The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-02-19
LONDON'S NEW "ELECTRICS'
E1PERTMENTS ON THE UNDER
GROUND.
Successful Mingiing OF Trains Pro-
PEELED by Locomotives and Motors


and Metropolitan District Railway
Companies have been Jointly making
preparations for a trial Of electric trae-
ton over a portion of the underground
ton of electricity as the motive power
for their trains. These preparations
have now reached stage when the eX-
perimental running of trains becomes
possible AS a matter of fact it is more
than two months since train was ac-
tually propelled electrically over the line
on which the experiments are to be car
ried out, but the engineers in charge
would probably be the last to attach a
high value to this result from the prac-
tical standpoint, seeing that the train
was not full size and the electrical
equipment was not complete. Since
that time, however, the plant has been
finished and some minor alterations
have been made in the arrangements,
and recently, either in the small hours
of the night or in the church interval
when the line is free from ordinary traf-
ifc-more significant trial trips have
taken place. On these occasions, except
that the train did not carry it's full
complement of passengers, the condi-
tons were substantially those which
would hold in ordinary everyday work
ing.
Of course these tests were success
a., hot t6a trai ", al
the line at higher speeds, too than are
attained with the steam locomotives
now in use, but such a result is merely
question Of engineering calculation, in
which it would be absurd to talk of
failure with matters in the hands of
men like Sir j. Wolfe Barry and Sir
w. H. Preece. Nor did the authorities
of the two railways need any proof that
trains can be propelled by electricity.
But where further experience was felt
to be wanted was in the conversion of
steam locomotive system to one de-
pendent on electrical power, due regard
being paid both to keeping the initial
capital expenditure within reasonable
bounds and to insuring economy and
efficiency in subsequent working. 1t
should be remembered, too that the
TOdu IIluSJ IGIIldlu dNdlldDlG lOI u dlllC
propelled by both means, and that the
arrangements must be able to cope with
frequent service of heavy suburban
trains. The experiments have been in
stituted with the view og obtaining light
upon these points, and therefore the
word success cannot be properly used Of
them after a few isolated trials, but
will become applicable only when per-
4 I,
demonstrated the mechanical and eco
nomical soundness of the methods adop-
ted
The line selected as the scene of the |
experiments is the one which runs di- |
rect between Earl's Court and High |
street, Kensington-a distance of near
ly mile. The comparative lightness
of the traffic on this section enabled the
necessary preparations to be made with
greater ease than would have been pos
sible in more crowded parts of the sys-
tenn, and there is the additional advan- |
tage that trains travelling in one direc |
tiofl-from High street to Earl's Court |
have to face gradient sleeper than
anything that exists on the Inner Circle.
Hence, if electrical expulsion is found |
satisfactory here, there can be little
doubt that 1t will prove mechanically
adequate ON the greater slopes that oc
cur on other parts of the lines. The
preparations that have been made are
not of a very conspicuous nature, but
still they have not escaped the notice
of the intelligent passengers, who have
been heard to surmise, among other
things, that they indicate an intention
on the part of the District Railway to
|
determination to adopt new method
of signalling. They consist of pair of
rails laid along the track outside the
running rails and a few inches above
their level These rails, which are
formed of lengths of channel iron, bond
ed together SO as to be in electrical
connection, and supported upon porcel-
ain insulators act as the conductors
which convey the current to the motors
on the train, and it may be noticed that,
contrary to the practice which obtains
on other electric railways in London,
the running metals have no part in COM
pleting the electrical circuit. At places
where \there are points, or where other
lines cross, it is obviously necessary to
interrupt these conductor rails; in such
cases their electrical continuity is pre-
served by means OIL copper cdDl6S CAR
1ied underground and joining the two
extremities of the gaps. {
The longest of these Interruptions !
will measure 40 feet, and the difficulty
of keeping down the length was due to
q circumstance which at first sight
would not be expected to be of any ac-
count in the matter. Many of the dis
trict trains are fitted with an apparatus {
that indicates the name of the next sta
ton inside each compartment, and this |
is worked by a lever which projects
below each coach and engages with a |
long cam placed in the middle of the
track near the stations. Now an obvi- Y
Gus way of shortening the gaps, say in {
a case where two lines converge to- ]
gether, would be to continue the con- 7
ductor rail by placing a length of the {
channel iron between the two rails of I
the converging line. The station indi-
Gators, however, rendered this course s
because the raised con- l
ductor would act like the cam referred /
to and cause wrong station to be noti-
fed in the carriages. Still, even so, the
current is never cut off from the train. r
1t is picked up by metal shoes that a