A ROBBER PROOF TRAIN.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVI, Issue XIII, 28 March 1896, Page 347

A ROBBER PROOF TRAIN.

A robber proof train of mail cars has lately been placed on one of the United States railway lines. It is not armour clad or mounted with turret guns, yet it is strong enough to stand a heavy strain, and there are no places on it where a train robber can find a footing. This postal train is a curious sort of an affair. Most trains look like a procession of turtles. This has the appearance of a big centipede. There are no platforms, and there is so little space between the cars that the joints of the big centipede do not show except when the train goes around a curve. On a straight track it looks like one long car. In the stories of train robberies the outlaws usually leap on the platform of the postal cars and shoot the clerks through the glass in the doors. In this new car this performance could not be carried through. There are no platforms, and only one end door, which issolidly barricaded. There is a small trap door of solid wood at the other end, but that is hardly big enough for a man to crawl through. There are two doors on each side for the delivery and receipt of mail. The car is built of heavy and solidly joined timbers, and ballets could hardly penetrate it. Tne sides and top are strongly braced. If there were a smash up on the road this car could be in the worst of it and perhaps not suffer mach. The ends are strengthened by heavy timbers and iron braces, which protect the carriages from being telescoped. When there is an accident on the railroad the postal cars, which are in front, have to bear the brunt of the smash-up. They are demolished first, and the lives of many postal clerks are lost. These new cars ensure the clerks, to a large extent, against the dangers of robbers and accidents. COMFORT BESIDES STRENGTH. The cars are comfortably furnished They are light, well ventilated, and are more comfortable than many a post-office in government buildings Each car carries three tanks for gas. under a pressure of thirty-six atmospheres. The light is furnished from twelve chandeliers, and the travelling post-office is as light as dav even at midnight.