president's address — SECTION H. 171 



In England there are two remarkable examples of electric light 

 railways — the City and South London Railway and the Liverpool 

 Overhead Railway. The C'ity and South London Railway is about 

 three miles long, and is carried for the whole of its length in the 

 cast-iron tunnels previously described. The average speed of the 

 trains, including stopjjages, is eleven and a half miles per hour, and 

 their gross weight about 40 tons each. The locomotives are of 100 

 horsepower, and are carried on two axles, on each of which a motor 

 acts directly. The rurrent is collected from an insulated channel- 

 iron conductor laid between the rails, fed at intervals from a 61-14 

 B.W.G. Fowler-Waring cable. The generating station is at the 

 Stockwell terminus of the line, where there are four dynamos, each 

 capable of supplying 450 amperes at 500 volts. 



The Liverpool Overhead Railway may be classed as one of the 

 most interesting of modern engineering achievements. It consists 

 of six miles of double track of standard gauge running on a plate- 

 iron viaduct alongside the Liverjiool docks, and, for the greater 

 part of its length, over the existing dock railway. There are in 

 all fourteen stations, and the steepest gradient is 1 in 40. The 

 main generating station (placed near the centre of the line) 

 contains four 400 horsepower engines, each driving a dynamo 

 capable of an output of 475 amperes at 500 volts. The con- 

 ductors are inverted channel irons of steel, laid between the 

 ordinary rails and carried on pot insulators. They are jointed 

 by copper fishplates. The current is conveyed to the cars by 

 means of hinged cast-iron shoes, the return being through the 

 ordinary rails, which are electrically jointed at the fishplates. A 

 train consists of two bogie-cars, and is capalde of seating 114 

 passengers ; each car is furnished with a single motor, the 

 armature of which is mounted directly on one of the bogie axles. 

 The line was first opened for traffic on March 5th last, and during^ 

 the first three months 71,122 train miles were completed. Trains 

 are now run every five minutes, which necessitates twelve trains in 

 traflSc. The average total output at the Central Station is 650 

 amperes, at 430 volts ; the consumption of small coal is at the rate 

 of 24lbs., costing |d. per train mile. The trains stop at all thirteen 

 stations, and complete the six miles in twenty-five minutes, the 

 average speed, including stoppages, being 14-4 miles per hour. 

 Not the least interesting feature of this line are the signalling 

 arrangements, which are effected electrically, and are perfectly 

 automatic. 



The application of electric traction to existing roads will be 

 attended with considerable difficulty. To fully equip one of the 

 great lines on the conductor system would mean enormous- 

 expenditure, and, in the goods yards, prohibitive complication ; 

 but when it is apparent that irrespective economy warrants such 

 expenditure being incurred, there should be no insurmountable 

 obstacle to main line and branches being so fitted. 



