The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-07-07
THE WEEKS TALK
 IN NEW YORK CITY The Mono-RaiI System to Revo- Iutionize Modern Railroadlng SPEEDIER AND CHEAPER
Day of the Wireless Telephone Also Near-Harriman Falls Deeper
 in Love With Publicity.
 Municipal Ownership.
BY SEWELL HAGGARD.

New York, July Cit now seems more certain than ever before that railroading Is about to be revolutonized, that the two track railroad, the ponderous coal eating locomotive and the big, heavy eight wheeled cars are to be relegated to the scrap heap. The dawn of mono-rau transit Is here.
 The inventor who appears to be In fair way of bringing about this reyo- lution is young Howard Tunis of Balti- more. For three years he has been ex- perimenting constantly with the result that the other day a model of his mono rall system was tried with success at the Jamestown exposition. MT. Tunis's in vention must be practical for he has in- terested some of the foremost finan- ciers of Wall street in 1t, among them men who have had years or experi- ence in transit matters If what the young inventor confidently claims for his "mono-road'' is true here are some of the things 1t will accomplishe:
 A speed of 15O miles an nour on single rail in perfect safety, without vibration and the swinging side-wise mo- tion of the present day railroad trains.
 I'll decrease by half of the cost of equipment and operation.
 A company has been organized to in- stall the system between Jersey City and New York and it Is possible that arrangements may be made to have the single rail trains run through one of the tunnels now being bored under the Hud- son river to this city. The Baltimore in ventors system is totally different from the various other "mono-rail" systems, some of which are in practical opera tion in England. Ireland, Germany and Austria-Hungary, and others of which are seeking a foothold. It is entirely un- like the system, for instance, for which F. B. Behr, an Englishman, has been seeking a franchise between Brooklyn an Coney Island. On MT. Behr's road the cars "straddle a single triangular rail. IT. Germany the "mono-rail' sys- tenn which has been successfully operat- ed is one from which the cars hang sus- pended In Ireland there is system in operation very similar to the Behr sy.tem-
 For the Tunis system a single track Is laid across ties about three and half feet in length-the same sort of ties used in the construction of the present day two-rail tracks, except that they are shorter. Sixty pound rails instead of the standard one hundred pound rails arc used. Overhead, thirty inches apart, are suspended two parallel rails, L-shaped the inside. These overhead rails are supported by steel pillars placed at in- tervals along the side of the road and connected by steel beams stretched across the track.
 On top of each at both ends Is attached an inverted truck. This is raised from the car by a strong steel arm, cor responding to trolley pole and the four wheels attached to the inverted truck fit into the 'L' shaped inner sur face of the overhead tracks. The trucks are in the form of the 'X." The "X'' Is flexible. opening and closing to accom- modate itself to the curves.
 It is this overhead truck arrangement which constitutes the distinctive feat urc of the invention of the young Ball timore man, and makes it's greatest diff ference from the other "nono-raip' in- ventions. The overhead truck arrange ment, with the four wheels, horizontally set and working on the inside of the overhead tracks, steadies the car and gives it it's equilibrium. Power is also transmitted from these overhead wires for the operation of the cars.
 The main advantage claimed for the mono-rail trains is that they can be op- era.ed very much cheaper because of the economy in power it is possible to realize According to railroad men, from