The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1890-07-11
Will MOVE TRAINS.
Trunk Lines win Ultimately Use Electro
Motive Force.

= Id
Trunk Lines VIII Ultimately Use Electro
Motive Force.
At the recent meeting Of the National
Electric Lighting Association one Of the
best authorities on the electro-motor, F.
j. Sprague, of New York, gave some in
teresting testimony concerning its pres
emit condition and future prospects.
The most unobservant can scarce have
failed to see that it Is rapidly taking the
place Of horses for street car traction,
and he thinks it will displace the cable.
The fiexibility Of the electrical system,
the ease with which IL Is extended, its
adaptability to various conditions of serv-
ice, freedom from long continued
breakdown and the advances which have
been made in perfecting its apparatus,
would seem to insure its supremacy.
Will the electro-motor take the place
Of the locomotives on trunk ines2 That
is question which has been guessed at
by those more or less competent. Mr..
| Sprague, perhaps as capable as any au-
thority, answers: Probably not, accord
| ing to present notions of trunk line
transportation and by present methods
of train dispatching." But he has a
plan to propose, or rather a prophecy to
make, indicating the point at which
motor practice Is likely TO trend upon
the domain of the locomotive.
1t is only question of supplying
energy along a line and deciding what
is the best potential to work with. On,
say, line like that from Jersey City to
Philadelphia, while he would not at
tempt at least at present, to follow the
regular train service system by one
more adapted to electro-moters, a still
more expeditions and convenient one
could be supplied. Beginning by de-
scribing the existing conditions now
prevailing in the Pennsylvania railroad
service between the points mentioned,
he finds that from 8 q. N. to 9 p. M, a
period of Is hours, 81 regular trains
leave the Jersey City station for Phila-
delphia. Twelve of these make only
one or two stops, according to the run
ming schedule. In addition to these
there are a number of local trains serv-
ing way stations. Taking the through
trains only, and allowing an average,
say, of five cars to train, there are in
the 10 hours about 1O5 through cars
dispatched from Jersey City, or at the
rate of one car every ~ minutes, and
of the through cars not making over one
or two stops there would be one every
IS minutes
Surprising an additional track to have
been built, leaving the distance about
what It is now, say 80 miles, with the
grades eased and the worse curves rec
titled, and through cars could be dis
patched in two-car unit on a perfect
block system, and run through to Phila-
delphia with not more than one stop at
fixed intervals, and at. say, so miles an
hour, making the trip in III hours.
In other words, he would employ the
same number of cars as are now en-
ployed by the railroad company in its
express trains; but instead Of sending
them in trains at long intervals, he
would start two cars on the road to
Philadelphia every IL minutes. With
careful figuring he finds that with one
station in the middle of the route the
potential at the farthest from the sta
ton would be 1915 volts, and near the
station one-Linth higher. He says:
"Csn we handle itP Yes, in time; but
perhaps not yet. Nor is there any neces-
sity for doing so; for il we increase the
number of stations and 60 to a three
wire instead of a two-wire system; max
ing the track the balance of circuit, we
would have the motor potential brought
down to ordinary street car practice,
which is only the beginning of what will
be done in the effective handling of
potentials- a.
$50, after all, it does not seem such a
serious electrical problem, and certainly
not one to shrink from.
The suppositious case is we'll within
the range of possibilities. A 60-mile
express service every 10 minutes, in
stead of 40 to IS mile service every
hour, would revolutionize travel. OF
the comforts of such system I need
not speak. That it will in the not very
distant future be fact know you all
agree with me in hoping. "-Scientific
American.
Desirable Husbands.