Perth Amboy evening news., 1904-03-28
TROLLEY PROGRESS.
Development of Electric Railroads
in Twenty-Five Years.
Middle West States Taking the lead
+. in Long Distance Lineo-Fine
! Equipment and APP
pOfntments.

The year 1904 brings usto the quarter
century mark since the Siemens COM
pany, of Berlin, first connected an cleo
trio motor to a truck and initiated the
electric railway, says the New York Sun.
The car was crude. and the railway a
small affair, $50 yards long, and of three
feet three inches gauge, the third rail
being used. A species of sliding troll
ley-e an overhead rail was invented
two years later.
In 1885 Van Depole invented the I'M
der running trolley wheel, making feas-
ible the use of overhead wire conduc-
tors, and Wellington Adams mounted
the motor directly on the car axle-the
practice up TO that time having been to
mount the motor on a separate frame and
connect with the axle by chains or
belts.
These two inventions, the under run
ming trolley and the direct connected mo-
tor, are perhaps the only features in
electric car designing which have sur
vived the contest of changes and i'm
provements in the equipment Of electric
lines.
In the early cars a couple of Is horse
power motors were thought to be ample.
To-day an electric locomotive is in oper-
alton on the Baltimore &, Ohio railroad
propelled by eight 225-horse power mo-
tors, a total Of 1900 horse power. The
first cars built had a seating capacity of
16. Sixty is the number of passengers
that can be seated in the latest de-
signs.
In arrangements for long-distance
trolley lines the middle west states are
taking the lead. In Indiana five roads,
each over 100 miles in length, are fin
ished or in curse of construction.
A 200-mile road is In operation be-
tween Columbus, O., and Indianapolis,
equipped with sleeping and dining cars
of the most advanced type. Extensions
of this line are being pushed through to
Wheeling, w. Va, and to P~ittsburg, and
plans are being made for connections
with Cincinnati. This service in an
other year will cover stretches in various
directions of from 200 to 500 miles in
length.
Solid trains are run, consisting Of
%Fleepers, dining cars and day coaches,
all of the most improved design and con-
strllction, the sleepers costing $4,000
each. Staterooms with two berths are
used, instead of open compartments.
The roadbeds and tracks are built as
substantially as on steam roads, and a
speed of Go miles an hour is regularly
made on some stretches. Indeed, the
Chicago, Elgin &c Aurora railroad is
planning an equipment capable of 100
miles an hour for everyday schedule.
Trains leave the Indianapolis and Co.
,um bus terminals at 10:3 80 O'Clock every
night, and finish the 200-mile run at six
O'Clock in the morning. The operation
of the road has shown that there is no
smoke, cinders or dust, and that sleeping
car passengers will be able to open their
windows in summer. The charge for a
berth and fare between the two cities
is five dollars, which is less than the
day coach fare on the competing steam
railroads.
Although in the eastern states the de-
Velnpment of the electric railway has
not yet reached a stage where sleepers
and dining cars are in use, still the i'm
provements in the equipment and fit
tings of the ordinary service cars are
keeping pace with those of lines in 9TH
ar parts Of the country. The Fonda,
Johnstown E. Gloversville railway has
put on new palace cars, which are said
to be the largest and most expensive ever
seen.
They are SIS feet in length and weigh
AZ tons. High back reversible seats.
finished in plush, with roll head rests
n footrests increase the comfort of
the passenger. Each car seats Sc per-
sons. On each seat is an electric light.
n the electric push button keeps the
passenger in close touch with the con-
ductor. A telephone connects both plat
'orms, so that the motorman and con
ouctor can talk with each other and also
with the general Offices of the company,
Inc cars are geared to as miles an hour.