Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-02-02

The Columbia Street Railway Company has
decided to abolish horses as motors upon its
road and has also decided to run its by
electricity the system adopted being the one SO
successfully operated in Buda-Pesth. For more
than year the company has been seeking a
suitable motor and it finally reached the con-
clusion that this was, all things considered, the
best The cost less than that of cable but is much
in excess OF the expense Of trolly construction.
Today ap plication was made to the District
Commissioners fer permission TO rebuild the
road and operate it under the new conditions.
commence until the latter part of May or the
beginning Of June. A double conduit has to
be laid between the tracks and power
house has to be constructed. 1t is expected
that all the work will be done by October l
and ON that date, with a complete and in
every respect new equipment, including tracks,
the SiemensHalske motors will be first run in
Washington over the three miles of Columbia
road.
THE BUDA PRsTH SYSTEM.
1.-THE Buda Pesth railway" wrote Mr.. Theo-
dore W. Noyes in The STAR after investigat-
ing street car motors in Europe, lis an under
ground conduit road with an open slotted con-
duit of concrete. having iron yokes placed about
four feet apart. resembling somewhat the conduit
construction of a cable road. The slot. however,
is in a split rail. the conduit living Immediately
under one Of the running rails. and the feed
and return current pass through n pair OF
conductors attached to either side Of the iron
Jokes. The current ID supplied at a constant
potential Of 800 volts, something over one-half
! as powerful as the trolley current. The rails
do not serve az conductors The conductors
are light angle irons attached to cup-shaped
insulators and placed about two-thirds OF the
depth of the conduit from the bottom in order
TO keep them from moisture, and the conduit,
which is 27.5 inches deep, is furnished with
catch pits to carry off the drainage. The
conductors also entirely protected
under the running rails, that they can
not catch rain or dirt and may not be seen
or touched from the slot. Current leakage in
rainy, snowy weather is one Of the bugaboos
employed to brighten the public from the use
OF the underground electric cor nit.
The experience Of Buda-Pesth, where tn
atmospheric conditions are more try
ing than in Washington, and where
the streets are no cleaner and no better drained
shows that practically this leakage is not seri-
Gus affair, If simple devices are adopted for re-
ducing it to minimum. Osborne Howes re-
ported to the Boston rapid transit commission
| concerning this point that the electric cars OF
Buda- Pestn experienced no more trouble with
| snow and ice in the winter Of 1921 than the
| ordinary horse cars. There was some delay,
he said. but nothing serious, although last
1
gary, and the Danube river was frozen over
continuously for more than three months.
The nominal rate Of speed is miles pei
hour. At night and in some parts of the route
eleven miles per hour are permitted. In
densely crowded streets 60 miles are the limit
while on crossings only Ia miles per hour art
allowed There are four of these electric inei
in the city, the Oldest of which has been il
operation for more than three years, with 6
total length Of track of twelve miles, and thu
larger part OF the lines have double tracks. =
Various improvements that can easily b,
made have suggested themselves as desirable il
perfecting the system for American use. tn,
cost OF construction can DO cheapened, tn
slot can be made narrower, the contac
frame stronger and the pattern Of tn
rails can be improved. But the fac
remains that in spite Of minor an,
easily remedied defects this system has prove,
commercially practicable and u remarkabl
success upon the leading railway OF a city o
J half a million people, the most enterprising
progressive and rapidly developing capital to
day in all Europe.
These three European railways to which rel
erence has been made demonstrate that tn
trolley is not essential to practical rapid transi
either in suburban or special season service Q
in the constant and vast labor Of Transporting
the multitude quickly over the principal street
Of great city.
The Buda-Pts road is most interesting to
Washingtonian because the conditions NOR
| closely resemble those that confront this city