CURRENT TOPICS.

Dust Storms.-The Oil and Gas Journal, ‘Vol. 33, No. 49, con- tains a very interesting account on the transporting of dust by the atmosphere. Following the drought of 1934 and the spring of 193.5 there have been numerous dust storms in the west. Some of this dust has actually been observed in eastern cities and one report states that European countries have identified some of the dust as originating in the western part of the United States. The conditions that have brought about these dust storms date back to the period when prairie soil was broken for farming and the natural grass destroyed. The grass served to hold the top soil together and resist wind erosion. As long as the land yielded crops and there was sufficient moisture, dust storms were not severe. Lone periods of little or no rainfall permitted this top soil, made up largely of clays and volcanic ash, to pulverize completely when dried out.

The general term loess has been applied to the deposits of this dust blown material, but while loess is usually a wind deposit a very similar material develops from water deposition. It varies greatly in chemical composition.

R. H. 0.

The New Haven’s ‘( Comet.“-Recently there has been delivered to the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad an articulated three car, high speed streamline train to be known as the Comet. An excellent description of it appears in Railway Age, Vol. 98, No. 17.

The Comet is the first American built train with Diesel power plants at both ends. It is to furnish rapid and frequent transporta- tion between Boston and Providence, a distance of 43.25 miles, and its schedule calls for five round trips daily, 44 minutes in each direc- tion. The train has three body sections carried on four trucks, is 207 ft. long and weighs approximately 253,300 lbs. The struc- tural feature deviates from standard car construction principles in that, for one thing, it is constructed as a tube with flat sides and well arched roof and bottom and with shear and compression stresses absorbed by the outer sheets.

The power plants are identical, each consisting of a six-cylinder 4oo hp. Diesel engine and generators designed by Westinghouse. Each engine drives a main and an auxiliary generator which supply power for the operation of traction motors and auxiliary apparatus

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