The evening times., 1898-03-02
FINANCIAL.
Serious Problem of Railway Trans
portatiOu Being solved.

(From the Pitt7uuTg DispltcaJ
I In it's preparation for the substitution
Of electric FOR steam traction. i'm its sub
! urban service at Chicago. the Illinois
Central Railroad Company is preparing
TO introduce feature entirely novel in
the United States. The track Of the roII
! Is 10 he elevated az all stations 70 assist
IN the stopping and starting Of trains.
Don't imagine for "a moment that the
track is to rise and fall like the waves
of the ocean. The rise will be So grad
ual that il will be quite unuoriced by the
passengers on a train. II may amount
TO 3 per cent. That j. insignificant COM
pared with an ordinary mountain Eslde
and triiiue even compared with grades
common 90 a rolling country, but IL Is
calculated tnat the saving in power vii.
be euormous-pussihiy the acCeleratiol
or retardalion will be- as great a. - per
cent.
The most serious of traction problems
is the interti1 Of the train. To start the
motor and its train takes more than
double the force required to keep the
train in motion on ordinary grades OF ON
level ground. For this reason motors
must be much stronger than would other
wise be necessary.
BY thus grading the tracks the railroad
people will utilize. to overcome this OBJ
ly goes to waste-gravity The train.
standing before the station with brakes
set. viii be on the summit of a . per
cent grade. When the conductor gives
the signal to start the man az the lever
will take of the brakes. and Immediately
the force of gravity will set the train
moving down the grade. The start will
be more prompt than if enormous poxer
were expended in overcoming the inertia
of the mass. and the speed of the train
will be accelerated with a comparatively
small expenditure of force
At the bottom of the grade the train
will speed along a level track until IL
approaches another station. Here il will
meet rise Of 3 per cent. The mot0rran
will throw off the current and the force
of gravity will pull the train hack aS il
runs up the grade. causing il. without
the least jar. gradually to lose its speed
until. as it tops the rise and finds itself
on the down grade. the mOtOrmau viii
put on the brakes and stop il in front of
the station.
From this description it will be seen
that the system is applicable only to
double-track roads. unless the station
platform is long and the trains COINS in
either direction stop at the far end of il.
The Illinois Central is fOur-tracks,t
road within the city of Chicago. and the
new device is to be made to serve a
u"uole purpose w mere the track Is eie-
waited at a station 1t is to cross IL passage
way. which will afford a safe means of
crossing from the station to- the track op-
posite. As no one will be permitted 10
cross over the tracks accidents will be
avoided. The same end has been reached
on the Pennsylvania road in recent years.
by tunneling under the tracks at impOr-
tant stations.
This up and down device is so simple /.
and yet so effective. that IL seems odd &
that ii has never been used before. 10 did I
not originate in this country. however. {
Ii was devised by the engineers for the (
new underground railroad in London. and ,
it is to be applied there first. In time
no doubt. ii will be generally adopted
on surface roads. where the traffic is
heavy and stops are frequent