Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-08-11
THE ELECTRIC STEED
Soon to Be Harnessed to Freight as
Well as Passenger Cars at
CHICAGO RAILROAD TERMINALS
Some Such Scheme Necessary to Handle
Worlds Fair Traffic.
4 BROAD BELT LINE Is SUGGESTED

NEW YORK, Aug 1o.-Frank ]. sprague,
the electrical engineer, President of the
American Institute of Electrical Engineers,
has been instrusted BY Henry Willard, for
the North American Company, with the
solution of the terminal freight-ysrd prob
lem in Chicago. Within a space of one and
half miles long by three-quarters of
mile in width there are crowded from IS to
100 miles of track
About !, 800 switch engines are employed
there, some of them "a hours per day, puff
ing their foulness into the air. 1t is esti-
mated that from so to 80 per cent of all
freight that enters the Chicago yards ought
never to be there, being bound for points
further on, and it would not be there ii
a practical way could be provided for dis
tributing it among the different railroads
outside the city limits
Electric Motors Win he R-commsndsd.
In applying himself to his work, these
conditions are fully recognized by Mr.
Sprague. He is convinced that the most
feasible solution will be found in a system
for interchanging freight by a six-track belt
road, which shall form common zone Of
transfer either by itself or in combina-
sion with freight warehouses or storage
yards.
Electric traction will be recommended by
Sprague for the work proposed. He has
satisfied himself that the only way in which
the current can be properly supplied in any
complicated system will be by an overhead
conductor, practically rigid in character,
following very nearly the center line of all
tracks and switches, with no movable over
head parts, and with return through the
rail. The locomotive would then be nov
ing between the two electric planes, the
lower being the guiding one.
There are three problems" saws Mr..
Sprague, requiring a solution in the ap-
plication of electricity to propulsion on a
large scale under conditions existing at the
Chicago terminals. They are:
An Electric Locomotive to Be Devised.
''First-The development of an electric
locomotive of ample power which may be
as readily controlled as the steam locomo-
tive, which shall be reliable in operation
and shall show O high economy. Such
machine must have all the adjuncts which
are necessary for train movement. Second
"A system of conductors and methods of
supporting the same which can be relied
upon for ample supply of current and abso-
lutte certainty of continuous contact at all
speeos on curves, swltcnes, croSsovers, ana
the multitudinous combinations which ex-
ist in yard tracks Third-A system of au-
tomato block signaling which. while effect
i've for steam traffic, will not be thrown out
of operation by the use of tracks as con-
ductors OF electricity. This implies change
in existing signal systems
"While this is a large problem" said Mr..
Sprague, sit may be approached hopefully.
The success of the General Electric Com
psny in equipping electric motors for the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad furnishes con-
elusive demonstration of the practicability
of efforts in this line. At Chicago locomo-
tives of 70O-horse power will be needed.
There is no doubt that they can be made
and that electricity can do everything done
by steam, while removing entirely the
nuisance of smoke and cinders that must
attend the use of steam as a motor