The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-09-04
ELECTRICITY GUSHING STEAM.
LIKELY TO MOVE MOST OF THE
SUBURBAN TRAINS soon,
but Chief Stone OF the Locomotive En-
gineers Says 1t May he Some Time
Before II Can he Applied With
Safety to Long Distance Railroadins.

ShICty 10 ILOuB DIbthHCt NAIITOduiHB.
Warren s. Stone, chief OF the Brotherhood
OF Locomotive Engineers, had some inter-
eeting things to say last week concerning
the increasing use of electricity as motive
power and concerning the possibility OF
its supplanting steam in long distance
railroading
so far as suburban traffic Is concerned"
said Mr.. Stone, electricity as the motive
power Of trains will soon be here. should
imagine 1t will be little more than question
OF few months before most of the suburban
railroad trains will be moved by electricity.
1t has distinct advantages over steam
for this kind Of work. 1t admits Of running
faster trains and more trains, for one thing.
With one or two car trains there may be
maintained a schedule based on a very
short Roadway. Trains can be run thirty
minutes apart. or even less If desired
Il DO not doubt that practically all the
suburban service from the larger cities
will be very soon operated by electricity.
With the long distance hauls there are,
Of course, more problems to be met
Some of these problems are serious
and so far as | am aware no altogether
satisfactory method Of getting around them
has been proposed The question of the
motor unit is one Of these.
"If steam locomotive breaks down,
it affects that motor unit only But If the
motive power OF an electric road is put out
Of commission everything on the road,
or at least on a very considerable section
of it, comes to a standstill. In other words.
the electric road carries all its eggs in one
basket.
Such condition of affairs is more or less
precarious, OF course In these days OF
hot competition it affords an easy way
for an unprincpled and malicious rival to
put road out OF business,
Naturally, l do not mean to say that
any such desperate tactics would be re-
sorted to by any railroad company or its
employees, no matter how bitter was the
rivalry. l merely mention the possibility
by way of illustrating how open the electric
road is to a clandestine form of attack that
would, for the time being at least paralyze
its entire service.
And then there Is another thing. The
third rail seems to be an essential feature
OF the electric roads equipment. .tleast,
up to the present time there does not ap-
pear to be any entirely satisfactory substi-
tute for the third rail system in anything
like heaSy electric THuTOduinR.
Now, the stringing of these heavily
charged rails over wide section Of country
involves great possibilities Of danger I'M
less some better way Of protecting them
IL devised than any now In use And how
are they to be protected il the shoe OF the
motor car Is to come In constant contact
with them, as 1t must II it is to pick up the
powerf
Il do not, OF course. say that these difh-
culties In the way OF the long distance
electric road are insurmountable. Far
from it. | only mention them as now ex-
listing and as at present not yet overcome.
There are many who believe that the
substitution Of electricity for steam in long
distance railroading Is an affair OF the near
future. They believe that the passenger
trains will be first operated electrically,
leaving the freights to run by steam on diff
ferent tracks,
This is all wholly within the possibili-
ties Of the not remote future, as is even
moving Of freight by electricity. The
electric motors certainly have the
speed and the power There are still
the difficulties in the way of applying the
speed and power that have mentioned, as
we'll, perhaps. as others equally serious.
rapidly extending. The Lake Shore road
Ia paralleed by an electric road from Cleve-
land, where am now living, to Toledo.
There is an electric line in operation from
Toledo to Detroit.
Between Buffalo and Cleveland, be-
leve, there Is still short gap to complete
before there will be a continuous electric
line between those two cities. When it is
completed there will be continuous electric
road in operation from Buffalo through
Erie, Cleveland and Toledo to Detroit.
There is no electric line yet completed
between Toledo and Chicago, but I'M
doubtedly that connection will be made
at no distant day.
Il understand that they are running
sleeping cars over an electric road from
Columbus, Ohio, to Pittsburg. Ihavenever
ridden in them, but those who have say
they are very comfortable
Electric road fares are about one-half
the amount charged by the steam roads,
and the local business Of the steam roads
must be quite seriously encroached upon
by them.
As to the driving of heavy. fast electric
train, very much the same qualities and
equipment are required that are required
in the engineer Of a steam locomotive.
Brains are required in both cases; brains
and quick cool judgment, power OF main
tanning concentrated and alert attention
during intervals OF considerable length.
Combined with this. OF course, there
must be the temperate. orderly life on
the part OF the motorman or engineer
without which those necessary qualifca-
lions cannot be counted upon. 1t is true
that the man at the controller OF an electric
car need not be equipped. as the good engi-
neer is, to just about rebuild his engine
as it stands on the tracks but he is re-
auired to have first class mechanical train
ing and adaptabilty in other directions.
when people trust their lives in railroad
train, whether the motive power be steam
or electricity, they are entitled to have a
man In control of the power that whirls
them at such great speed through the coun-
try who is first class ma n in every respect
in brains, in vigor and In responsibility
of character. The wedding out process
before men who begin as firemen get to