The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-10-01
THURSDAY, OCTOBER l 1908.
vHE NEW RAILROAD ERA.

One of the beneficial results which is bound to follow the fast-spreading adap- tation of electric motive power will be the building of short lines of railway for passenger and light freight traffic. As Is well known. many of the smaller towns In Alabama are either entirely without railroad facilities, or have a very made quate system. Time was, as many older readers can remember. when railroads were a novelty, and all communication was by wagon There are those who have to Wetumpka and Montgomery from Chambers, Tallapoosa. Randolph and oth- CT distant counties, sometimes travelling more than one hundred miles to reach a market. In many cases seven or eight days were consumed on the trip, and the farmer never expected to Ego to mar ket,' and return in less than a week.
 These were the good old times'' Of which we often hear. but they belong to she dead past. This Is day of hurry and ''get there flrst." The town that has no railroad must be a slow and lifeless town. If is does not actually die of hamilton. it will finger along as If 1t were only waiting for the undertaken. It will see its trade and its life-blood> grad ually absorbed by a neighbor which has advanced with the rest of the world, and has some railroad facilities. No rail- road, no town. is now the motto. All of us recall instances where a railroad has Aeen built within a few miles of a thriv- ging country village. At once new town springs up and the old one gradually fades away.
 In many cases the location or business of town does not authorize the building of a modern railroad, with all its ex- s pense of grading heavy locomotives and cars and all the various costs of run ming and maintaining the road. This is where the electric road comes in. The road can be built much cheaper than the ordinary railroad. There is no cumbrous. heavy and expensive engine required, and ali the rolling stock and other equipments may be much lighter and less expensive. And the great advantage gained is in the motive power. In most sections of Ala bama there are streams and falls where electricity can be generated. Either at one end of the proposed line or at some point along the route a plant can be established and maintained at compara lively small expense. Such road would be an ideal one for both passengers and light freight. The power of electricity is practically without limit, and 1t is all ways ready for work. On such road the country people could come to town as often as they choose and at small cost I.ixht freight cars would transport their produce to a market. If the town has regular railroad communication with the outer world, so much the better. The electric lines would act as feeders for hotf the town and the railroad and all would share in the benefits. For all situ- ations where speedy, cheap and frequent messenger traffic is desirable. and where there is frequent demand for light and inexpensive freight trafic. the electric line is the road of the future. It will come in obedience to the demand for such methods of transportation, and it will cone when and where it Is needed There are so many localities in Alabama where such a road would i'll all the re ouirements that we feel no doubt as tC their coming into use. This is the age O electricity.