STREET RAILROADS. 



609 



of the clay, between 5 and 6 o'clock, when crowds 

 are waiting for a car, it is necessary to apply at 

 the office for a numbered ticket. The holder of a 

 number is obliged to wait until it is called by the 

 driver : a plan which causes inconvenience until the \ 

 holder has gained his seat, but afterward it enables 

 him to take the trip much more comfortably than | 

 the custom of crowding which prevails in America, i 



When street railways were tirst introduced, one of j 

 the most serious problems of construction was that 

 relating to the shape of the rail. For railroads run- 

 ning through the country the T-rail answered every 

 purpose, and nothing for such use lias been found 

 to supersede it to this day. But it was necessary to 

 lay such tracks in cities that ordinary vehicles, run- 

 ning along or across them, should meet with as little j 

 obstruction as possible. The old Philadelphia pat- 

 tern of street rail was first used for this purpose, 

 and many tracks of this kind are still in existence. 

 This is known as the "side-bearing" rail. During 

 a few years past the "centre-bearing " rail has come i 

 into general use. The latter, after being worn 

 down, has the advantage of being able to be reversed i 

 so as to present a fresh rounded edge upon which ' 

 the wheel may take hold. The crown projects above ! 

 the brim, or the level of the pavement, from 1 to 1 1 

 inch. All the railroads in the United States are 

 now using steel rails, as they are cheaper as well as I 

 better than the iron rails formerly used, but no 

 longer manufactured in this country. The steel 

 rails used here are all of American manufacture. ; 

 The duty on imported steel rails is 817 a ton, and or- j 

 di nary American steel rails can be purchased for 829 | 

 a ton, which is just 81 more than the duty before the 

 reduction of the tariff went into effect. The "life" 

 of a steel rail is from 10 to 20 years, according to the 

 nature and amount of the traffic. 



Efforts have been made in the legislatures of sev- 

 eral States to remove the bobtail cars, in which the | 

 passengers are obliged to discharge some of the du- 

 ties of conductors. The extra work of the drivers 

 in seeing that passengers pay their fares is the cause 

 of freqnent accidents in large cities. 



It is considered that some motive power other 

 than horses must be substituted in all of the cities ; 

 but it cannot be determined yet what that power is. 



Improvements in motors are in progress; and in j 

 many of the cities the cable is superseding the use j 

 of horses. (See ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA.) Exper- 

 iments are in progress with electricity as a motive 

 power ; and some of them have proved successful. 

 A line of street railroad in the city of Binghamton, 

 N. Y., is carried on by a " traveller" which runs on 

 a wire suspended above the track. The traveller 

 follows the car, and makes the electric circuit com- 

 plete with a wire that parallels one of the tracks. 



Motive power from storage batteries has also been 

 tried. (See TRACTION, ELECTRIC, in ENCYCLOPEDIA 

 BBITAVNICA.) 



The largest electric railroad in operation in the 

 United States is at Montgomery, Ala. It is 13 miles ! 

 long, has 18 cars, and the steam-power costs $14 per 

 day, or an average of from 75 to 80 cents per car. 

 Other roads operated are as follows : Windsor, Can- 

 ada, 2 miles, 2 cars, with steam power at $4 a day; 

 Detroit, 2 miles, 8 cars, steam, 86 per day ; Apple- 

 ton, Wis., 5 miles, 5 cars, water-power, 84.50 per 

 day ; Port Huron, Mich., 5 miles, 5 ears, natural gas, 

 83 50 per day; Scranton, Pa., 4i miles, 7 cars, coal 

 culm or dnst, 87 a day ; Lima, Ohio, 4 miles, 6 cars, 

 crndeoil, 84 per day ; St. Catherines, Ontario, 6 miles, 

 6 cars, water-power, 84 per day. Electric motors are 

 soon to be used, as follows : Jamaica, N. Y., 6 miles, 

 10 cars ; Omaha, 7 miles, 10 cars ; Dayton, Ohio, 6 

 miles, 12 cars ; Ansonia, Conn., 3i miles, 4 cars, i 

 It is said that the cost of maintaining the motor will 

 not exceed that of machinery in any shop. The mo- . 



! tor can be made to run at any speed that will be 

 allowed, and will far excel the horse in this respect. 

 In Scranton speed is obtained at an average of about 

 15 miles an hour. 



The following details of the method used in 

 Scranton show how electricity is applied to the mov- 

 ing of surface railroad-cars. When open cars are 

 driven, one motor of 20 horse-power is placed in the 

 middle of the car and all of the wheels are driv- 

 ing-wheels, the connection between the motor and 

 the wheel-axles being made by means of chains and 

 sprocket-wheels. But when closed cars are driven, 

 a motor of 15 horse-power is placed on a closed 

 platform at the front of the car ; the forward wheels 

 only are driving-wheels, and their connection with 

 the motor is made in the same way as on the open 

 cars, with chains and sprocket-wheels. The com- 

 pany intends to use also larger cars, each with a 

 motor of 25 horse-power, which will not only propel 

 themselves but be able each to haul two other cars, 

 loaded with passengers, up all the grades. The aver- 

 age speed attained is more than Smiles an hour, and 

 there is no difficulty in going much faster ; in fact, 

 the men in control of the cars have to be watched 

 to prevent their running at excessively high speed. 

 At the generating station there are 2 stationary 

 engines of 100 horse-power each, 2 dynnmos of 100 

 horse-power each, and 4 boilers of 100 horse-power 

 each ; only one engine and dynamo, however, and two 

 of the boilers being in use at the same time. The 

 duplicate engine, dynamo, and boilers are for tho 

 purpose of providing against contingencies of acci- 

 dent to those in use, and also to allow of alternations 

 in senice, thus giving opportunities of frequent ex- 

 nmination and inspection. Upon this railway the 

 overhead system of conduction is employed, having 

 flexible connection between tho motor on the car 

 and the carrier traversing the conductor, which is a 

 solid copper wire, fa inch in diameter, suspended 

 on a part of the route from transverse wires at- 

 tached to wooden poles, 20 feet high and 6 inches in 

 diameter, placed, at distances of 100 feet, on both 

 Rides of the street. On the rest of the line the 

 wires are suspended from arms projecting sideways 

 from wooden poles at the side of the railway, about 

 20 feet above the ground. As the line is a single- 

 track railroad, there are several turn-outs, or passing 

 places, at which points the electric overhead con- 

 ductor branches off over the side track also ; and an 

 ingenious system is in use by which the carrier, run- 

 ning upon the overhead wire with two grooved 

 wheels of about 2| inches diameter, automatically 

 shifts the connections at the points of divergence 

 from the main line, so that the carrier always follows 

 that one of the overhead conductors which is above 

 the track upon which the car is travelling. The re- 

 turn current of electricity is taken by the rails. The 

 electrical current has a tension of about 600 volts, 

 which, while sufficient to give a shock, could not 

 produce any dangerous effect on man in case the 

 current should by any means be diverted. Part of 

 the road is laid with tram -rails and the rest with f- 

 rails, and only part is paved, so that these different 

 conditions, in connection with the many grades and 

 the curves and turn-outs, thoroughly test the working 

 of the system. The noise of the carriers running on 

 the conductors is not great, but the noise produced 

 by the motors and the chain and sprocket connec- 

 tions is annoying. This could be entirely avoided 

 by the use of" a noiseless motor and a better method 

 of connection. Noiseless and durable electric motors 

 suitable for use on cars can be had, in which the 

 weight per horse-power does not exceed 60 pounds. 

 Electric railways with overhead conduction have 

 shown their capability to propel a few cars, even if 

 heavily loaded, at less cost and much greater speed 

 than can be obtained by horse-power. 



