Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-05-07
RAILROADS WITHOUT rROLLEYs.
Other Systems Available-A Successful Con-
duit Road in Buda- Pesth.

! hAILkOADS WITHOUT TkOLLEHS.
Other Systems AvaiIable-A Successful Con-
duit Road in Buda-Pesth.
| The general objection all over the country to
the introduction of trolley wires for electric
street railroads in the city streets has excited
interest in the question as to whether there are
not other systems Of local transportation that
would give to the public all the advantages
claimed FOR trolley roads, and at the same time
not dist CURE the streets, place citizens in dan
ger of death by eiectrocution or perpetuate the
overhead wire evil. The trolley, where intro
duced, has been justified in suburban districts
| on the ground of its cheapness of construction
and operation, but all authorities seem to be
| agreed in condemning its use in urban streets
Naturally the pecuniary interest of those whose
capital il involved in street railroad schemes
influences them in behalf of the trolley and
leads them to endeavor to impress upon the
public the belief that the trolley system is the
only practically successful electric system. In
the report made last October to the President
and Congress by the electrical commission that
considered 1.-The location. arrangement and OPP
Grafton of electric wires in the District Of Co.
lumbia' the commssiol said: "All that we
can suggest upon the suoJect of electric street
railway regulations Is that, necessity being the
mother of invention, the application Of under
ground and other unobjectionable methods in
the place of those now applied will not ma
terially progress until the municipalities exact
either the underground wire or storage bat
ter! propelled systems in the place of the over
head in the central or populous sections or the
cable system"
OTHER AVAILABLE SYSTEMS.
There have been several systems developed
not using electricity for motive power The
success of the cable system, of course. is we'll
demonstrated fact Though the attempt to IN
troduce compressed air as o motive power on
the 7th street road has not proved successful it
is claimed that since this road was constructed
notifications have been made rendering mecca
sary the use Of cable which have overcome
the difficulties met in the early experiment in
this city and fairly placed compressed air in the
list OF available motive power for street rail-
roads. 1t Is said that line is successfully
operated with this motive power at Pullman,
So far as electric roads are concerned how
ever, it will be difficult to make residents
of Washington believe that the trolley sys-
tenn Is the only available one, when storage
battery cars are run most successfully
every day and every hour on one of the city
lines. 1t is quite frequently asserted that
no conduit system in which the wire
carrying the electric wire is below the Sur
face of the street has proved successful. but
the reports show that there is at least one con-
duit road now i'll most successful operation.
This is a road in Buda-Festh, Hung The
report of the electrical commission .-iaSrcd
TO above says: There can be no doubt of the
practicabIlity of underground wiring in the
matter OF electrical propulsion. but SO long
the street railway companies can obtain the
permit they will not find it expedIent to add
.lO, 90 or more per mile to their investments
The continuous operation of an electric street
railway system on the underground system at
Buda-PGsth. Hungary, for the past three years,
with very paying traffic, Is evidence of its
practicabiiitv"
The commission repubished in its report an
article by 4. Graham Gribble. printed by the
Electrical Engineer. describing the system in
troduccd in Buda-Pesth. The promoters, the
article said. and the public are well satisfied
with Results. There were Mt the time OF writ
ing s. 65 miles of double track.
THE BUDA-PEsrH ROAD.
The track and roadbed in this system consist
OF a conduit formed of concrete having iron
Jokes spaced about four feet apart and similar
to cable roads The conduit is immediately
under one OF the running rails. and the feed
and return current pass through IL pair of con-
ductors attached TO either side OF the iron
Jokes. The rails do not serve conductors,
in the railway of Lichterfeldc. near Berlin;
neither is there "a third rail for the return cur
rent, as has been attempted on some roads In
this country. Each rail is IA twin rail, resem-
bling in the main pair Of slot rails, and the
wheels are dOubIe-treaded. having a central
nange, which travels in the opening as in the
Deacon removable rail III Liverpool, England.
The twin rail. which is over the conduit. is
provided with broad base fiangcS and double
bolted down to the upper t1ange OF the
yoke. The Jokes are II inches inside and 16
inches deep. The total depth from pavement
to foundation is 27.5 inches. The slot Is !. 3
inches wide and Is prevented from closing by
wrought-iron knees, which fasten the rail to
the yoke. The rail is named the Haarnian
rail and its dimensions are calculated IRON it's
moment OF resistance under the heaviest
load which could possibly come npon it
when acting as girder between two support
ing Jokes. The rail covering the conduit
weighs 94.6 pounds per yard, and the other
rail 37.S pounds per yard. The conductors are
hight angle irons attached TO cup-shaped in
suiators aud are placed about twO-thirds OF the
depth OF the conduit from the bottom, in order
to keep them from moisture, and the conduit
III furnished with catchpits TO carry off the
drainage. The conductors are also entirely
protected under the running rails, SO that they
cannot catch rain or dirt and may not be seen
or touched from the slot.
There Is somewhat scanty information to he
had OF the details of the motor construction.
either verbally or in illustration. The general
arrangement appears not to differ from that OF
electric cars in this country. The connection
and disconnectiOn OF the resistance coils is
affected by rhcosta,s at either end of the plat
form and underneath 1t. They are actuated
by switch levers, and the car is completely
under control. The rates OF speed were estab-
lish by municipal enactment after cOnsidera-
BILE experiments on the brake power had been
made, which proved conc!usIveIy that q fully
loaded car having a weight of its own of 4.43
tons could be brought to standstill in a length
OF twenty-six feet when moving at a speed of
1872 miles per hour.
The maximum speed permissible on any por-
ton OF the line is eleven miles per hour, but
on crossings or on narrow streets it is reduced
to 6. 2 miles per hour, and in the more crowded
tborOuShfares to g. So miles per hour.
The entire power Is at present obtained from
one station, situated in Gardner street. The
machinery consists Of four tubular boilers OF
$40 square feet of heating surface, three COM
pound condensing engines of 100-horse power
each, and three ropo-driven dynamOs.
The current Is first carried to the bus bar of
a switch board and from that distributed
through iron-bound main conductors of patent
metal Embedded in the earth to the various
lines of road. The current il supplied at u
constant potential Of 300 volts.
The car shops are located at the end of two
radial lines and there is also n series of car
pits of total capacity of thirty cars The car
pit is connected by traversng table with a
repairing shop. The cars are run III tho most
crowded thoroughtares on n two-minute head
wav and perform a mileage of from seventy
five to eighty per day OF sixteen hours.