The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1915-12-16

'S VI tic phase motors from &
single overhead wire. By using tn,
q three-p phase motor the locomotive car
/ hold or brake the trains at constant
speed while descending the grades, ant
utilize the energy by returning it tc
the line and making it available for
any other train on the road. This is
the first installation Of the kind except
on the line at Glow, Italy. At Gioyi
, however, the trains are only 400 tons
and on the Norfolk & Western they
, are $3.50 to 400 tons. Italy has been
very quick to adopt advanced practice
in electrification. An Italian railroad
first followed the lead the Baltimore
e. Ohio railroad in the use of electric
locomotives in 1895.
The advantages gained by the Nor
folk & Westerns electrifcation have
been pronounced. Formerly two NAL
let's, with pusher at the grades, han
Idled the trains at 7 Y miles an hour
and required four hours for the trip.
One electric tractor, which also uses
a pusher at the grades. now handles
much heavier trains at IA and 2S miles
IAN hour and makes the trip in less
than two hours. SO far the electric
motors have handel rs loaded cars
with ease. II is the intention to in
crease the number until the limit is
reached. An enormous draw bar pull
of 100000 pounds has been recorded
Electrifying a Stretch of the Worlds
Busiest Tracks.
| Peculiar interest attends the work
completed by the Pennsylvania rail-
way, which will give it the most mod
railroad in the world.
The work has cost about $4,O00,00O
Ia sum sufficient to buy a right of
way and build 400 miles of ordinary
track.
Every step has been taken with the
care and precaution characteristic of
the railroad which recently operated
,444 passenger trains in a single
month, and brought in 81 per cent of
them on time, and during 1914 hauled
over 1S0,000,000 passengers and lost
the life of no single one of them.
While there will be a slight money
saving to the company and while the
public will receive a faster, pleasanter
and more frequent train service, the
primary object of the change was to
increase the traffic handling arrange
ments of Broad street station, Phila-
delphia. This station is known as
stub terminal. Every one of the SOC
from it can not leave until fresh
engine headed in the proper direction,
backs in from the yard to what was
previously the rear of the train. After
the train departs the first engine must
back out to the yard and be reversed
on a turntable. If any change is to be
made in the train a switch engine
must back in, haul the train out, break
it up, remake it and back it in to the |
station. From four to eight such |
of trains and engines are
necessary for every train arriving and |
departing. To reverse an electric car
or an entire electric train, the motor
man simply walks from one end to the
other The greatly lessened time that |
the train occupies space in this crowd
ed station will also be of no small i'm
portance.
There are 10 stops in the distance of
20 miles, and a local train running
with steam power even though hauled
by the heaviest of steam locomotives,
IS practically starting or stopping
the entire run. With cleo |
of the type adopted, each
ear has its own motor and long train
gains speed as fast as single car.
Experience of Various Railroads.
The Michigan Central railroad in
stallation at the Detroit river tunnel |
it's tracks in the United |
States with those in Canada, has saw
ed much time, prevented many de- |
lays, and avoided troublesome fog and |
Ice conditions formerly encountered |
with it's ferry service. Under the old !
conditions each ferry boat required 80 |
to load, unload and make the
The average capacity of |
each boat was IS freight cars, so that
three and often four ferry boats were
required for many of the trains. I'm
der the new conditions a train of any
practical length and weight can be
handled through the tunnel in less
than six minutes.
An official of the New York, New
Haven & Hartford railroad has stated
that that roads experience shows the
upkeep cost of it's electric engines per
100 tons of weight is to cents per
mile against 8 to 25 cents for the
steam locomotive, dependent on kind
Of coal and water used. He also stat
ed that a pound of coal under the boil
ers at the central electric station de-
velops twice the draw bar pull as II
burned in the fire box of a steam To-
Careful records by the Pennsylvania
railroad for four years show that 33
electric locomotives used during tha'
time at the New York terminal have
totaled 3,974,746 miles. A number of