The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1920-01-30
TUG OF WAR BETWEEN TWO
STEAM AND ELECTRIC Loco
MOTIVES.


In Several Tests Made Recently At
Erie, Pa, The Unmistakable Su.
periOrity OF Locomotives Propelled
By Electricity Was Demonstrated.
When $50 prominent rail way men
and engineers from many parts of
the United States and Canada gath
cred at Erie, Pa, a few days ago to
witness trial tests of a new type CT
gearless electric passenger locomo-
tive, they believed, most Of them at
any rate, that the exhibition would
be of a quite perfunctory nature.
Instead they say what L. j. Sprague,
noted consulting engineer and known
as the father of railway electrifica-
tion," described as ''the most magni-
ticent exhibition of electricity applied
to railroads that this country has
ever SEEN"
1t was a test of brute strength be-
tween two powerful locomotives and
the new electric-nothing less than
d Jug of war between three monsters
OF iron and steel to stan6-up
finish.
Throughout the greater part of a
dark, cold day in the works Of the
General Electric Company in that
city these engineers and railway eX-
ecutives had been busily engaged in
comparing notes and figures and eX-
amining, with interest, the great
electrical monsters. Nearly a dozen
high-speed tests had been run OFF
over the company's test track In
which one of the new locomotives,
without gears or transmission, hauled
two passenger trains filled with
guests over the four miles of track
at a speed of more than a mile a
minute and carrying 20 passengers
in the cab ON each run, while Ddt-
terry Of camera men reeled off some
highly interesting pictures.
The stellar event Of the days acti-
vities, which had been crammed full
of action from the beginning, took
place just before dusk crept over the
shores of Lake Erie. The modern
steam engines were switched to the
spur of track and coupled securely
to the electric locomotives standing
in readiness for the test to begin
opposite directions there might have
been danger Of pulling out the draw
bars and a resultant accident. This
possibility was avoided by having
them push against each other in diff
, ferent directions.N
At a given signal from the super
visor of tests, the steam engines got
under way and began showing the
big electric ahead of them along q
short piece of straight-way track
then the current was gradually turn
ed on the electric, while the engineers
of both steam locomotives opened uI
their throttles to the last notch.
/ What was the surprise of the GROVE
to see the steam engines slowly bu
surely lose momentum and finally
come to a complete stop still with
their throttles wide, putting anC
chugging as under extraordinary
strain. Then what happened to be
the impossible happened, and a grea
cheer went up from the crowd aS
they saw the steam engines forced
backward, first only by inches, bu
gradually as the full power of the
electric was brought into play, the
procession became almost a rout
and when the test ended a few
minutes later the steam locomotives
were moving steadily backward anC
the electric locomotive was declared
the VIcCor.
Hardly second in interest to the
tug-of-war7 was an exhibition OF che
regenerative powers of the electric
locomotive which preceded it. The
locomotive which is one of five being
constructed for operation on a new
electrified branch of the Chicago
Milwaukee and st. Paul Railroad
hauls over a mountainous district
and must frequently coast down steer
grades. While doing so the en-.
gineers have so designed the engine
that the locomotive will, by the turn
Of switch, turn it's power plant inlC
a geneI aLlng station and send back
quantities of juices to the power
plant station. In other words, the
electric motors are converted into
electrical generators. This process OF
regeneration acts as a brake to the
progress of the engine down hill
while at the same time it stores VI
new current which will later BIZ
called upon to propel the locomotive
on the level or up the next grade.
This new locomotive is said to be
one of the most powerful passenger
locomotives in the world. 1t uses
5000 volts direct current and has g
horsepower of 3,240. There are Il
axles on which are mounted many
motors, each of which, by direct con-
nection, turns one set of driving
wheels. The locomotive is 78 fee1
long and IL feet high and weighs 265
tons, of which weight it is. surprising
to know that 229 tons rest on the
drivers.
The center cab is occupied by an
oil-fred boiler for heating the pas
senger trains with accessories, in
Guiding tanks for oil and water Cir
culating pumps and motor-driven
blower for furnishing forced all
draft.