Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1903-01-15

er sent his telegram, he was notified by tele-
phone that his hogs were delivered at West
Toledo. 1t would have taken the farmer with
his wagon week to haul these hogs to the
city. Even on short hauls of five or six miles
the farmers are, able to save money by shipping
Every. farm isa station. ANY farm OF con-
siderable proportions has a freight platform.
the these TILED
train. During the day the farmer simply
places his produce on one of the platforms. II
car comes along. shipment on one of these
platforms is signal for the motorman to stop.
If the shipment is properly tagged, it will reach
its destination There is only one difference
in the equipment and operation of the Toledo
& Western and a steam road. The Toledo d
Western uses electrical instead of steam power;
l.. f. Franklin the general manager of the road
is transportation official of ripe experience
and recognized ability. He was selected es
pecially for the purpose OF lnaugurating the
steam roads, He is succeeding in this partic-
ular in an admirable manner, and showing the
best of results. He is the first to install local
look after business. ALI of the agents at the
larger towns are telegraph operators and the
cars on the Toledo & Western will soon be dis.
patched by telegraph, with the same precision
as trains on steam trunk line. In this connec
ton it was announced this week that the Postal
Telegraph company has signed CONTRACT with
stations on the road This is the first time that
one of the great telegraph companies has recog-
nized an electric line as railroad. -
In its equipment the Toledo 81 Western is
fully up to the steam line standard. After ex-
perimenting with freight motors for over a year
lastweek there was turned out Of the SilyanIa
| locomotive of such character is to be found in
the B. & 0; tunnel. But 400, = as this locomo-
tive. is called, is more complete and better
| equipped than the b. g. o. machine.
The 400" is a 300 horse power engine. Steam
locomotives range from $50 to 500 horse power,
but it is claimed that the "4O0' will pick up a
Il {roi aociar fhop q tQor
motive. It's pulling power has not been fully
tested, but the "4o0' experienced no trouble in
hauling fifteen loaded cars on the first trip. It
is equipped with all the latest improvements
found ona steam locomotive, including air
brakes and automatic couplers. Even the
| whistle and bell are not forgotten.
AS has been frequently announced, the freight
equipment consists of standard cars. built ac-
cording to steam line specifications, with auto
matic coupleTs and air brakes: By the time
| the Toledo & Western is completed, it will have
as many freight cars, per mile, as the average
| steam road.
But the wonder of the Toledo & Western is
Electrical experts journey all the way from
New York, Boston and San FRANCISCO to see the
miracles that are worked by B. F. Perkins, the
| electrician of the company.
When Mr.. Perkins sent his specifications to
| the General Electric Co., for the Toledo and
Western plant, they created profound sensa.
ton among electrical experts. What was sup.
| posed to be the highest authority on electrical
matters stated boldly that Mr.. Perkins was at
tempting the impossible. 1t was claimed that
he was going contrary to established law. But
MIR. Perkins revised ''the established law and by
the wonderful success of the Toledo & Western
power plant decreed new order of things cleo
trical.
Without attempting technical description
of the Toledo g. Western power plant, it can be
said that Mr.. Perkins has taken a great stride
in the reduction of the cost of producing power
power engine in the T. g. w. plant is doing the
work which was formerly done by two 500-horse
power engines. Compared with the cost of
producing power on steam roads there are
statistics to prove that the Toledo & Western
line of Is miles is run with less COAL for 16 hours
than it takes to move Lake Shore 50-car
freight train from Elkhart to Toledo.
Some years ago Frank e. Seagrave, the secre.
tary of the company, insisted that the electrical
power could be produced cheaper for freight
F. B. Perkins, electrician of the company, says:
81 can prove that Seagraves statement is cor
| rect.