The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-05-14
THIRD RAIL ELECTRICS.
Details Of the Experience ON the New
Haven Road.
A Mile a Minute and No cinders.
(Hartford Courant.)

The stthird rail' electric demonstrated
what it could do yesterday, and 1.-THE car
load of passengers who made the flying
ease and speed of the novel transit. Col
Dnel n. W. Heft, who is at the head of
the electrical department of the "Consoli-
Dated road, personally ran the motor,
and Division Superintendent Davidson
stood by him on the front platform. They
were careful. as befitted the occasion; for,
if the seventy people on that car had been
pitched into the next world, there would
not have been anything left on earth to
recognize the Consolidated road by,
except few rails and ties and consider
able capital stock. President Clark sat
up close to the front and watched the
whole performance keenly. He was evil
IDENTIFY pleased with its successful out
come The run in from New Britain was
made in twelve minutes They left at
1.53 and arrived at 2.05, slowing up a
good deal as they came into Hartford, and
the heavy car on it's solid roadbed rolled
along all the time with the utmost
smoothness. The difference between it
and the ordinary fast express was in the
abundance of fresh air and the entire
absence of dust.
President Clark and his party left New
Haven at II O'Clock, and the Hartford
spectators left here at 1910, all meeting
at the power house in Berlin. Down
there business had been lively for some
time. Colonel Heft and Superintendent
Davidson and Fennell went down by
special car Sunday evening about 7.30,
bound to see the thing through. When
they arrived hot journals had compelled
the dismembering of the. big engine. 1t
had to be all put in order and re-estab-
lished. This was done. The great fly
wheel was set in motion and car was
run out experimentally quite early yes
terday morning. To bring this about the
working force had to be up and at it all
night long, and Colonel Heft and the
others were part of that force. From
Sunday morning until Monday night they
were in their clothes and out of bed. The
start was made before things were really
ready, but it was determined upon-and
it was accomplished.
There is immense interest all over the
country in this third rail experiment. here
in Connecticut and detailed desc ription
of the plant will not be out of order The
power house at Berlin is two story brick
and stone building, plain but substantial,
112 feet long, go feet high, with a chin
ney lbs feet, or 65 feet above the roof. On
the ground floor, with all the latest i'm
provements for coaling, ETC., are ten 25C
horse power water tube. boilers made by
E. Kendall & Ions of Cambridgeport,
Mass.
One great engine is in position and
running. 1t is of 1900 horse power and
makes 100 revolutions a minute. 1t is
of the improved Greene Corliss Cross
compound condensing sort and was made
by the Providence, r. l., steam engine
company; The big fly wheel, directly
attached to the shaft, weighs 81 tons, and
the crank discs, shaft and armatures
weigh 81 tons more, making leg tons for
the journals to carry. Another engine of
the same size is in course of erection now.
The dynamo is directly connected to the
engine and is of ten poles, $50 K. W. OF
60J volts without a load and $50 when
loaded. 1t was made by the General
Electric Company of Schenectady The
switch board is of black slate, with seven
panels, of which three are in use, two
carrying the controlling and protective
devices for each diagram and one carry
ing meters to show the total output of the
station. The connection to the third rail
is made by two cables of bare copper each
one inch in diameter. There are no
feeders as with trolleys. The third raj
is the only conductor. At crossings there
is no third rail The circuit there is
continued by cable of the same size laid
under ground in wooden tubes filled with
Insulation. These in turn are laid in a
square box also filed with insulation.
There, are cattle guards at the crossings.
A perfect circuit Is made, copper. bonds,
IL inches long and inches wide, fastened
to the underside of the third rail, and
the return current is by flexible copper
bond under the foot Of the track rail.
The open cars weigh about 80 tons each
are so feet long and are fitted with 2 G..
E. 1000 motors, weighing 1890 pounds
each, L series parallel controllers and 2
automatic circuit breakers, and have 1e
incandescent lamps. There are five open
cars and five closed trailers, regular pas.
senger coaches.
The curiosity of it all is in the way the
electric current is secured for the motor
People are accustomed to see it drawn by
travelling on the wire. With these cars
two shoes, or fiat pieces of iron a foot
long and four inches wide, weighing
twelve pounds each, just lie by force Of
their own weight on the top of the
charged rail. The trailers have each one
shoe connected with the motor These
three pieces of iron draw in the current
on their whole surface and furnish plenty
of it, The cars have automatic air COM
pressers that run the air brakes and the
whistle. AS soon as the pressure goes
down the supply is automatically re-
newed.
In yesterdays trip the car often struck
a mile-a-minute gait, but it is scheduled
minutes. The party entered the car, No.
$500, in front Of the Berlin power station.
They ran ursto New Britain. There the
seats were shifted and the car started out,
other end first, bound for Hartford. The
speed was soon.equal to or ahead of that