The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1933-03-16
STEAM ROADS ARE BEING
PUSHED BY ELECTRICITY
Each Year Sees Electric Loco
motive Push Steam Driven
Giants OFF the Rails
B. & o. WAS PIONEER

ing aQQlClOnal SCeam-OrlVen giants Oh
the rails into the discard. Recently
the Pennsylvania railroad announced
the completion of electrifcation of its
lines between New York and Philadel-
phia, and Premier Mussolini inaugu-
rated a new electric service on the 80
mile line linking Viterbo with Rome,
Italy.
"Steam locomotives received one of
their first assaults from electric loco
motives on main line tracks in 1895,
when the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
chose to use electric power instead OF
steam through the Baltimore tunnel;
and the New York, New Haven and
Hartford Railroad introduced electric
locomotives in New England on its
line between Pemberton, Massachu-
setts," says bulletin from the Wash
ington, D. c., headquarters of the Ma
tional Geographic Society.
U. s. Has Electrified Trackage
"These lines, however, aggregating
only about % miles of track, were in
significant compared with the thous-
ands of miles of rails on which steam
locomotives still held sway. For the
next FIVE years railroad electriication
dozed. 1t was aroused in 1900 when
the State Railways of France decided
to make use of electricity by equip
ping some of its lines near Paris.
1.-THE next year saw the electrified
ton of New York and New Haven
railroad tracks linking Providence,
Rhode Island, with Fall River, Massa-
chusetts, and a part of the Paris, Ly-
ons and Mediterranean lines near st.
Gervais, France!
"Since 1902, the steam locomotive
has had serious competition. Today,
81 countries have electrified about
$4,000 miles of track. If all these
tracks were concentrated in the Unit
ed States they would form eight sep
arate railways across the continent
from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
about one-fourth of the rails for
this super-electric railroad would be
supplied by electric railroads of this
country. One complete transcontinen-
tai track would come from Switzer-
land, for the diminutive mountain re-
public largely depends upon electric
ity for its railroad transportation.
More than 1000 miles each would be-
long to France, German and Italian
railroads.
"The larger portion of the remain
ing tracks would be supplied by the
United Kingdom, Sweden, Spain, Aus
tria, The Netherlands, Chile, Brazil,
Argentina, Australia, Canada, Next
co, India and Japan; while such coun-
tries as Algeria, Morocco, Egypt,
Netherland, India, China and Cuba
would supply twenty-five or more
miles each. The smallest contribu-
ton would be made by Bolivia, which
has only nine miles of electrified
track.
Switzerland Leads Europe
Switzerland, with about 5000 miles
of elect1ically-operated track, out
ranks it's European neighbors. India
leads the Asiatic countries in railroad
electrifcation. The Indian tracks
would reach from New York beyond
Cincinnati, while those of Japan, its
nearest Asiatic competitor, would fall
short by slightly less than 100 miles.
Chile, leader of the South American
countries in electrically-equipped
trackage, has a mile of track for every
day in the year, while Brazil, which
ranks second, has about 318 miles.
while the busiest railroad electri-
fcation in the United States is con-
centrated on lines entering New York
City-including the Pennsylvania, the
Lackawanna, the New York Central,
the Long Island and the Staten Island
ailroads-Chicago alone has an eX-
tensive network of electrified subur
ban lines. The Pennsylvania Railroad
main line is electrified also between
Philadelphia and Paoli, rs miles to
the west. The Pennsylvania expects
shortly to complete electrification of
its four-track main line between New
York and Washington, 258 miles.
North Americas longest stretch of
main line electrifcasion is in the Rock
les on the Chicago, Milwaukee, st.
Paul and Pacifc-441 miles.
perhaps the strangest contrast af-
forded passengers on an electrified
railroad is to found in Japan, where
silent, smokeless electric trains speed
through rice fields in which native
farmers plough with oxen and wooden
plows, a method unchanged for more
than a millennium"
At Indianapolis, Ind, Governor Nc