Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-05-27
GREAT RAILROAD PROPOSITION
$25O, 100000 Year Would be Saved
 If Electricity Replaced Steam.

Until recently there does not ap- pear to have been any suggestion to conserve all the water power of a country to drive all the railroads of the same country. Yet this is what it is now proposed to do in Switzer- land.
 That thrifty little country pos sesses no coal, but does contain many Alpine streams capable of direction I so as to render high heads available for power purposes. A number Of these streams have already been uti- lized both for local power and light ing, and also for the operation of mountain railways.
 Now, however, it is seriously pro- posed to develop the hydraulic power I of Switzerland as a whole, and apply it electrically to the propulsion of the trains on the existing main line rail- ways, thus avoiding the necessity for l importing any coal for railway trans port purposes, and developing the power resources of the land itself.
 Such an undertaking necessarily demands most careful preliminary in- vestigation and planning, and a DOT ! tion of this work has already been done by government commission. It seems that the mean requirement, l taking the average of the winter and summer service, calls for a continu- ous development of 100000 horse power, while the maximum load may become five times this amount.
 This latter estimate assumes the provision of the best storage methods available, such as the construction Of reservoirs for equalizing the supply of water, and the installation of elec- ] tric storage batteries for meeting the daily load fluctuations, so that it will be necessary for the success of the scheme, that 500,000 horsepower of hydraulic energy be developed. It does not yet appear that the water powers of Switzerland are capable of meeting such a demand, and the com mission has this side of the problem under investigation at rthe present time.
 A far greater scheme than the above is that laid before the American Institute of Electrical Engineers by Messrs Stillwell and Putnam. this being nothing less than the conver- sion of the entire motive power sys- | tenn of the railroads of the United States form steam locomotives to elec- | tric traction and stationary power houses. This paper includes con- plete analysis of the present operat- 1 ing costs of the railroads under ex- isting conditions, comparing these with a careful estimate of the cor responding costs for complete elec- tric traction. As a consequence of this investi- gation it appears that if the single phase system, as adopted by the New York, New Haven and Hartford rail- road, were installed on all the rail- roads of the United States. with gene rating stations such as are now in actual service, the aggregate cost of operation. now about s1.400, ,0O0. .OOO year. would be reduced By about l s25O, ,0OO, ,O0O. This result would re- uuire the installation of power plants | delivering about 12,500, ,000. 900 kilowatt hours a year; and assuming a radius of transmission of 150 miles it appears that a maximum output of about 2,S0O,000 kilowatts would be enough to operate the entire rail- way service of the United States as it existed in 1905-
 1 Compared with this magnificent scheme the proposition under con- sideration in Switzerland appears trifiing. The smaller plan. however, may and probably will be put into execution first, and 1t may furnish experience by which thf later and greater undertaking will be guided.