314 HIGH-SPEED ELECTEIC INTERUEBAN RAILWAYS. 



Another road which has greatly improved its service b}^ adopting 

 electric traction is the Butt'alo and Lockport Railway. The company 

 operating this road was organized in April, 1S9S, and leased for ninety- 

 nine years the Lockport Branch of the Erie Railroad, running from 

 Lockport to North Tonawanda, N. Y., and comprising 13i miles of 

 single track. It has since bought 5i miles of road in the streets of 

 Lockport, 7i miles of single track between Buffalo and North Tona- 

 wanda, and a mile of track in Buffalo, making the total length of the 

 line at present 29 miles and giving through service from Buffalo to 

 Lockport and Niagara Falls. Power is obtained from the Niagara 

 Falls Power Company, and is transmitted at 10,500 volts to a rotary 

 converter substation located at Lockport, from which it is fed as 

 direct current at 1,600 volts to the trolley wires. * * * 



A number of roads used chiefly for pleasure riding have been built 

 in southern California, in the neighborhood of Los Angeles. The 

 population is composed largely of wealthy people, who have sought 

 that part of the country on account of climatic conditions and who 

 patronize the roads liberally. One of the roads from Los Angeles 

 extends to Pasadena, and from there to Echo Mountain and Mount 

 Lowe. Another line runs from Los Angeles to Santa INIonica, on the 

 Pacific Ocean. The Los Angeles-Pasadena line was so well patronized 

 the first 3"ear that it was necessary to double-track the road. It com- 

 petes with three steam lines, and one of the latter has been compelled 

 to reduce its tiain service 1)V half, and would reduce it still further 

 if that were not prevented by its franchise. The cars on the Pasadena 

 line are each equipped with two lO-horsepower motors and Standard 

 air brakes, and make a maximum speed of 25 miles per hour. The 

 road to Santa Monica has quadruple equipments of 50-horsepower 

 motors and can maintain a speed of 10 miles per hour. .Vnother road 

 which is being built from Los Angeles 20 miles to Long Beach will 

 have as one of its features a ))road boulevard, 181 feet wide, on each 

 side of the track. 



Perhaps the tield of greatest activity in the United States for the 

 construction of high-speed interurban lines has 1)een in northern Ohio 

 and southern Michigan, where there is now a network of highly 

 equipped roads upon which through traffic is being established, offer- 

 ing even such accommodations as parlor and sleeping cars. It is said 

 that a service of this character will shortly be established between 

 Columbus and Cincinnati. The roads utilized will be the Southern 

 Traction Company's lines from Cincinnati to Dayton; the Dayton- 

 Springfield and Ur])ana to Springfield; and the Columbus, London 

 and Springfield to Columbus, the t^ervice to be established as soon as 

 the latter road is completed. The schedule time between Columbus 

 and Cincinnati will be about six hours. It is also proposed to operate 

 through cars between Cleveland and Cincinnati, the route from Cleve- 



