A Locomotive Runs a Factory.

Progress, Volume I, Issue 10, 1 August 1906, Page 283

A Locomotive Runs a Factory.

In Baldwinsville, Mass., recently occurred what is probably the first instance of the kind on record, when a locomotive was employed to run a factory. The establishment, says the Technical World Magazine, had out-grown the power developed by its old plant of boilers ; and, not wishing to shut down long enough to instal a new battery, the proprietors conceived the plan of availing themselves of one of the surplus locomotives from the shops of the Boston and Albany Railroad. The engine used was a small freight engine. It was sidetracked near the factory. The pipes leading to the cylinder heads were disconnected, and one of them connected to the steam dome of the locomotive, leading therefrom to the engineroom of the factory. The plan was perfectly successful, and the establishment thus saved the loss which would have been incurred through inability to fill orders had it been necessary to lav off the men.