Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1881-06-09
THE ST. GOTHARD.
Running Trains Through tho Tunnel b!
Electricity.

Running Trains Thr0UgA tho Tunnel by
It is intended, if possible, to run trains
on the railway through the st. Gothard by
electricity, which is to be produced by the
machines now employed in pumping air
into the workings and for other purposes.
In the summer of 1879, at the Berlin
exhibition the model of an electricity rail.
way was shown which is at present work.
ing in the London Crystal Palace.
Small as the railway was, it clearly de.
mOnstrated that such a mode of transport
is feasible, and the advantages of having
light carriages and being able to propel
them without noise and smoke induced
Messrs. Siemens and Halshe to lay before
the authorities in Berlin plan to make an
elevated railway in Berlin upwards of six
miles long. Subsequently the same gen
tlemcn obtained permission to build rail
way on the ground level from Zichterfeldc,
a suburban station on the Berlin Anhalt
railway, to the military academy, and this
railway was lately successfully opened fOr
regular traffic, a single line, little more
than one and 4 half English miles long.
No difficulty was experience in using
one rail as the positive and the
other as the negative conductor.
The car is constructed to hold twenty
persons, the dynamo machine being placed
underneath the car, and transmitting its
movement to the wheels by spiral stee
springs. The time for traversing the dis
tance is not to be less than ten minutes,
although the car could make tho journey
in almost half tho time with perfect safety.
If the railway continues to work in a sat.
isfactOry manner it is to be extended, and
there is no doubt that tho success of the
railway at Zichterfelde will greatly assist
in the further introduction of electrical rail-
ways, either on the level of the streets Oh
elevated like the steam railways of New
York. Over any other system worked by
steam or compressed air the electrical has
the advantage that no heavy machinery
has to be carried about to set the train in
motion. the carriage can, therefore, be
built in lighter manner, thus reducing
the power necessary to move them, and
permitting all bridges and other super
structures to bc built more cheaply than
usual. Several carriages, each with a
dynamo machine, can he joined to
one train, and by this distribution
of motive power much sleeper
inclines can be overcome than
when the same train is drawn by q single
locomotive. In addition to tho ordinary
brakes, means can he provided to short
circuit the machines on the carriages, and
to cause them to act rs very powerful
brakes. The use of large stationary en-
gines reduces the amount of fuel necessary
to develop certain power ON the travel
ing carriage, and if waterfalls can be
utilized the cost Of working these railways
can be further diminished. 1t seems
probable that such railways can be use.
fully and economically constructed to
facilitate the traffic in crowded streets, or
in situations where local circumstances
favor their application. From all that
has been done during the last few years
it is evident that the art of transmitting
power by electricity has advanced rapidly,
and that its practical application is con-
tinually gaining ground.