Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1901-12-23
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. TRAIN.
The Prospect for High Speed Electric
Traction.

an-hour train. But we have waited
in vain with the patience Of st. Simon
Stylites. The conversion of the trunk
lines of this country to electric
power has not yet come. By this
statement we mean in no way to mini
mize the enormous strides which the
science of electric traction has ac-
complished during the last 10 years
1t has revolutioniZed urban and sub
urban transportation, and has brought
with it a host of benefits to city and
country jewellers which seemed abso-
luteIy 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
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-unit
control of the entire train available
! for traction, facilitates braking 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
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 a matter of very grave import,
has subsidized in these days Of high
voltages into comparative moderation,
and is likely to subside 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
i 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 mo-
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 state OF
things is not altogether obvious. !"
apparently is a commercial rather
be curiOusly composite one. Are
We to suppose that no one wishes tt
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 g
faster were available, and the agree
ments between railroads as to rates
plainly show that the public considers
the quicker routes desirable, even i
the difference in time be only 10 o.
IS per cent.
The same argument against highei
speed has been used against every al
vance for half century past, and il
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 die
not pay. You cannot convince the
American public by any amount q
Juggling with statistics that the exist
ing railroads are regularly running
trains at a loss, out Of philanthropiC
enthusiasm. Directly or indirectly
good service pays, and it is fairl,
demOnstrable that the cost of electri.
service at 100 miles an hour would NO
be largely in eXcess-per passengel
carried-Of the cost of the existing
fast express service between larg'
centers. Moreover, extra fares woult
be gladly paid for the sake of tim
gained. Time is money to a business
man and if hp could stan aboard :