New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-09-27
HIGH RAILWAY SPEEDS.

BY the pending series Of tests on TIE Berlin
Zoseen line Engineering News" is inspired to
point out some hitherto impeTfecty recognized
embarrassments which must attend the opera
ton Of railways ut very high speeds One Of
these was indicated by an American expert
only a short time ago. He expressed the opn-
ion that II was not practicable to control, by
. mechanical means a signal at n greater dis
lance than 1000 feet from the tower Where
trains are run ar anything like sixty miles an
hour an interval Of 900 feet is now occasion
ally provided between The distant" and home
signals that guard the entrance TO each block.
TIE momentum of a moving mass does not in
crease in direct proportion to its speed. but far
more rapidly. Hence our contemporary est
males that if \ velocity Of 100 miles an hour
were developed the distant signal ought 10 be
placed about 1900 feet, or a mile and 4 half
from the tower The suggestion is startling but
the diEiculty referred to is not insuperable.
Electricity can be trusted 10 operate signals at
q much greater distance than mechanical
agencies like compressed air; and eventually it
viii doubtless be more extensively used for
that purpose than II IS at present
What seems TO Engineering News a more
formidable hindrance 10 safe running at the
speeds which are now being talked about as
possible is the shortness Of the time in which
an engineer would be obliged to recognize sig
nails. a hundred miles an hour means Ia feet
a second. When favorable weather conditions
prevailed he would az that rate have seven
seconds IN which TO identify a signal 1000 feet
Of. In actual practice. though it often hap
pens thar visibility is limited 10 200 or 300 feet
Under those conditions. and with such a speed
as has been assumed. be would have only 4
second and a bali or two seconds in which 10
observe and determine the position Of a soma
phore IL il were daytime, or TO see and note the
color q a light by night. OF course if the speed
were l25 or $50 miles an hour bis difficulty
and the risk 70 passengers would be CORE
spondlngly increased.
The problem thus raised Is a serious one. but
its solution cannot be pronounced a hopeless
task When inventive genius has lad a fair
chance 10 wrestle with il. several available ex-
pedents may be found IT is conceivable. for
instance, that an idea which has already been
suggested for slightly different purposes may
meet the requirements here revealed. To pre-
vent collisions when engineers. through care
lessness or sickness. run past signals IL has
been proposed 10 install apparatus that will au-
tomatcally set the brakes and shut OF steam
ia such emergencies 1t is by no means clear.
from the limited trials CT the mechanism thus
far made IN Switzerland and Germany. that
the system has been sufficiently DEVELOPED TO
give satisfaction. Further study may be needed
to bring il q perfection. Perhaps some better
way Of dealing with the exiCency VIII be dis
covered. In any case. me merits OF devices for
automatically stopping q train when signals
are ignored NAV well be considered hr those
who want materially faster travelling than the
best railways Of the world provide for to-day.
While the experiments now in progress in
Germany win doubtless prove instructive in
many ways, the feat recently reported is not
remarkable. The Berlin-Zossen line is only
eighteen miles in length. and 1t does not ap-
pear from the dispatches over how considera BILE
n section OF il the rate Il III miles hour
was sustained. As spurts Of similar character
have repeatedly been made by trains drawn by
steam locomotives il would Dee foolish TO base
any conclusions about electricity upon the par
ticUlar test just made. However. il IS already
well known that with electric ira tion speed IS