The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-12-26
LONG ELECTRIC
 RAILROAD RUNS
New.York.Chicago in IA Hours Visioned By
 Penn Head
BY MIDDLE OF 1888

Philadelphia, Dec 26.--From the pennsylvnn nia railroad route between New York and Washington, D. C.. tho snortlnE monsters which for more than 60 years have hauled some of tho heaviest freight and passenger traffic In America are soon to disappear. By the middle of 1O33, at least t50 electric pow erod giants and several hundred multiple-unit onrs, will be handling the entire traffic on this section of the line with q speed, smooth. ness, md economy never before achieved.
 This greatest steam railroad cleo. trlfication project, involving 32b miles of route and l,300 miles Of track md costing n hundred mil. lion dollars, marks the beginning of q new era in railroad trnnBpor' thtIon. Continuous electric ser. vice from BoBton to Washington md from New York to Chicago ir the not far distnnt future ih pre- dicted by General w. Atterbury president of the Pennsylvnnin rail road, in Popular Science Monthly
 The eleotricaIly-powered train General Atterbury states in the ar. ticlc, makes better time and can haul greater loads. It has q quicker pickup fin starting and can be stopped in much shorter dis. tanco thnn the steam- owered train. Between Washington and New York, use of electric power will give us moro than the equiva. lent Of m additional track. It will cut n full hour or moro off our preBcnt running time without sac riflclng one iotn of safety. It will eliminate tho smoke nuisance and tho bother of taking on coal and water.
 It is necessary on tho present New York Chicago runs tO make three or four changes of steam lo- comotlves aB n precaution against mechanical troubles. for steam lo- comotlveB must Do taken tO tho shop for attention at fairly fre- quent intervals, General Atterbury continues. Electric-p0wered traini could make tho same runs many times without a stop or special mechanical attention. They would make n fourteen-h0ur schedule q simple matter between those two largest cities. Along the coast. expect Co Hao unbroksn electric ser- vice from Washington to Boston.
 The locomotives that will iDnu. gurato tho New York Washington service represent the last word in such equipment. Indeed. the term motive power uniu is more descriptive than "locom0tive", the article explains. for those new electric engines. although complete in thomHelves, may be coupled to. gcthcr in groups of two or three tt build power sufficient t0 haul the heaviest train thnt coupling equip ment can hold together.
 Tho units that will specialize h hauling freight will have four mo. tors and eight driving wheels ant will develop more than 2.000 horse power. Sixty are being built. The passenger motive power units VII be of two types one having foui motors and four driving wheels md the other having six motori and slx driving wheels. They vii develop more than 2.000 arg B,OOt horsepower, respectively. Ninety o these have been ordered.
 4 number of these new lOc0mo' lives have for many months beer pacing back and forth over the 6' miles of already electrified route between Trenton. N. l.. and VII lnington. Del. proving their mettie How faN could they 20? How much could they pullY How smoothly and how quickly coulf they accelerate and stopY How would they stand up under thu gruolling demands of practice Every moment of the several hun dred thousand miles Of perform anee to date has been checked. Az q result of the tests. the rall road is confident that with electric operation freight trains Of at ieas' l125 cars may he hauled at speedi exceeding 60 miles an hour; while passenger trains may be operated with perfect safety nt speeds ai high as 90 miles an hour