The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-09-25
W|CHITA'S NEW CARS
Some Things That Have Been
Decided on For
NEW STREET RAILWAY
New Cars viii Be Heated
With Electric Stoves.

Since # has become assured that Wichita
is 10 have new street railway. everybody
is interested il knowing what the new cars
will De like Probably the most satisfactory
features OF the new cars will be that they
Will run az twice the speed the old cars
can get on for ride the coolest day Of the
winter and make trip OF any length on
the line with as much comfort as he can
stay by his own parlor stove. The heating
will be done by electricity. a coil Of ST.
yer wire on an asbestos roll will De put IN
der the seats, about six in each car. The
heat is generated by throwing a heavy
current upon this silver coil. The wires
are not pure silver, but OF a percentage
that offers some considerable resistance TO
the current, and this resistance causes the
heat. 1t is, in simple, only fractional heat,
but the coils get hot and waves OF warm
air come up and radiate through the entire
car till it is as warm as If there were two
or three coal stoves IN It with fires at full
blast.
The seats will be cane-cushion, in the
same position as they are placed in the
railroad coaches, reversible, and large
enough for two persons. The cars will be
Of the latest improved pattern, eighteen
feet .Ong, with four-foot vestibule platform
on each, making total length Of more
than twenty-seven feet.
Six Of the heaters in each car, all ad-
Unstable, Will make the cars very pleasant
even In the coolest weather. The cars
now in use are only sixteen feet in length,
with a total in the clear of about twenty
feet, and are without any scheme for heat
ing In the cold months of the winter it
IS a frosty task to make "a trip Of four or
five blocks. New cars will be constructed
according to the latest plans In electrical
scientific demonstration. To regulate the
speed of the car the motorman will not
have to stand up in front and turn a crank
as he would TO grind out a batch of
sausage. He will simply work a lever, with
an indicator or guide in a semi-circle in
front of him. THE arrangement is called a
controllers stand. The motorman has his
machine in front of him. He takes hold Of
the lever handle and turns il to the first
Of seven notches in the semi-circle. This
gives the motor half speed, or a good start
for the car. Another notch adds speed. and
so on to the highest current. As they are
now, the motorman works a crank with
a sprockst chain. which winds up e wheel
below TO which is attached q brush or lever
on a reheostat. He winds with mis- crank
and chain till he gets the desired speed
This causes a great loss or waste Of cur
rent, which inrerferes with the speed In
der the new system, the current can be
regulated and all Of it saved The motors
will be so powerfully built, TOO, that each
twenty-seven-foot Acar viii be able to draw
half a dozen loaded cars Of the same
length. The cars now in use will hardly
pull themselves, much less another loaded
car. With the new cars. trailers can be
put on and regular trains run to such
places as the fair or a circus which may
be held on the outer part Of the city.
The new cars viii be about one foot
higher than the old ones, and this. with
trolley poles OF the same length, will raise
the wires a foot or more higher than they
are now. One Of the new cars viii pull
four or five hundred people at speed Of
fourteen miles an hour.
The lines 10 the colleges will proba blv be
built first, but no definite arrangement has
been made in regard to this matter yet.
When the new system IS completed one
can ride from Fatrmount to the Friends
university in less than half IL TINA now
consumed.