Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1899-08-10
FUTURE RAILROADS
A Passenger Agents Forecast of
the Future.
Half n Century Hence, According to
This Authority. tho Pneumatic
Tube Will no tho Busincss Of the
Large cities OF tho Country.

Mr.. +. l.. Whitney. general passenger
agent of the Great Northern railroad, in
speaking of the future development OF
| railroad travel, said:
THE great development Of railroad
travel fifty years hence will undoubt
eddy be along the line of urban and SUBJ
urban rapid transit Long distance
steam railroads. as we know them to-
day. carrying both freight and passen-
gers. are in some respects at the apex
OF their achievement Speed is for all
practical purposes limited to the maxi
| mum of sixty miles an hour. or but lit
| tie moro. The item of comfort has
reached Il point where there Is little TO
| be desired. Accidents affecting life and
| limb on Il modern passenger railway
have been reduced To IL percentage so
low that il is actually safer to travel
on Il railway train than TO walk along
| Il city street
| "Iti is possible that for some time to
come long distance travel will continue
! to follow the same general lines as now
| exist. Steam locomotives may give
| place. TO machinery operated by cleo
trcity or compressed air; the two rails
| may i'll process of time become one
H.,
be still further improved, but in the
main the railway system of 1850 will
| be simply an Improvement on what
exists today. with an ever-present
speed limit OF less than 100 miles an
| hour.
1T requires no effort of the imagina-
| ton TO see an extension of the pncu-
matte tube system now in use i'm the
| largest cities y. view of New York
| London, Paris. or any other large city
in 1890 may show something after this
fashion: Dustless. asphaltod streets
with no noise Of changing gong or steel
shod hoots; clean. unbroken pavements
| across which pass with noiseless rush
rubber tired. horseless carriages: no
deathly tracery of electric lines or
| network OF smoke hcgrimed elevated
| treStle work. Instead. at convenient
inotervals, the small, round stations Of
me Pneumatic Underground Transport
;ation Company. The passenger will
step into an automatic elevator which
gently lowers him To the track. if such
a name can be applied to Il system
mat has no track. lncandescent lamps
lSht the underground station and the
ar is pure and sweet. ACCOMPANIED by
other suburban residents the passenger
enters luxuriously appointed car
whose arched sides and ceilings disclose
It's tubular construction. The conduct or
|
inc door softly and gently; there is a
olstlnct but hardly perceptible forward
motion as the car starts and in almost
an instant. SO rapid has been the mo-
tlon' the trip has been from the Bat
tery to f'orty-second street. and the
silent elevator lifts the passenger into
the sunshine before the Grand Central
station Harlem is reached two min
| utes later and from here the system
! branches out TO distant suburbs In
connection with the pneumatic under
ground railway. automobile carriages
ana long, slim. single-rail air cars dis
| tribute passengers to their homes In an
incredibly short time
The pneumatic transit system NAV
Dc extended to include ncighborinr
cities. and the effect VIII be practiclllv
| 10 annihilate all distances of less than
one hundred miles, which is about the
| maximum at which it will be necessary
| or desirable to use pne,. matte transit
| LOT suburban trains. The use of This
distance destroying system will add
| several hours a day to the leisure time
OF busy men and bring residence dis
.ricts located thirty to eighty miles
| away within ten or twenty minutes rim
| Oh business districts. The difficulties in
me way OF practical application of
the pneumatic tube system are moi
greater than confronted the inventor of
me steam railroad of to-day. The prln-
| - siSNiNc ScINiCc on Il SIM
ilar scale. and the workings Of II eycitns
no comment whatever
There is department of railway
| travel. however. that demands and vii,
experience radical changes. and that is
urban and suburban rapid transit Of
both passengers and freight: ii is the
crying need of the day. Municipalities
ana corporations are moving heaven
ana earth Ia provide better means for
transporting the millions of men from
their homes to their Offices and work
shops. Conditions. instead Of improv.
ing, grow steadily worse. In ali The
large centers exceeding half n million
population the congestion of strcet-car
Iines-horse cars electric cars or cable
cars and elevated roads--is a constant,
menace TO health. life and property.
Extension along the lines of existing
methods is almost at n standstil. New
York. the second city in the world
seems helpless before the ever-growlnc
problem. Twice every day a struggling
mass of humanity wastes precious
hours in slow, tedious journey be-
tween work and home. There is no
more room for surface lines of railway.
The extension Of the elevated system
means the ruination of valuable streets.
what Is wanted is some method that
Will practically annihlate distance and
at the same time remove from the civ
streets the dangers and defects of the
present systems. One possible solution
| occurs to me-