Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1907-06-19
GREAT RAILROAD SCHEME.
An Enormous Saving Made by the
Use Of Electricity.

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 is
now proposed TO do in Switzerland.
says the Forum.
That thrifty little country possesses
no coal, but does contain many Alpine
streams capable OF direction so as to
render high heads available for power
purposes. A number of these streams
have already been utilized both for
local power and lighting and also for
the operation of mountain railways.
Now. however it is seriously pro-
posed to develop the hydraulic power
of Switzerland as whole, and apply
| it electrically to the propulsion of the
trains on the existing main line rail-
ways, thus avoiding the, necessity for
importing coal for railway transport
purposes. and developing the power
resources of the land itself
Such an undertaking necessarily de-
mands most careful preliminary in
vestigation and planning and a por
tion of this work has already been
done by a government commission. 1t
seems that the mean requirement, TAX
ing the average of the winter and
summer service, calls for continuous
development OF 100000 horsepower.
while the maximum load may become
five times this amount.
The latter estimate assumes the
provision Of the best storage methods
available. such as the constrrction of
reservoirs for equalizing the supply of
water, and the installation OF electric
storage batteries for meeting the
daily load fluctuations. SO that 1t will
be necessary, for the success of the
scheme. that 500 000 horsepower of
hydraulic energy he developed 1t
does not yet appear that the water
powers of Switzerland are capable OF
neeting such a demand. and the com
mission has this side of the problem
under investigation at the present
time
A far greater scheme than the
above is that laid before the Ameri-
can Institute Of Electrical Engineers
by Messrs. Stillwell and Putnam. this
being nothing less than the CONVEX
sion of the entire motive power sys-
TEN OF the railroads Of the United
states from steam locomotives 10
electric traction and stationary
power houses. This paper includes
complete analysis OF the present
operating costs Of the railroads under
existing conditions, comparing these
with a careful estimate OF the cor
responding costs for complete electric
traction.
As con sequence of this inyestiga'
! ticn II appears that If the single
I phase sys.em, as adopted by the New
! York New Haven & Hartford rail
roal ware installed on all the rail
roads cf the United States. with gen
Grating stations such as are now IN
actual service. the aggregate cost OF
Ioperation, nov about 81, 400 600 000 a
year, would be reduced by abC7t
/ $3.50. 600 600. This result would re-
Iquire the installation Of power plants
delivering about y. 500 600 0e kilo-
watt hours year: and assuming a
radius OF transmission Of $50 niles i
IapDears that maximum output OF
about 100000 kilowatts would be
Ienough to operate tbe entire railway
service Of the United states as it
jexisied in 1865
7 Compared with this magnificent