PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 705 



distributed by feeders to the conductor rail direct. For longer lines power is 

 produced at higher voltage (11.000 volts in the case of the District Kailway), 

 and is then distributed to sub-stations conveniently placed along the line where 

 it is transformed to a lower voltage, converted to direct current, and then by 

 means of feeders is distributed at 600 volts or thereabouts to the third rail. 



In 1908 the Midland Railway Company opened for traffic the electrified line 

 connecting Lancaster, Morecambe, and Heysham. The method of electrification 

 was a departure from the general direct current practice hitherto applied to 

 electrified lines in this country. Power was supplied to the trains at 6,600 volts, 

 single phase, at twenty-five alternations per second, along an overhead conductor. 

 The pressure was reduced by transformers carried on the motor-coach itself, and 

 was then used by single-phase motors. The traffic conditions on this line are 

 simple. 



In December 1909 the electrified portion of the London, Brighton, and South 

 Coast Railway from Victoria, round by Denmark Hill to London Bridge was 

 opened for traffic. This work marks an epoch in the history of electric traction 

 in England. For the first tune the single-phase system was applied to meet the 

 exacting traffic conditions of a London suburban service where the main condition 

 is that the trains should be accelerated rapidly. The system has shown that it 

 can meet all the conditions of the service perfectly. Energy is purchased and is 

 distributed by overhead conductors direct to the trains at 6,600 volts, single 

 phase, at twenty-five alternations per second where it is used by the single-phase 

 motors after suitable transformation by apparatus carried under the motor car- 

 riage. The l-esults of this electrification will be of unusual interest, because not 

 only has the method applied shown itself to be quite suitable for dealing with a 

 stopping traffic where quick acceleration is the dominating condition, but it con- 

 tains the germ of practicable long-distance electrification. The near future may 

 see the extension of the system to the line between London and Brighton, giving 

 a frequent non-stop service which would bring Brighton in point of tune nearer 

 than the suburbs on opposite sides of London are to one another. 



Some particulars of the electric railways of the country are given in Table V. 

 More details will be found in a table published annually by the Electrician entitled 

 ' Tables of Electric Lighting, Power, and Traction Undertakings of the United 

 Kingdom ' and in the Railway Returns of the Board of Trade. 



\ Power Signalling. 



During the last ten years a considerable number of trial installations of power- 

 signalling apparatus have been made by the railway companies of this country. 

 The electric lines have generally adopted power signalling, and the District 

 Railway has installed a complete system on all its lines and branches. 



The term ' power signalling ' is applied to any equipment in which the actual 

 movements of the points and signals are done by power, the signalman's work being 

 thus reduced to the movement of small light control levers or switches. Of the 

 several systems tried and proposed three bulk largest in the equipments applied 

 in this country, namely, the all-electric, the low-pressure pneumatic, and the 

 electro-pneumatic systems. 



The ' all-electric ' system is represented by installations of the McKenzie- 

 Holland and Westinghouse system on the Metropolitan and Great Western Rail- 

 ways, by installations of the 'Crewe' system on the London and North Western 

 Railway, and by installations of Siemens Brothers on the Great Western Railway. 

 The general feature of the all-electric system is that the points are operated by 

 motors sunk in a pit by the side of the rails, the signals are pulled off electrically, 

 and all the apparatus is controlled electrically. 



The low-pressure pneumatic system is represented by installations on the 

 London and South Western Railway and the Great Central Railway. The points 

 and signal arms are moved by air compressed to about 20 lb. per square inch, 

 and led to cylinders connected to the points and to the signal-arms. The control 

 is also done by means of compressed air, small pipes leading from each air-cylinder 

 to the cabin. 



The electro pneumatic system has found most favour in this country up to 

 the present time. The equipment installed includes such notable stations as the 



