIRST RAILWAY ACCIDENT.
Dutchy was the first one to try the railway. He sneaked back to the
platform while the rest of us were putting a few last touches on the
track. The first we knew the car came tearing down the track at full
speed, with Dutchy yelling at the top of his voice for us to get out of
his way. Bill was on the bridge when the car came along and he had no
time to run for shore, but with great presence of mind he jumped into
the water and clung to one of the barrels. But the joke of it all was
that Dutchy himself got a wetting too. The track at the middle of the
bridge was not quite true to gauge. It was this very spot that Bill was
fixing up when Dutchy came along. The end of a rail was bent in far
enough to catch the flange of one of the car wheels, and in a moment
Dutchy, car and all, was slung head over heels into the mill-race.
Fortunately no serious harm was done. Dutchy landed a little ways
down-stream, and Reddy, by quick work, managed to rescue the car just as
it was floating off under the suspension bridge. The car was undamaged
except that the flange of a wheel was split off.
Of course, Bill was as mad as a hornet at Dutchy, and expressed his
feelings in no mild terms. But his anger was somewhat tempered by the
fact that Dutchy received as bad a punishment as he had inflicted.
[Illustration: The Start of the Gravity Railroad.]
TESTING THE TRACK.
We had to cut a new flange disk for the broken wheel, and to prevent the
flanges from splitting off again we nailed a batten across the inner
face of each wheel extending down to the very edge of the flange disk.
This batten was fastened on across the grain. When everything was
completed the car was started down the track empty to see if it would
keep the rails. It went beautifully as far as the bridge, but was too
light to run much beyond. The next time we loaded it up with stones and
had the pleasure of watching it sail down hill, across the bridge and
vanish out of sight around the shore of Kite Island. That was
demonstration enough. We knew it would carry us safely and it did. The
next time we tried it four of us piled into the small car, and in a
moment we were off on a most thrilling ride, which ended right in front
of the log cabin, where the car came to a sudden stop after riding off
the end of the rails and plowing through the sand for a short space.