Waterbury evening Democrat., 1892-10-06

Hopedale and return was made without interruptions and during the whole trip no passengers were taken on the car, be- cause none appeared and for the reason that the car being special one, none would be allowed to board.
 The motion of the car was character ized by @ peculiar rocking movement, which might be termed disagreeable This was attributed to the fact that the lower portion of the car was extr emely heavy on account of the great weight of batteries placed on each side, below the seats. The wood work of the car was much plainer and lighter than in an ordi- nary car and for the reason that the weight was unevenly balanced, the pe- culiar rocky and jerky motion alluded to, was prominent and continuous. The movement of the car was free from the smoothness and nicely balanced motion which is characteristic and noticeable on cars operated by the trolley system and the sensation was analogous to the inces sant pulsation and jarring experienced in a shaky factory with rapidly moving ma chinery.
 The electrician in charge of the car said that power was saved and regained on down grades, but was unable or unwilling to make satisfactory explanation of this question to the experts on board. He d1SO 6dlu ULldU Ou0 CdT cOuIu U0 CudIR0u GO run continuously for sixty hours and that one charge under the most severe test would last while five trips were being made. This would be about twenty five miles. He admitted however, that four trips indicated the largest number made so far, under one charge of batteries. It was with great difficulty that we secured ad- mission to the car house and power sta tion. Their plant is in an out-of- the-way part of the town and is plain building, not quite as large as the barn of the Waterbury Horse Railroad company.
 | Regarding the cost of the manufacture of the batteries they were exceedingly reticent and f,r this reason the electricians declared their inability to safely measure the commercial success of the plant. They showed us several ingenious mechanical appliances about the plant, but manifested marked disposition to keep us away from that portion of the building devoted to the charging of empty batteries. We cars, from which the batteries had been removed, and were informed that the cars weighed about seven tons when loaded. On one of our trips we ran up an easy grade and along a street for several hundred yards. On turning 8 curve, it was found to the great surprise of the local officials, in charge of the car, that someone had torn up the street and covered the car rails with big stones and piles of dirt. As the Milford men were evidently surprised, and as it was apparent that the track had been covered up with out the usual formality of consulting the railroad people, I took it that their in difference to their own affairs was due to the fact that they are running the road merely to deceive the pu bile into the idea that it is a success.
 During the four hours in which we were riding about.the line, there were no other ! cars in sight or in use and for this reason, I judge that their traffic is of no import ance whatever. They employ. ten men, | they say, but in the last annual report of the board of railroad commissioners of Massachusetts, they are rated as employ ing 15 men, to whom they pay salaries amounting to $3, ,456 OF. I figured out that the weekly salary of each of the 15 employees amounted to but $4.43.
 I was convinced that the system was of | no practical value for many reasons. One
 was that in their annual report they ran
 behind in the sum of $326. 83 and another
 was, because of their extreme reticence. Their refusal to answer pointed questions
 made me suspicious. The electricians in
 the party stated that the system
 had no more merit than those that
 had failed in the past and their conclusion
 was that it was too expensive and too i'm
 perfect for any company to think ot
 adopting. The facts which I have gather
 ed are for the information of those who are
 deluded with the idea that there is
 any other system in which electricity
 is used as motive power, than that ir
 which the overhead wire is employed. Il CHRIS F. DowNEY.