Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1906-07-06
WILL RUN TRAINS
BY ELECTRICITY
Change From Steam to Be Made BY New
York Central at SIqnal Flash


next, when gong is sounded III Tue
New York Central Railroad station,
aud a signal is fl tshed which VIII
change in one minute, the motive
o over of a multlpleX railway system
from steam to electricity.
With the sounding of this bell, 10
c)motives will disappear. The bllnd
iny clouds OF steam will no longer
choke the tunnel north of Forty g. cor d
Street. In place of the ponder0us puf-
fl x engines will come electric locomo'
tlves, and trains of multiple unit Gals
A new system of signalling, insulting
greater safety than any method yet de
vIsed, aud installed at ii cost of Two
million dollars, will go into eperatltn.
SmulJa neously with the substltu-
tion of electrical energy for the steam
driver piston rcd, the road Will be
changed from left hand road, i'll the area
O immoyenent, tv right hand road.
That is to say, the trains which have
been coming into the Grand Central
station on the left side will be shifted
back to the right, as they ran before
the alterations were begun, and this,
in itself, is feat in railroad engineer
ing without parallel, involving, as IL
does, a tremendous network of track
age III the railroad yard.
From Fifty seventh Street south to
the receiving and discharging platforms
in the Grand Central Station, which is
the yard boundary, there are now
twenty eight operating tracks and SIX
tracks. When the work
is flushed in September there Will be
forty-four tracks ON which incoming
and outgoing trains will run, lnclud-
ing the level and sub level tracks in the
great subur ban station east of the pre-
sent structure. From now On through
the summer and up to the first month
in autumn, the engineering force VIII
work mig ght and day, making the changes
which must be done without interfer-
ing with present traffic conditions.
AN INSTANTANEOUS SHIFT.
The new system of signalling must
b put Ill, keeping pace with the lay
ing of the additional rails, and tested
There Can be no gradual
changing from one system to the 9th
ef. Everything must be ready for an
instantaneous shift. Train crews Will
receive the most minute INSTRUCTIONS,
and the great army of engine drivers
will stand ready to make the change,
the instant the word is given.
The shifting to steam locomotive
the boundary of the zone of electrlflca'
tion, will not interfere with the time
schedule In the least. The engineer
ing corps has provided for that by an
ingenious system of switching.
MODERN MOTOR CARS,
One hundred and eighty motor cars
will be ready to run over the electriiled
road by September, and electric loco
motives will take the place OF every
team locomotive now running be-
t geen Forty.second Street and High
bridge on the one road and Wakefield
GA the other. The electric locomotive
weighs 50 tons and carries four motors
of novel construction, operated by a
current collected by four third rail
shoes. 1t is provided with automatic
air brakes, whistle and bell ringer. A
pneumatic device sands the rails to
prevent slipping. The maximum pow
or is 3 600 horse power, and with ooO-
ton train on level it can easily attain
a speed of sixty miles an hour without
the slightest jar or lateral rolling.
AFTER SEVEN YEARS STUDY.
The several radical departures from
existing railway methods are the re-
sultants of seven years. patient study
and unflagging effort. The culmina
ton of the work will signalize an in
noyation that no other steam railroad
| ia the world has more than considered
Until the subject was taken up in lo9
and crystalized, the dlametric chang
from steam to electricity had not peel
even considered. Hauling 800 to
trains laden with passengers, mail an
express matter, and at speed of ski
miles an hour or more, was a proDlei
of extraordinary magnitude. The Par
lAvenue disaster accentuated the d'
mand for the change, and in l90Z III
New Y ork Central management star
ed its plans.
The company was then hauling b
tw cen 600 and 700 trains in twent
four hours, and the decision to subst
tute electricity for steam carried viii
it the confronting of a mountain OF d
ticulties, not the least important
which was obtaining a change In u
law which made mandatory the use
lsteam on the New York Central al
Hudson River Railroad. The popul
demand was for electricity, and In ~
1.-The Legislature enacted a new Ia
which made the electrification of t
road from the Harlem River to t
Grand Central Station compulsory.
Immediately after the passage of
bill the management began prepa
tlons not only to obey the manda
but to go several steps further by co
pIeting the work in three years inste
of five, and In extending the elect
z,ne far beyond the boundary Ii
down by the Legislature. This nj
\ a task of stupendous proportion, ch
I of which was the enlargement OF
Grand Cent? al station. increasing
size of the railroad yard and the
p ession of the grades IN such mi
nsr as to permit the passage oVerht
Il e. L =