The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-03-12
RUNS TWO MILES A MINUTE.
A REMARKABLE SINGLE RAIL
ELECTRICAL RAILROAD.

Minute-MethOd of Switching on
the Line in BeIgium-HOw Bridges
Are Publications. Double Engines
Which VIII Give Place to Electric
MOtOrs-Cars shaped Like a Bun
With the Crease DOwn-COst of
the New System-The Inventor
Tells of Its Vast Advantage Over
the TvO-Rau system.
New York, March 10.-While railroad OPP
orators are boasting of making their sixty
miles an hour IN English inventor has
quietly built a line of railroad on which
trains run regularly at the rate of 100
miles an hour, and frequently attain a
speed of from two to three miles min
ute. And it is a practical achievement
with full-sized cars capable of carrying
100 passengers EACH so practical indeed
that F. B. Behr the engineer and inventor,
has just formed a syndicate in London
for constructing a line on his new system
between Liverpool and Manchester. He
press Railway" 1t will regularly make
the distance of about thirty miles in TWEEN
ty minutes, including stops Between sta
tons the cars will frequently attain a
speed of two miles minute.
The character of the new road is as
strange as its achievements. The trains
run on a single rail set several feet above
ground on trestle work., and the motive
power is furnished by electricity. The
cars somewhat resemble a big oblong bun,
turned upside down, with wheels set thick
along the part that answers for the bun
crease, and hedged about with guide
wheels, so that il cannot jump the track
along which 1t is propelled.
Wonders of the New Road.
Work on the Liverpool and Manchester
road will begin within a few months. The
first line of the kind built by Mr.. Behr
in Tervuerne, near Brussels, Belgium has
been in operation for some months, and has
been found to be remarkably successful
1t crosses bridges and roads, it circles
around short curves, it climbs steep
grades; 1t enters and leaves its depots
by means of what are probably the most
curious switch arrangements in the world
and it gives its passengers a new sensa-
tion-a sensation of a speed of propulsion
hitherto unattained in any continuance in
vented by man for the transportation of
passengers Indeed, it is said that the
curious lengthwise arrangements of the
seats within the cars was to prevent the
full effect of the appearance of swiftness
on the passenger. Mr.. Behr says that a
man who sits and looks straight out of a
car window instead of looking ahead as
he would if he sat with one shoulder to
the window, as in American cars, does
1s,,4v, H.
terrific speed.
Mr. Behr has been quietly operating the
trains on this new line in Belgium for
some time past, and he has put it to the
severest and most exacting tests, such as
operating the trains under a speed of $50
miles an hour around sharp curves, and
of dropping them down steep grades
without any elimination of velocity The
Tervuerne road is three miles long, built
in the shape of an eclipse That is to say
there are two straight sides joined by
curved ends, the curves having a radius
of /, 900 feet The track proper is a stout
treste laid upon ground sleepers. Upon
top the trestle there is the single bearing
rail, and at either side of it, lower down,
a guide rail-
How the Road Is Constructed.
That is not so very wonderful. but Won
cannot say so much of the car itself. 1t
is a sort of double-decker, about sixty feet
long, and dual lengthwise as well as YER
tcally, throughout its lower half This
double lower portion houses the main
wheels, the guide wheels and the electric
motors, which receive their power from a
conductor laid along the track There are
four of these motors, weighing three tons
each. They are attached to four of the
eight carriage wheels. With GOO revolu-
tons per minute. each motor develops 49,
horse power That gives a speed of 100
miles an hour, which can easily be dou-
bled.
Beside the eight carriage wheels there
are 80 guide wheels, which run upon the
guide rails, and preserve the equilibrium.
Thus even at three miles minute. there
is no possibility of derailment
The upper half, the car proper, seats
100 passengers. and has beside compart-
ments for the electrician and conductor.
in the electricians cabin there were