Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-03-06
RAILROAD MOTOR CARS.
Progress of Experiments with SUBJ
stttutcs for Steam Power.

New York Tribune.
Railway managers in this country and
Europe have for several years been
wrestling with the question how to trans
port passenger trains on branch roads
where the traffic is so light that the use
of the ordinary locomotive is a piece of
extravaganza. On such lines it evidently
would pay to run electric cars, operated
from a distant station by means of third
rail or overhead wire. For more reasons
than one it would not pay to run electric
cars operated from distant station by
means of a third rail or overhead wire
For more reasons than one it would be in
advisable to abandon the service alto
gether. The only other plan which has
been suggested is to provide single cars
with their own propeling mechanism; but
while the scheme itself is rational and COM
mendable there Is much diversity of
opinion about the best means of carrying
1t into execution No less than four meth
DDS are now being tried and there is yet
no agreement among engineers on any one
OF them. Perhaps the least promising one,
which Is still regarded with favor on the
continent of Europa relies on the storage
battery. British railroad men have shown
a preference for small steam engines. In
the United States two other systems are
now being tested. The Union Pacific and
some other western roads are experiment.
Ing or intending to experiment, with simple
gasoline engines, while certain eastern
roads are looking into the merits of a COM
bination of gasoline. dynamo and electric
motor. 1t is worthy of note. however, that
two or three different ways of making such
combination have been proposed.
In it's last issue the Railroad Gazette
IL.
men. 1t first points out, as the Tribune
has already done, that both of the plans
which are on trial In the United States
have UP to the present time been open to
criticism. With the gasoline engine pure
and simple speed regulation has been
found unexpectedly difficult. The gasoline
electric mechanism is needlessly compi-
Gated and expensive. What is more, the
internal combustion engine has practically
no reserve of power. 1t cannot meet an
extra tax on heavy grade, as the steam
engine does. Accordingly the Railroad
Gazette thinks it possible that the steam
motor may eventually carry off the honors.
To be sure, 1t has not yet proved an over
whelming success in England, but our con-
temporary believes that the chief fault is
with the kind of boiler that has hitherto
been most extensively used. Surprise is ex-
pressed that no experiments have been
made with a steam car equipped with
flash" boiler. Precedents established by
the steam automobile encourage a hope
that a railway coach can be designed which
will develop the necessary speed at the
start.
To insure a test of the mechanism here
recommended cooperation between car
builders, engine builders and railway com
! nWal, IL.
probably not prove very expensive. 1t is
to be hoped that the spirit OF enterprise
among the men most interested in the mat
| ter has not all been expended on the ex-
periments already in progress. The broader
| the field of investigation the better the
promise of satisfactory results. II would
not be strange II the clew offered by the
| Railroad Gazette should lead the way out
! OF the labyrinth OF existing uncertainty