ry small overhangs, as
compared with a single-body locomotive. Curves of 12 feet radius can
be turned with ease. The gross weight of the locomotive is about five
tons, all of which is available for traction.

[Sidenote: _Coal
Downtakes_]

The coal from the coal bunkers is allowed to flow down into the boiler
room through two rows of downtakes, one on each side of the central
gangway or firing place. Each bunker has eight cast-iron outlets, four
on each side, and to these outlets are bolted gate valves for shutting
off the coal from the corresponding downtakes. From these gates the
downtakes lead to hoppers which are on the economizer floor, and from
these hoppers the lower sets of downtakes extend down to the boilers.

Just above the hoppers on the economizer floor the coal downtakes are
provided with valves and chutes to feed the coal, either into the
hopper or into the distributing flight conveyor alongside of it. These
distributing conveyors, one corresponding with each row of downtakes,
permits the feeding of coal from any bunker or bunkers to all the
boilers when desired. They are the ordinary type of flight conveyor,
capable of running in either direction and provided with gates in the
bottom of the trough for feeding into the several above mentioned
hoppers. In order to eliminate the stresses that would develop in a
conveyor of the full length of the building, the conveyors are of half
the entire length, with electric driving engines in the center of each
continuous line. The installation of this conveyor system, in
connection with the coal downtakes, makes it possible to carry a
high-grade coal in some of the bunkers for use during periods of heavy
load and a cheaper grade in other bunkers for the periods of light
load.

To provide means for shutting off the coal supply to each boiler, a
small hopper is placed just over each boiler, and the downtake feeding
into it is provided with a gate at its lower end. Two vertical
downtakes extend down from the boiler hopper to the boiler room floor
or to the stokers, as the case may be, and they are hinged just below
the boiler hopper to allow their being drawn up out of the way when
necessary to inspect the boiler tubes.

[Illustration: WEST END POWER HOUSE IN COURSE OF ERECTION]

Wherever the direction of flow of the coal is changed, poke holes are
provided in the downtakes to enable the firemen to break any arching
tendency of the coal in the downtakes. All part