The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-15
Rapid Transit OF Future, 125
Miles an Hour.
STEAM FOR FREIGHT
Present System Can Handle All
Traffic.
City Railways Must Be Built
Above the Roofs.

broohIyn N. l., at This time. The fol-
lowing explanation by the New York
World Of the operation of the great
modern system in Germany tells the
story fully.
The German government is greatly
interested just now in a new system
OF rapid transit proposed by August
prietor of Berlin. Mr.. Scherl has en-
bodied all his plans and ideas in a
pamphlet which is about to be issued
tor the serious consideration of railroad
engineers in all large centers of popu-
lat1on where the transportation problem
is growing more serious day by day.
Scherl divides his treatise into three
parts. The first gives a summary of
the crisis in the railway system of to-
day; the second shows the way in
which difficulties might be solved by
his new system. and the third shows
the economical and social prospects in
public life to be derived from radical
improvements over the present system
of rapid transit.
The progress of commerce and indus
try, Scherl points out. has increased
the demands upon railways year by
year. The lucrative part of the rail-
way business is without any doubt the
carriage of goods, while the carriage of
passengers. the only part of railway
traffic that interests the public at large,
ii necessary, hampering evil which
costs the railway money instead of in
creaSing it's profits. The cause of this
indisputable fact is that when railways
were first built they accepted the old
notion that the road was the common
means of traffic for men and goods, and
did not understand that the interests
of the two diverge completely and
should on principle be separated. The
inevitable consequence is that the track
has to be given up an unfair proportion
of the time to passenger trains, and
the carriage Of goods suffers undue in
terruptions. The author therefore
thinks he is justified in demanding
complete separation of the traffic of
goods and passengers.
But this is not enough. Considerable
reforms are needed where the traffic of
passengers is concerned. First of ALL
the Sy-stem of steam engines must be
done away with. Experts agree that
the railway locomotive is the most
wasteful of all our steam engines, since
it utilities ONLY per cent of the power
of coal An average speed of 81 miles
an hour is the limit of the steam en-
gine's practical power. Anything be-
yond this must be classified as sport.
The electric locomotive has already
reached a high state of perfection in
that without waste it can be brought
to a speed of 125 miles an hour.
The one hindrance to the use of the
electric engine and its full speed is
the present system of railway founda-
ton. The two-rail system at present
generally in use is an inSurmountable
obstacle to great speed. 1t is first or
all impossible to lay two lines as per-
fectly parallel as is necessary for great
speed. The second difficulty is to build
the curves with a radius so large that
the outer rail does not have to be rails
ed beyond the limits admissible. These
two obstacles are to be removed by the
following innovation: Swift passenger
fv.o 40 RI ho nj with electric o.
cCmOtiOn on the One-ra1l system.
To prove the technical possibility OF
this suggestion Scherl caused expert
ments to be made in his own workshops
with the inventions of Brennan and
other Englishmen, who have shown
that it is possible to change unstable
into stable equilibrium by providing
vessels and other vehicles with enor-
nous gigs. The results of the expert
ments were most favorable. There can
no longer be any doubt that vessels or
carriages can be given a stable course
on a single rail by gyroScOpic appar-
abuses. This is simple and safe
means of organizing the modern pas
ner The foundation will no longer be
exposed to the continual shocks in
separable from the two-rail system, and
will therefore be much less expensive
The question of curves Is easily solved,
since the construction of the carriages
brium automatically.
The carriage of freight is left to the
steam railways of today, which. by
having been relieved of the carriage of
passengers, will not only be able to
satisfy the demand of commerce and
industry but will become much more
profitable.
The detailed organization of the pas
senger traffic on the new system takes
up the greater part of the treatise. The
following is a condensed account of it:
The chief centers of traffic are to be
connected with each other by first class
speed lines that run 125 miles an hour
at regular intervals. A net of second
class speed lines surrounds each center
where trains run from 70 to 100 miles an
hour and take passengers to the head
lines AS the trains follow each other
in quick succession, there will be no
waiting at junction For this reason
it will be possible to carry the head
lines which cannot be on level with
the ground but must be built high on
account of greater speed, from one
large city to another in a straight line,
without considering small cities on the
way. Stations should be built only at
the most suitable points for the juno
ton with the second class speed lines.
which in their turn are surrounded by
third class lines, which form connec-
lions between the smallest stations and
connect them with the second class
lines Special care is taken that the
changing from one carriage to the
other is done in safety and comfort and
without loss of time
The metropolitan railways which
must be built above the roofs Of the
houses, will be connected with the head
lines by junction stations. They will
be built on a radical perispherica1 sys-
tenn, in the middle of which stands the
great central terminus, which must be
also the center of the city. from which
the lines radiate in all directions.
The author understands that his sys-
tenn cannot be realized at once. But
the necessity of building new railways
arises everywhere and he hopes that
when his system has been duly consid-
cred new lines may be laid out in a