Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1905-02-24
acknowledgements
New York Central will III.
timaetly Use Them on
Its Whole Line

Sclentinc American: Judging from
the standpoint of its magnitude and
the far-reaching results which muet
follow. the electrical equipment of
the New York Central system, which
Is now under way, is the most i'm
portant event that has happened in
the application of electrical traction to
steam railroads. It lie true that the
electrical equipment of limited sec.
tions of steam railroads is nothing
new: az witness the work done on
various roads both here and In Eng
land-to say nothing OF the ValtelIina
electric line in Italy; but the novelty
of the New York Central work lies in
the great magnitude upon which it is
being carried out: the elaborate and
carefully systematized experimental
work now being done near Sohuec-
tady; and the important bearing
which all of this will have upon the
great question of the electric operation
Of long distance railroads between
suot points as New York and Chica-
go. or New York and Pittsburg. or
Washington. There liz no body Of men
in the world that IL 80 extremely prac-
tioal or 20 reasonably conservative a.
your railroad engineer: and tho fact
that the New York Central engineers
whether In the department Of civil.
electrical. or steam engineering, are
willing to admit that the ultimate out
come of the present work that is be.
ing done at the New York terminus,
and on the suburban lines Of the New
York Central system. will, quite pos
sibly, lead to the ultimate application
of electric traction to the whole Of
their fourteen thousand miles Of
trace, may be taken by laymen in
general as q pretty sure guarantee
that this stupendous change will aotu-
ally be made within the present de-
cade.
The changes involved in this work
include the electrifying Of the New
York terminal for a distance of "a
miles on the main line from the
Grand Central station, and for "a
miles on the Harlem division as far
as White Plains. The express service
will be separated from the local SER
vice, the express trains being hauled
as far as the points named by electric
locomotives, and the local trains
being operated on the multiple-control
system as used on the Elevated and
Subway lines. This separation of the
service will involve the four tracking
of these roads, and! indeed on some
portions there will be as many as
eight tracks. The express trains will
be run. on the regular schedule de-
manded by the company's through
express service to distance points but
the suburban service will be vastly
improved by shortening the trains and
running them at more frequent inter-
walls, the proposed schedule calling for
train every two minutes. The we'll
known ability of the electric motor to
start. train rapidly and quickly carry
it to full speed will. result in great
scoeleration in the average speed of
this local service; and there can be no
doubt that the increased frequency.
higher speed, and all-round conven.
fence Of the new service will result
in . great upbuilding Of the most dis
tant suburban districts. Two years
from.the present time will probably
Gee the electrical service In full swing,
although there may be some finishing
work to be done in the terminal Sta
ton aad yards In rebuilding the line
the platform are to be raised to tho
level of the floor of the cars, oil
grade crossings are to be eliminated,
and much Of the heavy curvature Of
the line 10 to be reduced or cut out
entirely.
The scheme for hauling the heaviest
express trains by electric locomotives
IL an enterely new one. There is alb
solutely no precedent to 60 upon. It
was for this reason that the New York
Central determined to equip q section
of their main line with apparatus
that should correspond to that with
which the suburban lines are to be
equipped. For this purpose stretch
of six miles of the east bound local
tracks Of the New York Central was
selected. few miles beyond the city
Of Schenectady, and this has been
equipped with the standard third-rail
construction. The track 10 practically
straight and ballasted 60 ~ to permit
Of q maxaimnm speed of 10 to 80 miles
per hour being obtained. Power Is
furnished by . 1900 kilowatt, three
phase, 35.cycle, Curtis turbo-genera-
tor, delivering II, 600 volts to the line.
The generator 10 located In the new
power house of the General Electric
Company at Sohnectady. The current