876 REPORT— 1900. 



station. There would be sub-stations along the line, at distances apart of fout 

 miles, where the 10,000 volts would be brought down to 1,000, at which pressure 

 it would be piekt-d up by the motors on the coach. 



The speed which a train can acquire on a railway depends on the power that 

 can be continuously applied at the thread of the driving wheel. Electricity 

 enables the engineer to apply instantaneously to light loads a power which steam 

 cannot supply. Hence speeds are possible with electricity which are unattainable 

 with steam. A coach weighing forty-five tons can easily and quickly attain 110 

 mUes an hour. 1,600 horse-power will accelerate the coach so as to attain this 

 speed in 110 seconds, and 500 horse-power will maintain this speed on the level. 

 Electricity has two advantages over .steam. It enables us to obtain an accelera- 

 tion of I5 feet per second, which is virtually the limit that can be obtained without 

 causing discomfort to the passengers ; and, secondly, it applies a continuous and 

 constant torque instead of the variable one due to the reciprocating action of the 

 ordinary steam locomotive. Hence it not only enables us to maintain high speeds 

 on long through lines like the proposed Manchester and Liverpool Express, but it 

 enables us to attain high speeds with greater rapidity on short lines having 

 frequent stoppages, like the Sletropolitan railways of London, and thus increase 

 the capacity of the line for traffic. 



The chief causes of accident on ordinary railways, viz., collision, derailment, 

 points, and the human error of the signalman, will be removed from lines. Hence 

 travelling will be much safer. 



3. Manchester and Liverpool Electrical Express Railway : Brakes 

 and Signals. By F. B. Beiir. 



The questions of brakes and signals are so intimately connected that the one 

 cannot be treated separately from the other. 



The most perfect condition under which a railway could be worked would be 

 that in which both brakes and signals could be dispensed with ; therefore it follows 

 th.at the I'ewer the occasions for using either, the better. 



Now as to brakes, there is a limitation of their application, which depends not 

 so much on the mechanical appliances themselves as on the endurance of the 

 passengers. It was stated by an eminent railway official to the Select Committee of 

 the House of Commons that with the Westinghouse brake a train travelling at 60 

 miles an hour could be stopped at an emergency, within 360 yards, without 

 inflicting too great a shock on the passengers. In the same way the proposed 

 traiu travelling at 110 miles an hour could be stopped within 600 yards, and 

 probably in a shorter distance, as in this case electrical means would be at hand, 

 such as the reversal of the motors, so as to turn them into dynamos. More rapid 

 stoppages could only be made with great discomfort to the passengers. Now in 

 the ordinary way of working our railways at present there are many occasions in 

 which it might be important to stop the train as rapidly as possible ; for instance, 

 if a train should be seen in front, or some shunting operations were not com- 

 pleted, or in some other cases too many to enumerate. But no brake, however 

 powerful, would be of the slightest use to-day for avoiding a sudden obstacle, 

 such as a stone placed on the rail, or a broken rail, for it is impossible for the 

 driver to be aware of such obstacles until he is practically upon them. In these 

 cases, therefore, the power of stopping at 300, or 200, or even 100 yards is quite 

 useless. 



The author then stated that on the proposed high-speed electrical railways, 

 though it is quite possible to stop the train within less than 500 yards, it never can 

 be necessary to bring it to a standstill at even a much longer distance. 



On the proposed railway there will be no level crossings, no switches, no 

 .shunting operations, and in fact nothing that will require the train to be 

 brought to a standstill unless a preceding train should break down. Besides 

 this one case, the brakes can only be used for stopping as you approach the 

 stations. A broken rail produces no danger whatever, for the train would run 

 over it without any risk or difficulty. This can easily be shown by carefully 



