The Washington herald., 1917-08-18

Some years ago the late George
Westinghouse while speaking of the
development of electricity for hauling
railroad trains called attention to an
under his direction in the state OF
Washington. The line extended from
Spokane some seventy or eighty miles
and it was at the time of its con-
struction the longest true electric
railroad in the United States. Mr..
Westinghouse then said that the time
was not distant in his opinion when
electrically propelled locomotives
would haul passenger and freight
trains over the Rocky and Cascade
mountains although it would be neCes-
sary TO perfect n new type of motors
for this purpose. At that time the
extension of the st. Paul Railway
system to the Pacific coast was un-
der way but had not been completed.
Mr.. Westinghouse thought that the
Northern Pacific or the Great North
ern might be the first to equip their
lines with electricity. particularly in
the mountain district.
Within as short a time as fifteen
years the manufacturers of electric
motors have been able to construed
motors capable of hauling the heavi-
est trains upon regular railroad lines
that easily surmOunt difficult grades
and take sharp curves. For it was in
the winter of 1892 that the legislature
of the state of New York directed
that all railway lines which entered
New York city should be equipped at
the northern boundary of the city
with electric apparatus so that the
cOal-burning locomotives could be at
that point taken from the trains.
When this legislation was enacted
rot one inventor nor any OF the great
electric companies had been occupied
with developing electric transpOrta
tiOn facilities excepting for the use
of city and highway trolley lines. In
order to enter New York with heavy
trains it was inevitable that there be
absolutely new electric equipment and
also a new type of motor.
It seemed almost impossible that the
electric companies and the men of
science would be able within the five
years commanded by the law to fur
n!sh the equipment which was to be
of a new and original design and in
vent and build the motors essential
for hauling heavy trains. Neverthe-
less they did accomplish this very diff
ficult task and so well that Charles
S. Mellen. when president of the New
Haven Railroad Company. determined
to take the risk of the great expense
involved and of problematic expert
mental tests. so that he could furnish
the New Haven system from New
York to New Haven, a distance of 70
miles. with electrical equipment. Mr..
Mellen made choice of the overhead
system of alternating current. The
New York Central and the Harlem
adopted what is commonly called the
third-rail system. Motors, however,
were so constructed as to make them
available for use whether the current
were that carried by the third-rail
or by the overhead system; the
change could be made instantly, no
one but the motorman knowing when
this was done.
1t was undoubtedly the success of
the equipment of the New Haven line
and its operation of passenger and
freight trains by electric energy that
first suggested to President Earling,
of the st. Paul Railroad Company,
the practicability of equipping the ex-
tension of the st. Paul system to the
Pacific coast with electric apparatus.