The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-09-02
THE JUNGFRAU TROLLEY.
THE PRESENT STAGE or Az nTEE,
ESTIN0 en- INEERING Jon.
somo Particulars Of Especial Interest Tron
the Electrical Point OF View In Iisbt a,
Ten Years There WIN lie Transport,tio,
to the Top Of the Famous Moun,a,

the Electrical Point OF View In IiRht =,
Ten Years There VIII Bc Ttanspoft,uoo
to the Top Of the Famous Moun,,,
From the Eioctncdi Rcr.r
The JunRfrau Il one Of the most t,nor,
mountains In Europe. Rising In the middle .,
the Bernese Oberl0nd to q height Of J.Gu foo.
the mountain for years resisted all at'"mrt. o.,
Alpine climbers to reach its summit. and prob.
ably on this account. ns well n becau-e o' ia
exceeding beauty OF It's outlines and the white.
ness and extent OF the vast snow fields that coys,
it, summit II received the poetical name d,
Jungfrau-the Maiden,
The mountain was first assembled In 1911 ana
in the next forty years only five attempts AZ al,
ascent were made IL wa considered % srr,rc,,
ious ascent, even more 30 thar that ui tha MAJ.
terhorn. but the view from the summit 10 unco,
the very finest in Europe. and for THE rea,o,
several plans were suggested Whereby ~ could
be made in some way available 10 tourist. And
others Interested In mountain scenery. NotIirs
Of q practical nature was done until In 100
Herr Guyer Teller Of Lausanne. Swit7nrI1nd
proposed the plan which l. tow In course ~
execution aud which promises To r"-uIi lu the
most astonishing piece Of RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION
and electrical engineering In Euruu- Tts
first work that.was don" on the project va,a
car careful survey q tho mGHn}9in by ~r.olor,t
result from the rarefaction Of the Jr M mo
great elevations proposed for The lin" Al'era
/ laTlO0 Oh 0lSGll=Nl1n WHICH WIS ~ fN.fa VIF.
| nonious, the Swiss Federal Assembly, a,ar,
granted In 1894 n concession for M" work "a
Herr Teller and his associates. Unfortunately,
this hardy pioneer died In the spring uf $50
and his death was a severe blow 10 the ~ ter.
prise with which he was so prominently con.
nectad.
The scheme Of the road Is exceedingly .,mrlo
II proceeds from q point called the lirlr~.loli
egg. which l. a railway station on a ruc1.tr'rA
OF steam railroad, by a steady grade uarl u''Ia
way in the open air and the rcst Of M" vt D.
tunnel with an average grade ~ ~ ror .r'i.
10 a point about 100 feet below The summit =
, the mountain. An elevator from trs terminal
| station lands the. passengers on the -.r'H.f.
| The electrical equipment NJ the railway consist,
Of rack LOCOMOTIVES onerat9d directly 10y three
The power l. generated NJ the village Of 1u'cr.
brunnen, where are. situated some of The rost
beautiful cataracts IN Switzerland.
Ata point above the villageof lnuterhrluuen
a mall stream j. damned and give, q steady
water power estimated AZ n little over 200
horse power. At present this IL sufficient. but
in the future N l. probable that q second pprrI,..
ing station will be erected, using tho vH'ors =
another mountain s;ream and capable Of gcucr-
From the pond formed by dammirg The ltH.
stream, which Is called the Weisser Iut,oliror,
n metallic Condui about SIX feet IN diameter
leads 10 the lower plant about one and ono
quarter miles down the valley. The total fan
available Is 1870 feet. The head ~ the conduit ia
provided with gates. ovorlows and strHiuers
There are already insallcd .iy turbines. tvo RI,
$40 horse power and two Of 500 horse power oa,l
and two small machines for driving III" EXETER.
I'LL aA llt W HUE ''lIlA y. Nv % tl'AN % - I| NNh
on horizontal shafts. The large wheels rIp ~
$50 revolutions per minute, the smaller ones A.
7oQ revolutions anlgma,S spctd I.rgIa,.,n
EXETER wheels and e~vciters are in duplicate.
From the. power station 10. IN" mouth N TIA
tunnel the distance IS about six and oue-0uaf'or
miles. Along this stretch feed wires are CAV.
ried at n pressure Of 700 volts. throa-uhasa.
the line being mounted on porcelain i%rsula'or'
Of the feed wire T. about seven and onn-ha''
millimetres to3, INCH. Through the tunnel
in a ditch al one side of the track. At the on
trance Of the tunnel the line Is about GO feat
above the sea level. In calcul9ting the feed
wires a1oss Of 10 PER cent. was allowed.
Transformer and converter suhstatlons an
scattered along the line at intervals depending
upon the nature Of the grades. They are about
one and three-quaTter miles apart where the
station contains three 2o0-kilowatt transform
ers which. like all the other hlRh-tensiOn ap-
paratus, are CAREFUL, insulated from the ground
on porcelain insuiatorS-a preCantion ahso-
lutely necessary In regions where thunder
storms are so frequent and violent as they are
In the Alps.
Tho rooms for the spb-stauons In the tunna
such as Scheidegg. the Eiger glacier and others'
where there are living quarters for employees.
restaurants &c, the installation Is much more
complete, In addition 20 the. transformers
there is a rotary converter and a battery of
accnmulators, the latter. furnishing. current
for the, lighting and heating Of the buildirss
as for the supply Of the tunnel lighting in case
Of accident TO the generating station.
Current on the iine /. maintained at 600 yoln
cent. between any two sub-etations. Tho
two conductors composing the trolley Inc
metres lo,sS4 innci5 in diameter, SUSPENDED
sixteen inches apart. The third conductor
of the ,three-phase system Is the rails. which
are well bonded and earthed.
The locomotives weigh about twelve and one
half tons each and each, olrries two three-phass
motors geared by q doubls reduction gear 10 the
Ilnlnn Whpal which nuunne4 in the TasE Thu
poles are provided with ~castiron caps, lie
construction otherwise being practically iden-
teal with that OF the ordinary trolley read,
The locomotives develop about three hundred
horse power as n maximum and each hauls =
tram weighing twenty-nine tons and. seating
eighty passengers. The forward end OF the
first car Is supported on a prolongation Of Ito
rear truck of the locomotive so that its weight
assists the ~tractive effort Of the latter. Tie
the locomotive il always at the down hll end
Of the train, pushing 1t up the grade and rolling
motors are connected with the line as IN tls
Up trip, but. on account Of the well-knoWU
tendency OF the induction motor TO stay IN step
with the current, the descending speed Of tia
train il little greater than its ascending speed,
the motors meanwhile working back aud re-.
storing energy to ths line, where ii is usci
IN a resistance at the generating station
The work OF construction commenced IN
feet from The Little Scheldcgg station. On
account OF the constant grade. in case ~ am
accident. the trains could return under their
brakes TO the. station with safety. The fr-t
mile and a half OF the line, which il in tie open.
presented no particular difficulty, but ms
has not been the case with the tunnel section,
The first half of the tunnel will penetrate q
hard, calcareous rock and the upper half q
IL will be built in hard schist ana gIe,Ssic rock.
The hardness and sOlidity OF this rock renders
any masonry work for lining the TUNE. or-
tirely unnecessary. Electric percussion GriS
have been used in the work and experiments
have been undertaken with LIQUID air A. a blast
ing agent. but no great Success ha- been
achieved with It,. The present explosive cou-
pound is nitro-Relatine. and this, In contrast
with other nitro explosives. is more dangerous
and liable TO detonation when cold than Wien
warm, In consequence, the supply ~ ne
explosive is kept in rooms heated by electric
heaters so as 10 keen Il warm. II l. eVDec'cd
that the entire project of the Jungfrau Rail-
way will be completed In from eight 10 Ten
years.