PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 589 
on a large scale. We see suburban lines growing longer and longer, until they 
might almost be classed, as short main lines, and we see the Swiss Government 
buying up water-powers with the object of utilising these powers in the electri- 
fication of its most important main lines. We see in America the electri- 
fication of large systems taking place, not only for passenger service, but also 
for the goods service, comprising trains of 2,000 and more tons weight, and of 
goods yards, to the complete exclusion of steam. One need not be an engineer 
to appreciate the significance of such a general development. No Government 
department, and certainly no board of railway directors, will spend money merely 
for the sake of an interesting scientific experiment, and, although it is conceiy- 
able that in an isolated case such an experiment may be undertaken under a 
miscalculation as to its possible success, it is not conceivable that such a mis- 
calculation should be the general rule. When we see that in all countries a vast 
amount of labour is devoted to, and capital is spent on, the electrification of 
main lines, we cannot but come to the conclusion that this new application of 
electricity is bound to progress, and that the persons who tell you that electric 
traction is all right for tramways and urban railways, but will never be able to 
compete against steam traction on main lines, are very much in the position of 
my old Swiss friend, whose conception of power transmission was entirely limited 
to the use of ropes and pulleys. 
It is just thirty years since the first electric railway was opened for public 
use. That was a small line in Jreland, known as the Portrush-Bushmills 
Railway. In those days only the continuous-current motor was available, and 
that only at a very moderate pressure and power. These restrictions were from 
the first felt to be a serious drawback, and inventors tried to overcome them in 
various ways. Of these, two may be here noted, in passing. Ward Leonard 
in 1891 made the suggestion of carrying on the train a converting station. He 
argued, quite correctly, that for the transmission of power to long distances the 
alternating current was eminently suitable, and that, consequently, the power 
should be sent to the train in the shape of high-pressure alternating current. On 
the other hand, such a current was, in those days, quite unsuitable for motors; 
hence the necessity of its conversion into continuous current, with which the 
then available motors could alone deal. Ward Leonard suggested to put on the 
first vehicle of the train a synchronous motor, which drives an exciter and con- 
tinuous-current generator. The current obtained from this generator was to be 
used to drive the train-motors, which might be distributed in a number of motor 
coaches. The regulation of speed and tractive force was to be effected entirely 
by suitable adjustment of excitation, and therefore without rheostatic loss. It 
will be admitted that this proposal has some attractive features. It is essentially 
a long-distance system, and at the same time it offers the possibility of great 
and uniform acceleration, a matter of great importance in urban traffic, so that 
it is equally suitable for both kinds of service. Moreover, the current can be 
taken with unity-power factor. Unfortunately the extra weight which has to 
be carried in the shape of converting machinery is a serious drawback; and for 
this reason the Ward Leonard system (excellent as it has proved in other applica- 
tions of electric power) has in the domain of traction never got beyond the 
experimental stage. 
The experiment has been made on a fairly large scale, but with this differ- 
ence, that the traction-motors were placed not into motor coaches, but on the 
first vehicle itself, which thus became an electromotive; also, in order to save 
the weight and cost of starting and synchronising gear, the asynchronous type of 
single-phase motor was adopted, thus sacrificing the advantage of unity-power 
factor. The electromotive developed at the hour-rating 200 horse-power, and 
weighed forty-six tons. This is not a very brilliant achievement, and it was 
beaten by a sister engine of the same power, but using alternating-current motors. 
This electromotive weighed only forty tons. 
It is probable that a better weight efficiency could be obtained nowadays 
with this system if carried out on a larger scale, and if the motor-generator were 
replaced by a converter, in which case the step-down transformer would have 
tappings on its secondary side for starting and regulation. It is, however, 
doubtful whether even then it could compete with elect¥omotives using the 
alternating current in the motors directly. Motors of this type have recently 
