Milford chronicle., 1896-09-04
FLIES LIKE THE VIM.
An Electric Car operated by ths Third
Rail system.


An Electric Car operated by the Third
Rail system.
Eighty miles an hour over the tan
gent between Nantasket Beach nnf
Hull, in Massachusetts, was the sen
sation to which Col. Heft, chief cleo
trieian of the Consolidated road, treated
his company of investigators the other
afternoon, and this in an open car IN
the teeth of 15-lSnot breeze. At one
time it seemed as if the sharp blasts
cf wind were about to tear every inch Of
clothing from the body.
This exhibition of the possibilities OF
the subtle. current in its application to
rail transportation was incidental to a
very satisfactory test Of what is known
as the third-rail system, which has
been installed on the line of the South
Shore branch of the Old Colony di-
vision between Nantasket Junction and
East Weymouth, a distance of 31s miles.
For the first time in the history of cleo
trical development a surface car was
propelled by means of this new device.
In determining upon the extension OF
the company's electrical system to East
WEYMOUTH the overhead trolley system
was abandoned and the third-rail meth
cd ofeontaet adopted as the most read
iIy adaptable to ordinary railroad re-
quirements.
The third rail is of peculiar shape,
the end view resembling a aattened A.
It is laid midway between the two serv-
ice rails of each track. Each section OF
the third rail is 30 feet long and weighs
90 pounds to the yard. It is supported
by three ash blocks to each section. the
blocks being let into the ties. Before
use the blocks are boiled in vacuum
pans with a tar compound, and thus
each pore is filled with insulating anil
preservative material. The insulation
Is almost perfect. The continuity OF
the third-rail circuit is secured by at
saching each end of one rail to that OF
the next by means of two heavy copper
bands. The line between Nantasket
Junction and Weymouth is absolutely
distinct, electrically, from that between
the first-named station and Pemberton.
II is fed by its own feeders and provided
with its own automatic safety appii-
ances, which, in case of earelessness or
accident to the third-rail section, enter
into action and cut all electricity from
It, rendering it nothing more than pc
culiarly laid stretch of track.
The electricity is taken from the third
rail by two sliding shoes hung loosely
from the car, one suspended between
the axles of each truck, Immediately
under the lxingpin, by two links, which
allow It to slide easily over the top Of
the third rail and make perfect contact
with it all the time. The current IS
brought to the motors through the
controllers and circuit breakers and re-
turns to the track rails by the wheels.
The continuity of the return circuit Is
secured by using a short, thick bond
cf copper cable to join together the
ends of each pair of track rails, the end
of the bond being fastened into the
fange of the rail. The distance between
each of the two shoes on the cars is 80
feet. No third rail being laid at the
crossings, the circuit is continued be-
tween the broken ends by means of
iead-covered cables. At the crossings
less than 80 feet wide one of the shoes
Is always in contact; at wider ones
the impetus of the moving ear brings
the shoes into contact again before the
ear can come to rest.
A good idea of the advantage of cleo
tricity as a motive power compared
with steam may be gathered from the
fact that the two locomotives burn each
four tons of coal per day, while no moro
than four tons per day burned in the
power house serves to generate suffi-
Gent power to operate the whole seven
miles of line between Pemberton and
Nantasket Junction by electricity.
It was on the return to Pemberton
that Col. Heft showed the possibilities
Of the current, and those who rode with
him will never forget their experience
of so miles an hour in an open car
Hartford Times.