The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-07-09
ELECTRIC TRAINS ON L. |. ROAD
srRrRBAN SERVICE LIKELY TO
RE REVOLUTIONIZED.
car, VIII begin Running on the Roekawa'
beach Division From Flatb'ish Az.
Thi, week An Immense POwerhouse
with Four steel stacks $50 Feet Tall.

rhis Weck-An Immense POWerhOuse
with -Four steel stacks $50 Feet Tall.
The Long Island Railroad will begin about
.,o middle Of this week to operate electric
..,ir. from its terminal in Flatbush avenue.
urook,vn, over the Rockaway Beach d.
.,l,,o, and railroad men believe that the
,.anne marks the revolutionizlng OF subur-
~, rain Iteration. 1t is believed that
,hs elec,rc power will furnish high speed
-.,r,cs under close Roadway In safer and
,,roh more effective manner than steam,
I'D "A an indication OF the superiority OF
~. nav trains, it il declared that the power
n an ordinary eight car electric train,
,e;.t;ng of five motor cars and three
.sai,.r. IL ea,ls to that Of two Of the roads
largest locomotives.
.ccording TO the builders Of the electrical
us,eu which has been installed for tho
long Island the plant and equipment
smbody the highest developments In cleo
trio railroading yet attained. For three
,aors identification work has been going
~ and though the trains this week will
Va RIM only on the Rockaway division,
s.venty miles Of track are now ready for
.,sc,ric oreration. The zone which L.
practically completed includes the road
from Brooklyn to Jamaica and Belmont
park racetrack. to the Metropolitan race
track and Springfield Junction. and the
Far Rockaway branch. via Valley Stream.
a. far as Hqrmel's.
In connection with the electrifcation an
tracks has abolished most Of the grade
crossings IN Brooklyn and in the fall patrons
Of the Metropolitan, Aqueduct and Bel
mont Park racetracks will be taken to
s,lrdestinatlons in the new electric trains.
In addition to the equipment already In
Mace. il is plannd to electrify the Man
branch 10 Whtrstone and Port Washing ton
The most important detail In the scheme
NJ slec,ritcation is. of course, the big new
poyer house in Long Island City, the four
stee stacks of which tower $50 feet above
the ground In the big engine room Of
this power house three 1900 horse power
turbines capable OF carrying l2,0O0 to 1000
horse power under pressure. and three
$500 kiowatt generators have already
been set up and are ready for operation.
Additional units will be set up as the electric
operation is increased.
The surface condensers, attached each
to turbine by a system Of IS inch pipes,
contains 500 tut 90 an inch in diameter
and Is feet long and uses 1000 gallons Of
water a minute to cool the exhaust steam.
Each generating unit weighs $50 tons.
1t Is difficult to realize that the operation
Of the entire station is completely under
the control of one man, who stands at the
switchboard In the operating gallery in
direct communication with the engine room
and private telephone system connects
him with the five power sub-stations and
With practically all points along the line.
The coal handling apparatus illustrates
how mechanical ingenuity accomplishes the
kers from pier 500 feet away over steel
trestle 10 feet above the street. 1t is scooped
out of the barges by clam shell bucket
holding ton and half and Is dumped into
. hopper lhO feet in the air. Then. after
passing through a crusher and a weighing
machine, it idfed into steel cars holding three
tons each, which form a cable railroad over
the trestle. and carried to a bunker, where
an automatic tripping device dumps 1t in
the proper place The whole thing is auto
matte Two men can handle 1t and deliver
from barge to bunker SEQ tons day.
From the power house three great con-
ductor cables carry the current to the fvo
sub-stations, where the IL 600 volt alternating
current passes through the transformers,
and. changed to 600 volt direct current,
goes cut in smaller cables and is distributed
to the third rail
Attached to the sub-station In Hammels
Is the largest single storage battery in the
country, which in an emergency can run
the line from Howard over the Rockaway
division for several hours.
The whole sub-station system is made
flexible by the use of novelty in electrical
engineering portable power house SUBJ
stations: To meet such emergencies as the
overload caused by crowds returning from
the racetracks the portable sub-stations
were devised to reinforce different points
on the line, Externally the portable"
looks like heavy steel freight car; inside.
compactly arranged, is a 1000 kilowatt
rotary converter, with its three trans
formers and little blower and switch
complete
A complete new car equipment was
necessary for the electric rod, and $50 fire.
proof steel cars each fitted with two 200
horse power motors, have been ordered
ana are being set up at Springfield, l.. I.
Externally they are not unlike the steel
subway cars. They are 5l.2 feet long, 80
ieet wide and seat ffty-two persons. At
the Springfield shops 100 OF the ordinary
steam cars also have been fitted up for
use as tralers. Fifty steel motor cars are