The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-07-06
WHAT Is GONG On

IN ELECTRICITY. -
VIII electricity supersede steam for both
freight and passenger railroad traffic? A
most valuable presentation of the subject
of the substitution of electricity for steam
in railway practice has been made before
the American Institute of Electrical Engi-
neers by DIR. Louis Duncan. Dr. Duncan
gets at the crux of the present issue by
drawing a distinct line between the pas
senger side and the freight side of the ques-
ton of transportation. In passenger
travel the receipts of road are increased
by running trains at short intervals and at
high speeds, and this is condition pc
culiarly favorable TO electricity. On an
electric line short trains equally distributed
over the track give a greater station etfi-
cheney, and the lowest cost of equipment
OF both station and line. With steam, on
the contrary, the cost OF hauling given
number of passengers between given points
is greatly increased when the number of
trains is increased. The efficiency is less,
and the cost of equipment and of train
service is greater. A recognized authority
states that doubling the number of engines
| for a given traffic increased the cost of
| transportation about 80 per cent. On the
other hand, with freight traffic, the con-
| ditions of greatest economy are reached
when trains of maximum weight are
hauled by single locomotive. The ten
dency of late years has been in the direc-
ton of increasing the size of the locomo-
| tive, the capacity of the cars and the length
of the trains. These changes have neces-
STATED more solid and expensive road beds,
| heavier rails and general strengthening of
bridges. The outlay has been enormous.
| but the decreased cost per ton mile for
| ;rxh+ rot CHI axxyic-
| dom of the change. In the last twenty
wears the amount of freight transported
| per train mile has more than doubled and
| the expenses have decreased more than
| half. The passengers per train mile, on
| the other hand, have decreased, and the
expenses have been reduced only very
! slightly, Notwithstanding the great econo-
| MES that have been exercised. These and
many other pregnant facts go to show that
Dr. Duncan speaks advisedly in main
| tanning that the freight traffic will
! be well looked after by steam for
some time to come, but that the
passenger service will soon be very
| largely and in time entirely electrical.
| The trend of passenger traffic has been in
most economical for transportation.
Freight traffic, on the other hand, has gone
| in the direction where electricity becomes
the most costly. Up to the present the
steam roads have ignored the competition
| of electric roads or they have fought them.
To-day they cannot afford to do either.
In few years electric roads will have abb
sorbed practically all the local traffic and
will begin to cut into through transporta-
ton. The only safety of the steam roads
is to make an ally of electricity before it is
too late. Many high-speed electric roads
have been projected on paper and mainly
for stock-jobbing purposes, but as show
ing what the electrical locomotive is COM
| mercially capable of to-day, Mr.. Duncan
makes mention of an electric road in course