The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-02-25
Project Outlined for Chica-
go Will Cost Hundreds of
Millions of Dollars
NEW YORK BLAZED
WAY FOR THE TRIAL
Increased Value of Real Estate Has
Proved One of the Greatest
Assets in Connection
With Work
by HOLLAND

BY HOLLAND
New York, February 24-(Special) )-From
Chicago there have come strong intima-
tlons that the engineers who have been
for a long time studying the problem
of electrifying railroad approaches TO sta
ton terminals in that city have found
what seems to be the right answer to the
problem. Whether the solution is similar
to the one which was worked out three
years ago by William j. Wilgus, shortly
after he perfected the plan for the cleo
trification of the approaches of the Grand
Central terminal In New York, is not yet
disclosed. Mr.. Wilgus found the Chicago
proposition an even more difficult one
to work out than was the one presented
to him for solution Immediately after the
New York state legislature passed, in
1903, law which compelled the Wander
bllts to electrify their system from the
Grand Central station to a point at least
10 miles north.
There were, however some original diff
fculties for ar. Wilgus to overcome which
are not contained in the Chicago or the
Philadelphia or what may by and by be
the Boston problem of municipal electriti-
cation OF railroad systems having ter
minals In those cities.
For when the New York state legisla-
ture passed this law there was not an
electric apparatus constructed or invented
which would make it possible to utilize
electricity in the manner commanded by
.x... IA.
cover new applications of electricity and
apparatus and new methods of electri-
flying railroad line to a station ter
minal we'll as the application of cleo
trical apparatus to switches, yards and
the installation of an entire new system
without disturbing materially freight or
passenger traffic within the area which
was to be electrified.
AS the passenger traffic in this area
was then heavy enough to require the
operation of trains, some of them heavy
trains, whose destination was Chicago
or Boston, at not more than two minutes
headway the proposition as whole was
the greatest which railway constructors
and engineers had ever been compelled to
handle
The Question of Financing
When this work of electrifcation was
completed, some seven or eight years
later, George Westinghouse felt justified
in saying, as did also the leading cleo
trical apparatus authorities whose works
are at Schenectady, that the question of
electrification of entire railroad systems
had become not one for men of science to
consider. but for the men of finance. The
financial feature of these contemplated
electrifications has been for some years
one of the stumbling blocks OF the under
taking upon a large scale of leading rail-
roads of the United States in the way of
electrifying their systems completely or
In part.
This financial problem has many differ
ent aspects. For there was not only the
first cost of installing an electrical plant
which in itself would be very heavy but
there were also incidental questions, as,
for instance Would the investment of
new capital in railroad electrification be
justified through the reduction of cost of
operation? AS recently as four years ago
some of the actuaries ventured to say
that while the hauling of trains by cleo
trio energy would undoubtedly serve for
the convenience and comfort of passen-
gers, nevertheless the cost of installation
and operation would be too great to JUS
tify installation of that kind from the
business point of view.
AS Cities Grow
some important LESSONS were learned
through the electrification of that part
of the Pennsylvania Railroad company's
lines which is within the metropolitan
district as well as the electrification of the
approaches of the Vanderbilt and the
New Haven railroad systems to the Grand
Central terminal For these installations
which were at first regarded by railroad
men as experimental have now been in op-
GRAFTON long enough perfectly to demon
81 10 hat ha al tr;f
railroad lines must begin with complete
electrification of the terminals and the
approaches to them.
II Is reported here that the Chicago plan,
which is really of ma gnitude In excess
of that characteristic of the electrfication
of the Vanderbilt and Pennsylvania sys-
tens within the metropolitan district and
which, If worked out, will give to Chi
cago admirable electrfication of the
approaches of the many railroads which
have terminals in that city, Will cost sew
eral hundred million dollars. Yet if this
work Is done, there is little question that
1t will be followed by gradual installa tion
of electric apparatus along the whole
length of some of the leading railroads
of which Chicago is the terminal In the
east this electrifcation at the Pennsyl-
vania and Grand Central terminals is
speedily to be followed by the installa-
tion of electrical plants by which trains
between New York and Boston. by way Of
Providence, can be operated. and in all
probability by the electriflcation of the
through line between Philadelphia and
New York to the Pennsylvania system.
Money market conditions may delay some-
what these undertakings, or may make
It inevitable that the installations of this
kind be gradually extended from year to
year over greater and greater lengths of
the railroad lines.
A Great Lesson
A curious and unexpected demonstra-
tion of the business or commercial prac-
ticability of electrification of railroad ter
minals and approaches to them has re-
Gently been made by those who manage
the Vanderbilt system. They have dis
covered that not only does electric in
stallation SO considerably reduce the cost
Of operations as of itself to justify the
needed, but the various incidental COM
mercial advantages which were not at
the beginning foreseen have been utilized.
1t has been possible to sell electric power
to profitable advantage. The electrifica-
tion of the approaches to the PENNSYLVANIA
and Vanderbilt stations has opened up
large areas of real property through i'm
provements which are now yielding good
returns and in future will Yield such
handsome returns as to make 1t likely that
the income obtained in this way will be
sufficient to offset the interest upon the
entire cost of these installations
NJ Wvostfp in. M od1voe. 5.ts..