The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1925-10-22
Editors Make Tour
OF Electric System
Superintendent Wilbur Conducts
Party On 200 Mile Trip

ager of the Lambertville electric
light and power system, but now
General Superintendent of the New
Jersey Power & Light Co., evident
ly got tired of the knocks certain
newspapers had been giving his COM
pany, and decided to open their eyes
by little personal observation. Ac-
cordingly he arranged for tour of
the principal plants and substations
of the Jersey system last Friday.
Editors present on the tour were
Irving T. McNally, of the Demo-
crat Advertiser; w. A. Abbott, of
the Hunterdon Republican; Carl H.
B. Trumbull, of the Bernardsville
News; Joseph N. Hazen, of the Lam
bertville Beacon, and Gordon Cooper,
of the Lambertville Record. District
Superintendent George F. Sander
son assisted Mr.. Wilbur in the tour,
and J. C. Allen, of the Lambertville
office, accompanied the party as far
as the new substation at Glen Gard
ner.
If the tour was calculated to i'm
press the editors with the gigantic
system being operated by the Com
pany, it certainly succeeded in that
respect. But most of the technical
discussions and explanations given
by Mr.. Wilbur went over my own
head like a breeze. Editor Trum-
bull was very frank in saying, after
asking a few questions, that he was
going to keep his mouth shut, be-
made a fool of himself. That's the
way | felt. And when it came to
the technical explanation of "step-
ping up" and stepping down" in
voltage thru the substations-well,
I'm still wondering what it's all
about But Joe Hazen said he under
stood it all right! Just between you
and me, ! doubt it! AS clear as mud!
incidentally, you night be inter
eSteu w hlioN tiiab JUG anu haNei-
ed in the same car over the entire
tour-AND WE DIDN'T GET
INTO A FIGHT A SINGLE TIMED
The new substation at Glen Gard
ner is fed by two 114,000 volt trans
mission lines from the Susquehanna
and Easton plants. This is also tied
up with the Dover plant, and the
current is stepped down" to $4,000
volts for the distribution lines, one
of which supplies Lambertville.
WHY POWER PLANTS ARE NOT
BUILT AT COAL NJ MES
At the Easton power plant we
were given an illustration Of the
impracticability of building power
plants at coal mines where coal
transportation would be eliminated
The Easton plant is on the Della
ware, but it is steam plant. How
ever, $4,000 gallons of water are
used there every minute. This is
for the steam condensers. Mr.. Will
bur pointed out that if plants were
built at the coal mines to elimin-
ate coal transportation, then they
would be confronted with water
transportation, which would be even
more difficult.
The party had dinner at the Eas-
ton Hotel, and suffice it to say that
"a good time was had by all" One
of the editors remarked that as long
as Mr.. Wilbur was paying the
bill, he may as we'll order from the
left side of the menu instead of the
right side Figure that out.) Ano-
Their said that he wanted to order
"heavy" so that the next time his
power was interrupted he wouldn't
have anything to regret. But Mr..
Wilbur didn't blink an eye. go as
far as you like" he said good-natur-
eddy. And not only did he play the
hospitable host at Easton, but also
entertained the party at supper in
Dover.
An interesting sidelight of the
tour was a visit to the GARAGE and
truck body department at Easton.
There the Company builds all the
bodies for its line trucks, and ma
jor repairs on cars from all over
the system are cared for there. In
addition to these central garage.
smaller garages are maintained in
most of the principal communities
where the Company operates. In Mr..
Wilbur's organization is going right
ahead and building practical
money-saving giant power system.
which in it's quantity production"
means cheaper service to the COM
munities it serves. Of course there
are difficulties and nvohiems which
demand time for their elimination
among them trouble that causes n
terruptions in Lambertville, Elem
ington and surrounding towns. The e
are caused by severe weather condi-
tions affecting the transmission lire
which passes thru the Raritan mo-
dows. Mr.. Wilbur pointed this line
out to us, and explained that this
problem is being worked out now.
So to offset some Of the hard
knocks I have given the New Jersey
Power & Light Company, this is to
assure my readers that the Com
pany is honestly striving to serve
it's patrons in an efficient way.
ST. JOHNS r. C. CHURCH
Rev. J. F. Mahoney, Rector
Masses on Sunday at 1880 and
q.2n standard time Stockton Q.dE