The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-07-09
ELECTRIC TRANSPORTATION.
Tho Trolley Wire Driving Horse Cars Out
of Existence. an
Especial Correspondencc.l


of transportation amounts to only the
first two or three steps in its progress.
II am quite within bounds" he said,
when l make the statement that cleo
tricity will have driven horse cars prac-
tically 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
road. That road was built in Richmond,
and it was watched closely by street car
men all over the country. AS soon as
its 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 ana 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 if
compared with the electric lines, and 1
say this i'll the face of the fact that New
York is just beginning to use her cable
lines. may go further and make tho
e
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.
II 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 a longer
period than half a decade. The great
difficulty at present lies in the impossi-
bility of making dry contact between
the electric cable and the trolley under
ground. 1t may be possible to accom-
pllsh 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.
IL do not believe that the trolley will
soon be supplanted by the storage bat
terry, If ever AT least $40 600, 900 have
been expended in experimenting with
storage. Not more than 100000 worth
OF storage cars and storage machinery
are now being used. One of the greatest
dlfhcultles in the use of storage batteries
SO far has been what is known as 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
ana dlscharglng the batteries. The cars
have to be very heavy, and necessarily
the power to move these heavy cars has
10 be much greater than that needed tn
move the lighter cars of the trolley sys-
tenn. All these things tend to make tba
storage system so much more eyncnsive
than the trolley as to make its adontion
quite out OF the question. 1t is true that
the storage system has been greatly i'm
proved III the last few years and can he
run much more economically now than
formerly, but the trolley system has
also been improved quite as rapidlv 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
horse car line. Suppose you have a
o-mllc route i'll a city of 1000. You
lay double tracks and therefore have 10
miles of rails. To lay this track for
horses will cost you 5000 mile. or $50.
600. Thirty cars at $500 each will he
s24 600. Three hundred and fifty horses
AT SlOO Will be $50. O00-in round num-
bers say 5000 for cars and horses and
$50 600 for carhouse, barn and ctceteras
making $4,000 in all. For {; trolley
line the cost of the roadbed will be SIP
OOO mile, or $l20 600; the cars with mo-
tors Will cost 5000 each, or 500. 900. and
the power house and carhouse $3.50. 600.
or 100000 i'll all. But after the extra
hrst cost of construction has been met
the economy is all i'll favor of the cleo
trio as against the horse car line.
The electric cars move enough faster
10 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 q 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 l 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