American engineer and railroad journal (1893) (14738023286)

Identifier: americanengineer85newy (find matches)
Title: American engineer and railroad journal
Year: 1893 (1890s)
Authors:
Subjects: Railroad engineering Engineering Railroads Railroad cars
Publisher: New York : M.N. Forney
Contributing Library: Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
Digitizing Sponsor: Lyrasis Members and Sloan Foundation



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ranch lines or under any condition wherethe traffic is light and variable. Such instances are common bothin this country and abroad; in fact, it may be said that scarcelyanj^ trunk line of importance can fail to afford an example. Theconstantly e.xpanding trolley systems, frequently paralleling thesteam roads, and operated at a cornparative wage cost vastlyless, have added to the complication and the seriousness of the \ i-hicle was the most likely sohition, and stored electricity thebest medium. Unsatisfactory developments in storage batteries, however,which remained prominent for many years, in connection with theapplication of electricity to such comparatively heavy service asdemanded by the railroad, precluded any successful e.\-perimentsin this line until a somewhat recent period, when the Beach car,equipped with the Edison storage battery, was put to work ona street railway of New York City. The pronounced successof this car, after several months regular service, attracted wide-
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THE BEACH CAR EQUIPPED WITH EDISON STORACE BATTERIES, question, until in many instances the railroads would have beenpractically justified in abandoning certain of these branches onwhich money is steadily being lost. In the large majority of cases, however, it is found that itwould be impracticable to so discontinue the service, as thebranches make close connection with main line express andsuburban trains, and more frequently the railroad has vital in-terests on the branch in question which necessitate, if they do notdemand, its operation. Various solutions to the problem have been sought in electri-fication, which, however, is not generally resorted to, owing tothe prohibitive cost of the third rail or the trolley system, whencompared with the revenue expected; by gasolene motor cars,and even light steam cars, but despite the variety of ingenuitydisplayed in coping with the situation, it has not by any meansdeterred the efforts of those who believed that the self-propelled spread at