The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-06-11
Projectors Of tho Missouri River
Road Awaiting Results or
an Experiment
To Run Ono Hundred Miles an
Hour Between Chicago
and st. Louis.
It IL Ons Of the Latest Developments In
tho Electrical Engineering
World.

company are in position to bring to Helsnl
MI the electric energy needed II - most
probable that the people who are here II
the year 1895 will witness q revolution In
electric railways. The electric road in con
river will have the latest equipment when
completed. Tho people interested in thu
entei prise have been Watching with a groa'
deal Of interest the latest developments IL
electric railways. This 10 the line about tt
DO built between Chicago and st. Louis
II is to be an air line, paying no attention
to obstructions whatsoever. DIR. Yelling
ton Adams, an electrician Of Chicago, IL or
enthuiast upon the subject. He has exhi.
bited tho details of the scheme q ex-
planned them to railroad people on ssvera
occasions. The line 10 to run cars at .
speed of at least 100 miles IN hour and ia te
be in operation by the spring Of 1893.
The Chicago b 81. Louis Electric railway
Is surveyed as nearly in : straight line a
the insti uments could do II. This road II
248 miles long, or thirty-fve miles shorter
than the shortest railway line Q operst'
ing between those points. II runs between
the line OF the Chicago Il Alton md the line
bf the Wabash railroad.
"We intend to havo this road In opera
tion by the opening Of the Worlds fair"
says DR.. Adams. ''and we expect TO make
twice the cost OF II before the fair closes,
The plans have all been made. the contracts
are arranged for, and the cost will be about
$6. COO, 600. The fare for the round trip
from Chicago to ST. Louis will bs IS. The
schedule tims from st. Louis TO Chicago
will be two hours and q half. ~ against
eight hours and a half. the quickest time ut
present.
First, Is to the roadbsd. For 200 miles
of the way the country 10 naturally az level
as a billiard table. The grade on the other
iorty-eight miles il two per. cent. We pro-
pose to build at first two tracks. and each
will be put upon an independent bed with a
drain between the two beds and . ditch at
either outside. Tho roadbed will be OF I'M
usually solid construction and the rails
will be California rails. which overlap and
Ere practically continuous without FISH,
plates or any devices OF that sort. The road
will thus be secure against many OF the &C
cidonts which ordinary roadbeds cause.
Between the two roadbeds will rise a
series of poles supporting q cross-arm, to
either end of which will DO strung the wire
along which tho trolley will work. The
cars will be low, heavily weighted, and the
front end of each car will be a sort of in
clined plano. 50 that the least atmospheric
resistance will DO got. There will be two
trucks, with a pair Of six.foot wheels and q
pair Of thirty-ons-inch wheels to each
truck. The part OF the car in which the
Messengers will be put will b partly dow
between the two trucks.
"We will have W central stations, one
- n -A1~ nv EnSuhr~u nivtu pnfinu
from Chicago, where We can get water
owe free, the other at Edinburg, eighteen
miles southeast of Springfield. where We
own 1.5OO 40 es of coal land, which is now
mining. We will sell all our GOAL, as now,
ard the dust which we now pay to have
carted away we will use to get our power:
Each section of ton miles of the road will
have in the midst of it q station for the
storage and transmission, of power to the
wireh rr. .o. u &
1.-The operating of the road" continued
Mr.. Adams, Twill be worry simple. You
buy your ticket at the station in Chicago.
The agent there tears it out Of his stub
book and hsnds it to you. You Ro to the
place where the car is waiting. There is
no conductor, only the motor man, who
has no engine to watch and therefore
has time to take the coupon of your
ticket, which ia q check on the
agent. You get into the car, and when all
IL READY Cno MOTOR man steps ABOARD also,
closes the doors and lets her 60. The car
docs not stop or let mp its speed-for the
track is fenced in all the way-until you get
to st. Louis, where you give up your tickle,
to q gateman there as you pass out into the
street.
"There may be two cars coupled with
their straight ends together if the traffic
calls for it. But all cars will 60 through
without stop. We will in turn build spurs
from the main racks to the larger towns
that have been out of because of our taking
an air line. The car from each town will
run straight from that town to Chicago or
st. Louis, as the case nay be. without stop
or let up. In the course of time we exuect
to build two more tracks and run
dation trains on them, stopping ut stations
a AaaAad a mila nnnrkO