The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-06-24
ELECTRIC Transportation.
The Trolley Wire Driving Horse Cars Out
of Existence.

this morning with one of the most sue
cessful projectors of electric railroads in
the United States. He believes that the
present development of the new system
OF transportation amounts to only the
t1rst two or three steps in it's progress.
Il am quite within bounds" he said,
"when make the statement that cleo
tricity will have driven horse cars prac-
tlcally out of existence in this country
within two years. Already steps are in
contemplation for the substitution of the
trolley for the horse on almost every line
in existence. The late Maurice Flynn,
best known to the world as New York
politician, was the first man to have
confidence enough in the trolley wire to
interest !. capital sufficiently to build a
road. That road was built in Richmond
and it was watched closely by street car
men all over the country. AS soon as
It's success was assured the building of
other electric roads and the equipment
OF horse car lines with electricity were
begun In every direction.
THE advantages possessed by electric
transportation over the old fashioned
methods are many and include cleanli-
ness, rapidity and convenience, but in
the mind of the capitalist, who furnishes
the money for the operation, their econ
omy is paramount to all other considera-
tons. The cable roads are not in it
compared with the electric lines, and |
say this in the face of the fact that New
York IS just beginning to use her cable
lines. may go further and make the
prediction that inside of five years the
cable conduit in Broadway will be used
to carry an electric cable from which
electricity will be taken by underground
trolleys, and the cars on Broadway will
be run by electricity.
: Il do not think, however. that under
ground trolleys will be used very gem
orally for several years, though in, the
present era of constant improvement it
is hard to make predictions for longer
period than half decade. The great
difficulty at present lies in the impossi-
Dlllty OF making a dry contact between
the electric cable and the trolley under
ground. 1t may be possible to accom-
Plush this in Broadway, where the cable
conduit has already been laid at enor-
nous expense, but the first cost Of such
work will prohibit its introduction in
any but the very largest cities, where
the traffic is practically only limited by
the capacity of the line.
II do not believe that the trolley will
soon be supplanted by the storage bat
terry, If ever. AT least $4,000, 900 have
been expended in experimenting with
storage. Not more than 800, 900 worth
OF storage cars and storage machinery
are now being used. One of the greatest
difficulties in the use of storage batteries
SO far has been what is known IA. buc-
king OF the plates in the battery This
produces short circuit and consequent
burning out of the motor. Then there
is great waste Of power in charging
and dlscharging the batteries. The cars
have to be very heavy, and necessarily
the power to move these heavy cars has
TO be much greater than that needed to
move the lighter cars of the trolley sys-
tenn. All these things tend to make the
storage system SO much more expensive
than the trolley as to make its adoption
quite out of the question. 1t is true that
the storage system has been greatly i'm
proved in the last few years and can be
run much more economically now than
formerly, but the trolley system has
also been improved quite as rapidly in
the direction of economy. My idea is
that the time will come when the cur
rent will be carried in some way through
the rails and the ground.
''The first cost of an electric trolley
line is considerably greater than that Of
a horse car line. Suppose you have
5-mile route in a city of 100000. You
lay double tracks and therefore have 10
miles of rails. To lay this track for
horses will cost you Sc, 900 mile, or $780,
600. Thirty cars at $500 each will be
$4,000. Three hundred and fifty horses
at 500 will be $50, 000-in round num-
beers say 100000 for cars and horses and
$780, 900 for carhouse, barn and 'etceteras,'
making $15O,000 in all. For a trolley
line the cost of the roadbed will be $12-
600 a mile, or $12o, 900; the cars with mo-
tors will cost $4,000 each, or SOC, 900, and
the power house and carhouse $3.50, 900,
or 100000 in all. But after the extra
tirst cost of construction has been met
the economy is all in favor of the cleo
trio as against the horse car line.
"The electric cars move enough faster
to enable us to get about one-third more
service out of cars and men in the same
time and for the same expenditure in
wages-that is, it takes the horse cars
on line have in mind hour and 35
minutes to make the round trip. while
the electric cars do the same in / hour
and minutes. The next big item in
operating horse car line is the feed for
the horses, and in operating an electric
line fuel. In the case have in mind,
where coal is sold at tidewater prices.
the fuel now costs only about so per
cent of what the feed used to cost. In
other places where coal is cheaper or
where water power can be used the saw