The Washington times., 1906-08-18
POTOMAC PLANT
BOILER ACCIDENT
STOPS CAR LINES
Power Partially Shut Off
by Superheater Blow
ing Out.

BY the blowing out Of a superheateT.
one Of the three massive boilers at the
plant Of the Potomac Electric Power
Company. about 1855 O'Clock this morn
ing the electric power which supplies
most Of the public buildings and car
lines OF the city. was shut completely
or for about two hours. The accident
occurred at a time when the company
was using but three boilers. the supply
OF power derived from these being suf-
fcient during the early hours Of toe
morning to supply the city.
Kept Cars Moving.
With the disablement OF one OF the
boilers II was necessary 20 switch the
power OF the remaining engines on to
motors supplying the traction company
with power. This was deemed neces-
Farv IN order 20 enable the car lines 20
continue running. while the company. IN
the meantime. was making the neces-
sary repairs. Ordinarily the company
runs during the day about six or seven
boilers In the morning two or three
VIII sufficiently supply power to meet the
.itv's demand. The reserve boilers. as
the idle ones are termed. are kept In
readiness pending Just such an emer-
gency as this.
AS soon as the steam pipe blew out.
the boiler was shut Immediately down.
while az the same time crowd of
worknen were put 10 work firinE-up
enc of the reserve boilers. As soon as
this was accomplished the full supply
Of curT Tent was switched on and the in
convenience experienced IN the early
morning was greatly aueviated.
The power left In the house was used
20 operate the various car lines on the
Washington Traction. City and Subur-
ban and AnaCostia and Potomac cir
cults. Owing 90 the fact that there was
not an abundance Of current and motor
/ men on all the lines wished 10 get # as
soon as possible SO as to get their pas
! sengers to work on time. q great deaI
/ Of delay was occasloned. With all the
lines drawing on the scanty current the
supply 90 each was 4 necessity very
weak. IN almost every instance the cur
rent furnished was insufficient 70 carry
! the suburban cars up the hills.
Suburban Cars Tied Up.
The Brookland and MARYLAND car lines
were tied up from the time the super
heater blew out until almost Q O'Clock
| Only a few cars were affected. however
/ because when it was seen that they
could not move after changing trollavs
| from underground TO overhead at T
! streetS the moto-men did not cross the
/ pit, but started cityward from North
/ Capitol and T streets The first car out
/ from Brooltland after the tie-up. which
| left the terminal OF tho line about S.55
/ was crowded to OverfiOwinE with ON
/ plOyes Of the POstOfhce. Printing Office
| Patent Office. Treasury. War Depart-
ment. and Census Office. az Of whom
were nervous and on edge for fear they
would be dOubly dOcSed for being tardy
/ on Saturday. Many Of them disembark-
ed from the cars and started 70 walk "a
thee ity. The majOCity OF them grew
weary after walking a few blocks and
were picked up along the line by the
/ considerate motoTmen.
AT the power house it was said that
every line using the overhead trolley
was affected 10 some extent. and the
sufficient current. Speaking OF the ac.
Cident, superintendent Sinclair OF the
power house said.
"Only slight damage was occasloned
by the blowing out OF the superheater.
No one was injured so far as I have
been able TO learn When the super
heater blew out there was so much
steam in the room that no one dared
go near the boiler TO repair the damage.
The boiler was recently inspected by
tha Hartford Boiler Company, and there
| IS nothing radically wrong with it.
Continued on Second Page)