Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1901-06-06
NEW DOUBLE TROLLEY.
Gigantic Experiment to Be Tried
In Northern Italy.
WIRES WILL BE STRUNG OVERHEAD

Operating the Line-Some Merits of
This system-Each Car VIII Have
Four Motors-No special Engines to
BE Used.
An experiment in electric traction
| which will attract worldwide attention
Is about to be undertaken in northern
italy. saws the New York Tribune. The
line is 65 miles long and has hitherto
been operated by steam. It's managers
have decided, however, to equip it with
electrical motive apparatus, one con-
sideration which animated them being
a desire to get rid Of smoke In the
many tunnels along the route. The
| road runs for "a miles on the eastern
shore Of Lake Como, h southern ter
| minus being the town Of Lecco. Near
Colico, at the north end of the lake,
the line forks, one branch continuing
in q northerly direction to Ch1avenna
and the other reaching out eastward to
Sondrio. Water power for operating
the whole system is found along the
Colico-Sondrio branch. Neither in Eu-
| rope nor America is there at the pres
! ent time a road of such length operated
by electricity, although there are plen-
ty of combinations Of interurban troll
ley lines which nave a better mileage.
But the most remarkable feature Of
the OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES road is
the fact that it is to be run with an
alternating and not a direct current.
This is a radical innovation, and upon
the success with which various details
Of the plan are worked out will depend
the future of many other electric roads,.
For instance, it was decided last year
to convert the underground steam road
in London into an electric road, and
Just now half a dozen Of the greatest
manufacturers of electrical apparatus
in the world are competing for b con-
tract. For the moment the system
which is about to be tried in northern
Italy has caught the fancy Of the on
don company's engineers, and they are
Investigating the subject eagerly.
The n great merit of the alternat-
ing current is that it's voltage, or pres
sure, can be readily raised or lowered.
The higher the voltage the more eco
nomically a given current can be sent
over a wire; consequently the dyna-
mos of all great Transmission plants,
like that of Niagara, are ~alternators,
and the current is either generated at
the highest possible voltage or else is
transformed upward Immediately after
being generated. At the point where
it Is consumed-as, for instance, in
Buffa1o-it is transformed down again.
and a part of it is then changed into a
direct current by means of a rotary
converter" The remainder is utilized
in it's original form.
One of the leading manufacturers of
electric railroad equipments in Buda-
pest has secured the contract for fitting
up the line in northern Italy. The
work is said to be nearly completed,
and electrical operation is expected to
begin two or three months hence. 4
trial trip was made with a single car
over a part of the road early last au-
tumn and a speed Of SO miles an hour
developed. The central power station
Of the Italian road develops about 1900
horsepower. The current will be gen
Grated at a voltage of 10000 and sent
thence to several substations. There
1t is to be transformed down to 5000
volts. The motors or the cars will AXE
1t at that pressure, which is six times
as high as the voltage of ordinary troll
ley currents.
Another important distinction be-
tween the old system and the new is
that the former requires only two me-
tallic conductors and the other three.
If the rails on which the cars run
serve for a conductor, a direct current
needs but one other. This may be Ell
Their an overhead wire or a third rail
beside the track, as on the Brooklyn
bridge and some of the elevated roads.
But when a three phase alternating
current is employed there must be two
conductors in addition to the track.
These will be overhead wires on the
Lecco-Colico-Sondrio line. There has
been some talk Of using third and
fourth rails on the District (tunneD
line in London, but is yet it is by no
means certain that the CAM system
will be introduced there at all. 1t is
still more doubtful whether rails or
wires will be employed for conductors.
The Lake Como road will not have
special locomotives to haul it's trains,
as does the Central London. Each car
will AVE four motors, one on every
axle. The overhead wires are 35 inch
es apart. The familiar pole and groov-
ed wheel will not be employed to take
the current from these. Elastic up
right frames. rising from opposite sides
of the car roof, will sustain a lockwood
rod running at right angles with the
track and several feet above the car.
On the rod will be two long. slender
aluminium rollers, pierced lengthwise
n each coming in contact with a sep
arate wire.
Misgivings are entertained by many
experts regarding the outcome of this
gigantic experiment. The complica-
tons likely to arise from a double
wire system at switches and crossings
may prove more serious than the con-
tractors expect. Possibly other sur