SCIENCE 



FRIDAY, JANUARY tS, 1889. 



THE WHITE ELEVATED ELECTRIC RAILROAD. 



The crowded state of the streets of our great cities, and tlie in- 

 creasing necessity of greater facilities for travelling safely through 

 them with speed and comfort, have brought to the front many 

 devices for solving the problem of rapid transit. One of the most 

 recent of these is the elevated railroad lately invented by Mr. R. 



which are only called into play in case of an undue oscillating or 

 rocking motion of the car resulting from obstructions or too great 

 speed, are safeguards against the car leaving the track. They also 

 enable the car to pass around curves of short radii at a reasonable 

 speed without danger of derailment. 



The plan and cross-section of a box girder for supporting the 

 main bearing rail is shown in Fig. i. This is only one of many 

 methods which may be used for sustaining the weights of heavy 

 trains at high speeds ; another support, shown in Fig. 2, being an I 



T. White of Boston, of which we present herewith two illustrations ; 

 one being a general view of a car, with a section of the roadway, 

 including a short curve, and the other showing some details of the 

 truck and track. In his elevated railway system, Mr. White has 

 embodied the results of much railroad experience and many inter- 

 esting experiments. As may be seen in the illustration (Fig. i), 

 the track is supported by a single line of columns. The car rests 

 upon two wheels (one at each end;, instead of upon eight (four at 

 each end), as in the ordinary passenger-car. The car is steadied 

 horizontally by eight guide-wheels (four at each end), assisted by 

 small rollers, one projecting from beneath each guide-wheel (Fig. 

 2), and having an upward bearing against the side-rails, which 

 form the horizontal guides for the car-trucks, These guide-rollers, 



beam resting upon the columns. Trusses of various forms may 

 also be used ; the method of support, as well as the height and 

 distance apart of the supporting columns, being determined by the 

 varying local conditions. 



One difficult problem in the perfecting of this system of road was 

 that of switching ; but Mr. White claims to have not only solved 

 the problem, but to have made the arrangement of the switch such 

 that the track is never open, even should the switch be turned the 

 wrong way, as the bearing-wheels can never leave the supporting- 

 rail, and consequently the car cannot leave the track. 



This system of elevated railroad, though intended primarily for 

 an electric road, may use steam or cables. As yet. we believe, 

 there is no road in operation constructed upon Mr, White's system, 



