Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-09-04
Transportation Companies Expert
menting With Electricity.
STEAM MAY BE SUPERSEDED
The Conduit System Contrasted
With the Deadly Trolley.
RE CENT DEV ELOPME NTS

and reviews its past and present uses IN an
il structive manner Speaking of the great
interest being taken in the subject by the
managers of steam railroads, their expert
ments with various forms of the applied
power, and the prospective line between
Washington and Baltimore, to be run at a
high rate of speed Mr.. Speed has this to
say:
These things not only stimulate specula-
ton as to what may happen in the early
future but show that the most intensely
practical men in the Industrial world have
already recognized that the electric motor
has reached stage in it's development
when it is a rival to the steam locomotive
in its own field.
.'And the recently made alliance between
the Westinghouse Electric Company and
the Baldwin Locomotive Works, the largest
in the world, affords another illustration or
a recognition by practical experts that the
time has come for the extension OF cleo
tricity in the business of transportation.
This is not an amalgamation OF two com
panies, but an alliance by which each COM
pany can avail itself of the plant and the
patents and the experience of the other.
Mr.. d. l.. Barnes, the consulting engineer
for the two companies, says that the hitner-
to unsatisfactory results in electric loco
motives were frequently to be attributed to
the lack of experience in practical rail-
reading of the electricians who devised
them.
NO establishment in the world is better
prepared than the Baldwin works to give
practical expression to new ideas in rail-
road engines. 1t may therefore be taken
for granted that the future motors for the
Westinghouse alternating current will be
as nearly what they should be as possible
This alternating current, 1t is maintained,
will enable those who use 1t to operate
trains much farther away from the power
house than is practicable at present on the
trolley lines generally in use. Neither the
managers of the Baldwin works nor those
of the Westinghouse company are p3aStlng
or prophesying but both express confidence
that through the new alliance they Will De
able to meet all reasonable demands made
upon them.
Conduit Systems for the Cities.
Referring to these new developments in
electric locomotives, the writer refers to
the past events in the railroad world. six
years ago." he remarks, 1.-The trolley line
built by Mr. Frank Sprague in Richmond,
Va, had only been in operation little
over a year, and the electrical engineers
ere busy in their endeavors to find some
method of applying electricity to street
car traffic in such a way as to overcome
the prejudices of the public. The economy
of the overhead trolley system had been
demonstrated to all, but the general public
was firm in the opinion that serious danger
lurked in the overhead wires. Against the
storage battery system, where each rar
carried It's own pfOpeliDS power III an &C
CLmulator, there was no such prejudice.
Indeed, this method of propelling street
cars met with so much popular favor that
one of the arguments against giving street
franchises to companies proposing to use
overhead trolleys was that the develop
ment and perfection of the storage system
would soon render the trolley system OBJ
solete. But the storage battery system Is
not more extensively used today than 1t
was in 1882 and the storage battery in
electrical dynamics for several years past
has chiefly been used as an adjunct of
other systems and for the purpose of talk
ing up electrical force which would other
wise, or in the absence of a convenient
accumulation, be lost.
But the advocates of the storage battery
method Of traction have not been idle, and,
as will presently be shown, they are now
ambitious to try conclusions with the troll
ley to economy and general efficiency.
The overhead trolley in these six years has
spread amazingly, and now it is a remote
neighborhood indeed which is not pene-
trated by one of these economically
operated railroads, while in the suburbs of
all large cities these roads are successful
competitors of the railroads for local traf-
fic.
'"The prejudice which has prevented the
overhead trolley from getting into many
large cities mas not operated against the
underground or conduit trolley system
There We're difficulties of insulation, on
account of the rain and sleet and snow
which until recently have prevented the
successful ADOPTION tnlS system. But
these difficulties have been overcome, and
the conduit system, more expensive, to be
sure to install than the overhead method
is now in successful operation. If cable
re ads in large cities unobjectionable
then this conduit system will be less So
for the cars will more smoothly, and
there will be much less noise"
Electricity in Place of Steam.
An interesting description is given Of
the branch electric line the New York,
New Haven and Hartford Company is
now operating over the seven miles be-
tween Old Colony House Station to Nantas-
ket Beach, which shows how much de-
parture from old methods its successful
completion and operation indicate. There
are twenty curves on the line, extending
over four miles out of the total length,
the sharpest being ten degrees. The heav-
lest grade is thirtyfour feet to the mile
The road is double-tracked throughout,
solidly built and heavily ballasted
The motor cars are of two types, the
closed and the open. The closed cars are
heavy baggage cars, and four are already
in service. The closed motor cars are
fCrty-two feet long over all, and are built
extra heavy, weighing each, when fully
equipped, over thirty tons. Two of the
four have two motors, on one truck, while
the two others have four motors two on
each of the two trucks. The motors used
are the general electric. 1000 machines
especially designed for heavy work, and
are similar to those in successful use on
the Metropolitan elevated railway in Chi
Cago. They are water-tight and flreproof
The current is brought from the trolley
wires by means of trolley provided with
a wheel having an extra deep channel to
the motors through a general electric
series parallel controller, set up on the
right-hand side of the platform. The
trains are run as accommodation and eX-
press. the express trains consisting of a
baggage motor car with open trailers, the
accommodation facilities being furnished
by single motor cars.
Seine Interesting Tests.
THE tests made on this line are Of con-
siderable interest" says Mr. Speed. THE
first showed that the motor car alone or
with a small load could run at q higher
speed than that attained by ordinary ex-
press locomotives, and maintain the speed
without difficulty and without apparent eff
fort This test gave rise to some eXag-
gerated newspaper reports as to the speed
attained. Subsequent tests were made
with the locomotive or motor car as
freight hauler, and not less than fifteen
heavily loaded freight cars were easily
moved and carried along the line at high
rate of speed. So far everything was sat
isfactory. Since then fifty miles an hour
has been reached in another test.