Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-11-01
IN PLACE OF STEAM
EIectrifying Railway Lines Be-
low the Harlem.
TASK OF w. J. WILGUS
Considered by Some Miracle in
Construction.
TRAFFIC NOT INTERRUPTED
Capacity of the New York Terminal
Increased IhirtyThree Per Cent.
Operation of Cars Less Costly.
TRAFFIC NOT INTERRUPTED
BY WILLIAM F. CURTIS.


Special Correspondence Of The Star and th.
Chicago Record Herald.
NEW YORK. October 30 1907.
The managers of the big railroads i'm
/ New York and vicinity. excepting thu
! Pennsylvania, are western men. Among
/ the list of the executives of the New
York. New Haven and Hartford road.
the president, Mr.. c. S. Mellon, is from
Tho Northern Pacific; John f Stevens.
the first vice president, is from the Great
Northern; E. H MctIenry the second
vice president, and Mr., Mitchell, the
purchasing agent. are also from tho
Northern Pacific MI Campbell, another
vice president is from the Oregon Short
Line, and 7. f. Byrnes of Minneapolis is
! in charge Of matters in Boston.
| The executive Offices of the New York
| Central are also occupied by western men.
William II. Newman Of the Lake Shore
| j. president; the senior vice preSi-
dent is from the Burlington; A. H Smith,
general manager, ard c. V. DAILY. pas
sanser traffic manager were also educated
OF the Lake Shore road ". j. W ilGuS
ice president in charge of construction
s from the Chicago and Great Western.
tJr. Shcnts Of the Glover Leaf is in con
troll Of all the local traffic in New York
city, and the Brooklyn lines are also III
charge Of a western man. The Ere, the
Delaware and Lackawanna, the ontario
land Western are under the direction OF
western men. If you VIII take a list Of
The presidents and general managers OF
the railways running out of New YORK
you VIII find that three-fourths Of them
were educated on western roads
Task Successfully Accomplished.
MI Wngus, who has had charge Of the
Transformation Of the New York Central
trains from steam to electricity and the
construction of the new terminals at
the Grand Central station, was born
in Buffalo, and in 1854 went out
to Minnesota TO grow up with the
country. He obtained q position WITH
the Albert Lea route, was rapidly pro
NOTED and then went over to the chicago
and Great Western, on which he served
for several years He had charge OF
the construction of the terminal at SUCK
neE, near Chicago, and his success there
was great that the New York Central
company brought him here to undertake
their greatest work Mr.. Wilgus has az
COmrlished what some people consider
miracle in railway construction and has
won an euviabe reputation. He is sub
timely confident of the success of the
electric system in handling the New York
CentTaI's traffic
1t is not an experiment. said Mr..
Wilgus. 1T is a success. and in d short
time viii make a report that Will
astonish some people and correct many
popular Mistakes
The New York Central and Hudson
River railroad holds the distinction OF be-
ing the first trunk line railroad to cleo
trify its service" continued Mr.. WiIgUs
Others have applied this power to the
movement of suburban trains, bat never
before in this country or abroad have
all classes Of service. including heavy
express trains, suburban trains. switching
\ tTy41
electricity. This too, in what is undoubt-
eddy the most congested passenger termi-
nal in the world
How did this come about?"
Necessity for Change.
CAS- early as 1889 I became convinced
Of the manifest destiny of steam rail
roads in centers OF population like New
York. For seventy yeas steam lccom0-
tives had been gradually growing from
the Guide Dewitt Clinton Of 1880 to the
great modern machines with which We are
all familiar. The very greatness Of these
monsters was destined 10 bring about
their fall, for their greedy CONSUMPTION
Of coal to move the heavy trains Of lat
ter-day coaches and PuIImans co respond
ngly muitiples the annoyance to the pub
lie especially in tunnels and along busy
thoroushfares. due to the volume of
smoke cinders, SCOT. gas and noise. t.lcc-
tTlrlty offered the only sure cure for these
wis, and in 1875 preliminary studies we're
made for its use in the Grand Central
station The time was not ripe, however.
tor such a revolutionary change, ana il
was not until 1863 that the company and
the pubic auth0 tiles got together and So
cured the passage of a law enabling the
change to be made, known as chapter 10
Of the laws of 1903 This law provided for
a complete change of motive power or
Manhattan Island south of the Harlem
NV on or before July !, 1908. a period