Birmingham state herald., 1896-08-04
MAY GIVE UP ST EAM Experiments With the Electric
 Locomotive. SAFER, CHEAPER, FASTER The New Engine Better Adapted for Haulin g Cars-0ne of the Latest Type
 Shown

Electric traction as a means of street transportation has become such an as- sured and familiar factor that any article treating thereupon would be trite and unlnteresting. The omnibus, horse. car, cable car and, finally, the trolley, have followed each other as a regular sequence of mans ingenuity, each in turn giving us better streets and finer and more psr- manent service. The trolley's system first attracted attention from it's low cost, ease of construction and absolute feasibility for short line service, and ob- servation soon showed it's adaptabllity for a line of miles as well as a loop of squares.
 Naturally with such field, practically unlimited. a certain large stimulus was offered to every electrical inventor and constructor and we find decided inn provements in transmission, motor con struction, applied power and traction. Immediately the public thought that they saw total replacement of steam In every direction for railroad work, ana the prophecies that were made were for the most part wild and chimerical.
 It is a long way off to the entire equip r,ant of trunk line. as the distances and through service are so complicated and exacting as to so far preclude the electric traction as an absolute and sin gle factor.
 There are, however, numerous short lines of steam railway branching or from stations on the main stem to small and comparatively unimportant places. In many eases these are much shorter than the regular trolley lines in any city, and inquiry was soon made and experl- ments inaugurated looking to the estab- lishment of a service that should be en- tirely electrical, as applied to these small CT feeders In many cases the trelgnt hauled over the short roads was the pr1h- cipal traffic. and 1t became apparent that the car that would answer every purpose for passenger transportation was in no way fitted for other work.
 Experiments Made.
 The motor necessary should be one that was separate; that could be attach- ed at will to any ordinary train or loau- ed freighters; that should be powerful enough to replace large steam locomo- tive; that should be nearly, If not quite, under absolute control Large corpora tions are naturally jealous of each other, and the different railroad equipment manufacturers throughout the world had tried their hands, but without success :. According to the Philadelphia Times 1t was not until the Baldwin people joined hands with the Westinghouse company that the problem so often talked or was m fair shape for solution. company that has made study of the methods ol electrical street railway equipment Wss when joined to the master builders or the locomotive, ready to conquer almost any puzzle in electro mechanics and tnt joint products of the two associations are now in satisfactory running ordel and action. The car construction proper was done in Philadelphia, and, after th' body and trucks were in shape, the elec trical apparatus was added at Plttsburg More or less secrecy has been observed in the preliminary plans, both companies having decided repugnance 10 maklnt any facts public that are not backed bl sober, intelligent demonstration. Ioda! the electrical method of traction b, heavy loads is an assured success, ant of the several pieces of machinery con structed and under construction, we car safely deal with two as typical The two referred to were constructed in Philadelphia and are respectively S0' and 400 horse power, being designed fol totally dissimlar purposes. The largest is a heavy, well built and strongly Drac' ed car, looking more like the old fash toned dummy engine" that formerly ran between Philadelphia and Frank, ford. The frame is of heavy channe iron, bolted together in the most secure and mechanical way, and covered With . cast iron deck. This is mounted on two trucks. four wheels each, the wheels be- ing so arranged that by simple unfas tening of the pinions and bolts they car be removed independently without dis turbing the other parts of the mechan ism The trucks are of steel ana allow diameter. of AZ inches to each wheel Ih construction of the car body diners pu little from the ordinary, having SIX Win dows and double doors on each side Light freight or baggage can pc carrie. ~ the controller or brake being placed A the platform. oy..,.,,.
 The motors are of the regular Westing ho,,se pattern, geared to the axle in tn same way and by the same method | vogue on our city street railways, tn only difference being in weight ana pow CT. Strength and solidity have been ta ken into account at every step ana tn result is a very powerful and heavy cal fine weight being 1000 pounds, divide between the car and the motors. N matter what the grade or the speed there is no danger of its leaving tn tracks, as the deck and frame were par ticularly designed for strength ana pal last.
 The controller In the ordinary Westing house design had reverse gear an graduated scale for power and speed, bu now the similarity between this "electrl locomotive" and the street car stops Be meath the car is an air drum, and whe the motor is drawing an ordinary trai if Is as simple to control the stoppag of that train as 1t is upon an ordinar steam road By a simple mechanism tn power that propels the motor is made | establish the necessary pressure Tor a air brake, and even as the engineer Of steam road blocks the wheels of hi whole train so does the driver of the me for arrest its progress. It has been sai that the establishment of the air brak and its successful application means tn possibility of driving heavy train at