Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1901-12-26

lutely unattainable a decade and a
half ago
More than 10 years ago the expert
ments of Crosby made it certain that
electric traction at very high speeds
was, as an engineering feat, entirely
4 at hand. His results in determining
air resistance removed the only doubt
full factor from the problem, and the
experience of more recent years with
| locomotives has confirmed these re-
suits in the fullest and most satisfac-
tory manner. Further, no engineer
is today disposed to deny that the
electric motor has certain very mark
ed and decisive advantages for such
work. 1t renders whole weight of
the locomotive, or, with multiple-anit
control Of the entire train available
for traction, facilitates brakfng by the
! generator function of the motors,
and greatly facilitates the reduction
of dead weight to be dragged At the
! present time there has been long
enough experience with long power
| transmission lines to show that the
| continuous supply of large amounts OF
energy over long sections of line is a
very simple and easy matter, and that
the efficiency of such a transmission
| Is high enough to utilize fuel more
economically than is possible with To-
comotives, even setting aside the
great advantage to be gained by the
use of water power.
The cost of the conducting system,
once matter of very grave import,
| has subsidized in these days of high
! voltages into comparative moderation,
and is likely to substde still further.
And, finally, the trials carried out
abroad within the past year or two
| have shown conclusively that energy
at very high voltage can readily be
taken to the motors by a flying con
tact with trolley wheel Or shoe, so that
the transmission line and the work
ing conductor may be one and the
same.
The fact is, that, with the light
upon the subject now available, it is
not too much to say that an electric
train at 100 miles an hour not only is
entirely practicable, but involves very
little Of an experimental character.
One might almost go further and say
that the only difficulties worth serious
consideration are those involved in
the track and roadbed. which, Of
course are quite apart from the no
tive power, except as the electric
motor has somewhat the advantage of
the lessened pounding of the rails.
Yet, in spite of all this, the high-speed
electric road is today seemingly fur
Their from Accomplishment in this
country than it was seven or eight
years ago. Abroad it seems to have
been taken up with some prospect of
success, particularly by the Sudden
Gesellschaft, an association of the
German electrical companies, on the
Berlin-Zossen line, and it would be
far from surprising to see the first
success reached on the continent
The reason for such a state of
things is not altogether obvious J.
apparently is a commercial rather
be a curiously composite one. Are
we to suppose that no one wishes to
travel at such speed, or that wishing
it, the cost would be found to be pro-
hibitive? Certainly we have seldom
seen an American business man who
wished to travel by slow train if Il
faster were available, and the agree
mentS between railroads as to rates
plainly show that the public considers
the quicker routes desirable, even #
the difference in time be only 10 or
Is per cent.
The same argument against higher
speed has been used against every al
vance for half a century past, and in
every case competition has forced the
improvement, and the public has wei
coined it. AS to the matter of cost,
it is absurd to suppose that fast eX-
press trains would be running today.
if, everything considered they did
not pay. You cannot convince the
American public by any amount Of
Juggling with statistics that the exist
ing railroads are regularly running
trains at loss, out of philanthropic
enthusiasm Directly or Indirectly.
SOOb sci VICE pays, anu IL - larry
demonstrable that the cost of electric
service at 100 miles an hour would not
be largely in eXcess-per passenger
carried-of the cost of the existing
fast express service between large
centers. Moreover, extra fares would
be gladly paid for the sake of tine
gained. Time is money to business
man, and if he could step aboard a
train in Chicago at 5 p. m. and be
landed in New York at a. m. he
would save an entire business dav
over the present trip and the speed
thereby implied would be considerably
under the 100 miles an hour that
seems a worthy objective point; in
fact, less than 70 miles an hour. in,
Guiding stops.
In this hypothetical trip is, perhaps,
the key to one of the problems of high
speed traction. Most of the fast cleo
trio lines projected have been of mod
crate length, and hence the total
saving of time would not be very
great. 1t would be easily within fbe
bounds Of possibility to establish a
RUNNING time of an hour between
Philadelphia and New York, yet the
saving over the present time would
hardly be sufficient to count for much.
On the other hand, line from New
York to Washington or to Boston,
would be worth the whole. since a
business day would be made available
to the traveller from either terminus.
A fortiori, the New York Chicago line