ELECTRIC OPERATIONS OF STEAM RAILWAYS 211 



of electricity, the capacity of the elevated lines in car-miles per day was 

 increased 33^ per cent, and this in spite of the facts that the subway 

 system had inaugurated during this time a service furnishing over 75 

 per cent, that of the steam elevated and that the surface lines showed 

 little or no decrease. During the two years ending 1906 the increase 

 in passengers on all the lines of New York city numbered more than 

 114,000,000, which is about 75 per cent, of the ultimate capacity of the 

 subway system. In order to handle this continuously increasing de- 

 mand it has now become necessary to consider the construction of addi- 

 tional subways. 



Eeturning to the second of the reasons given for changing to elec- 

 tricity, the general statement that it will pay to electrify a steam rail- 

 road may not be made without important qualifications. It is 

 admittedly true for the majority of steam roads of any considerable 

 size and density of traffic that the operating expense would be substan- 

 tially reduced by electric operation. Figures showing that this saving, 

 together with the returns from increased business, is sufficient to offset 

 the interest charges on the necessary capital are still few. Such figures 

 have, nevertheless, been given for existing roads on which the transfer 

 to electricity has been made. On the other hand, on railroads operating 

 light trains and comparatively infrequent traffic, it is at once evident 

 that there would be little if any saving in operating expense in chang- 

 ing the motive power. Much of the economy possible under electric 

 operation results from the combination of all the locomotive boilers 

 and engines into a central power plant. It is obvious that when the 

 number of such locomotives is small that the cost of the power plant 

 and the motor equipments may far outweigh the economies obtained. 

 There is, however, an intermediate class of road, many instances of 

 which have been equipped electrically, in which the saving in operating 

 expense, together with the usual increase of business following the 

 electric installation, are looked to for a reasonable return on the capital 

 invested. The enormous amount of capital represented by the steam 

 equipments of existing railroads, which can not be applied to the new 

 equipment, is the most serious obstacle to the general adoption of 

 electricity as motive power. It will only pay to electrify in those cases 

 where the economies in operation and the increase in business will out- 

 weigh the charges on the new capital necessary. 



The public will invariably drift to an electric rather than a steam 

 route between given points. Moreover, when a steam road is paralleled 

 by electric service, not only does the latter take the bulk of the traffic, 

 but the traffic itself increases in volume. Further, when a sparsely 

 settled section is penetrated by an electric road, population and conse- 

 quent business follow promptly. These facts are now matters of com- 

 mon observation. One extreme example will indicate the lengths to 



