The Opelousas courier., 1897-07-03
AGE OF SPEED.
UNPARALLELED Swiftness Of a New
Electric Express"
People May Soon Travel at the
Rate Of 100 Miles an Hour.

talked of 900 miles an hour" trains
was placed in the ':crank" class.
Locomotive engineers, even while
their iron horses were g%alloping over
the steel roadway with the drivers
spinning out a mile q minute, smiled
knowingly when 900 miles an hour"
was mentioned, and said something to
the firemcn about ''lreamers." But
engineers have changed their minds
lately, all because M of the largest
locomotive builders in the world has
turned out an electric locomotive
which, his experts say, can and will
make two miles IL minute-12O miles
an hour. When the men of the
throttle learned of this they gasped,
but accepted the statement as true,
and now they are waiting for the steel
clad comet to eat up 100 miles Of dis
lance every sixty minutes.
This ''electric express" was built by
the Baldwin Locomotive works and
the Westinghouse Electrical company
jointly. 1t is being tried ON the Tur-
tie creek branch of the Pennsylvania
railroad, and every railroad company
in the world has its eye on it. Its
builders say that if it is a SUCCESS, it
means s'good-by'' to the steam loco
motive, grade crossings. firemen,
boiler explosions on railroads and a
general Encouragement OF block sig
mails.
The electric locomotive looks more
like a baggage car fitted up with a
pilot and headlight than it does like u
locomotive, and there is nothing in
its outward appearance to indicate the
enormous power it is said to possess.
The engine is a remarkably stiff speci-
men of car construction. The frame
is made of ten-inch rolled channels,
decked with one-half inch rolled steel
plates. This method of construction
gives great strength to resist blows in
collision and the wrcnches and strains
which will he incident to the high
speed for which the engine is intend
ed. a
To further inc base the stiffness and
to add weight tq.@rovide the necessary
traction thecshfire framework s COW
cred with half-ipch steel plsSs, and
cast-iron plates A<a boItedat>fhe floor.
Two trucks carry Tie frame, and
these trucks have all the easy.riding
features OF the sleeping-car trucks.
The trucks are four-wheel, and as they
must withstand the heavy strains and
thrusts from powerful motors they are
built entirely different from car trucks.
The trucks are of a swiveling type, so
that the electric locomotive can easily
make short curves. The motors, which
are iron-clad, are carried directly be-
meath the car-bed, between the two
tricks. They are entirely incased by
thin steel shells, so that they are pro-
tected from dust, water and accidents
from flying roadbed ballast.
The rotary motion OF the motors is
communicated to the axles of the
trucks by gearing, which permits the
use of any gear ratio, making the en-
CINE suitable for high speed or slow
pulling, and this feature gives a posi-
BILE fexibility to the electric locomo-
tive which its steam brother docs not
possess.
Instead of a starting-bar or reyers
ing lever, the electric locomotive has
a ''controller," of which the visible
parts consist of n brass handle, some
what similar in appearance to the ham
die Of a thres.way valve, and a half
IOuAN OOA uOooU tuACo ACce AASus
With this controller the ''motorneer"
starts his electric engine, regulates his
speed, reverses and helps the air brake
out in cases of emergency.
The pump for COMPRISING air for
the air brakes has All electric motor Of
its own, Independent of the other
mechanism. This electric-pneumatic
combination has one advantage over
the conventional automatic air brake,
for when the air is used the
current is automatically cut off
From the propelling motors. In
other respects the system is identi-
cal with that used on every passenger
train in the country.
The driving wheels of the electric
locomotive are so arranged that they
may be coupled with parallel rods
when the haul is heavy, as such loads
will not permit M pair of wheels to
slip without slipping the other. The
weight of the locomotive is $50, 900
pounds, and it is thirty-seven feet
long. The speed shown in the experi-
mental runs has demonstrated, it is
claimed, that the electric locomotive
| will be able to make 100 miles an
hnnr fttnrnuidod a arifahla fraoL i.