The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-08-18
ELECTRICITY FOR RAILROADS
By HOLLAND

 New York, August 17.-(Special)- )-some years ago the late George Westinghouse, while speaking of the development of electricity for hauling railroad trains called attention to an electric railroad which had been built under his direction in the state of Washington.
 The line extended from Spokane some 70 or 80 miles ard it was at the time of it's construction the longest true electric railroad in the United States. MT. Vest inghouse then said that the time was not distant in his opinion when electri- cally propelled locomotives would haul passenger and freight trains over the Rocky and Cascade mountains. although it would be necessary to perfect a new type of motors for this purpose. At that time the extension of the St. Paul rail- way system to the Pacific coast was under way, but had not been completed MT. Westinghouse thought that the Northern Pacific or the Great Northern might be the first to equip their lines with electricity, particularly in the noun tain district.
 Within as short time as 15 years the manufacturers of electric motors have been able to construct motors capable of hauling the heaviest trains upon regular railroad lines that easily surmount diffi- cult grades and take sharp curves. For it was in the winter of 1902 that the legis- iature 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 elec- tric apparatus so that the coal burning locomotives could be at that point taken from the trains. When this legislation was enacted, not one inventor nor any of , the great electric companies had been occupied with developing electric trans portation facilities excepting for the use of city and highway trolley lines. In or der to enter New York with heavy trains it was inevitable that there be absolutely new electric equipment and also new type of motor.
 | It seemed almost impossible that the electric companies and the men of science would be able within the five years con- manded by the law to furnish the equip ment which was to be of new and original design and invent and build | motors essential for hauling heavy | trains Nevertheless they did accomplish l this very difficult task and So well that | Charles s. Mellen, when president of the | New Haven Railroad company, deter mined to take the risk of the great ex- pense involved and of problematic ex- l perimental tests, so that he could furnish the New Haven system from New York 1 to New Haven, a distance of 70 miles, | with electrical equipment. MT. Mellen l made choice of the overhead system or alternating current The New York Gen. | tral and the Harlem adopted what Is l commonly called the third-rail system. l Motors, however, were so constructed as | to make them available for use whether l the current were that carried by the third | rail or by the overhead system. The ! change could be made instantly, no one l but the motorman knowing when this i was done.
 l It was undoubtedly the success of the
 equipment of the New Haven line and
 it's operation of passenger and freight l trains by electric energy that first sug- l eested to President Earling of the St 1 Paul Railroad company, the practicability | of equipping the extension of the St. Pau | system to the Pacific coast with electric apparatus.
 The New Haven line is practically
 without heavy grades nor are there any | sharp curves upon 1t. The St. Paul ex tension involved the building of tracks 4 over the Rocky mountains in Montana and the Cascade range further west. Ane there were some electrical experts wht wondered whether there had been suffi cient demonstration of both the capacit. of electricity and the economy of it use for hauling heavy trains over thes mountain ranges.
 President Earling, however. presevered persuaded his directors to support him il l his plan of electrifying the St. Paul ex tension. Some 400 miles of this exten sior. was electrified and the electric
 power was generated precisely as Georg :. Westinghouse predicted it would b.
 generated. For in those mountain range
 are streams which carry abundant wate
 power, it being necessary only to dan
 them and then to install the turbine
 whereby this power can be converte'
 into electric energy. Mr. Westinghous | railways of the south would be operate
 by electric energy that had been gene ra ted by the abundant water power i
 the mountain regions of the south. MI Mellen when he was installing electric ity in the New Haven system contem plated establishing hydro-electric plant
 by means of which the water power i
 New England streams could be cor
 verted into electric energy sufficient fc the operation of all trains upon the Ne Haven system.
 To President Earling and his associate of the St. Paul system is due whateve honor or prestige may be associated wit the installation of electric energy upo ], 651 miles of railroad, part of which SUI { mounts the difficult ranges of the Rock
 and Of the Cascade mountains. Seattl