Proceedings of the New York Railroad Club at meeting held at the Engineering Societies' Building, 29 West 39th Street, New York City, Friday, March 20, 1908.
The meeting was called to order at 8:30 P.M., President Vreeland, in the Chair.
The PRESIDENT [Herbert H. Vreeland] - The regular order of business, the roll call will be dispensed with; also the reading of the minutes of meeting of February 20th, 1908, as they have been printed and distributed to the members.
This is the fourth annual electrical night of this Club. Four years ago it was suggested by some of the members ot the Executive Committee that in view of the great work of extension in the field of electricity by its introduction as a motive power on steam railroads, it might be well to make a special feature for one evening of the electrical work then in progress. The first meeting was so unqualifiedly successful that the precedent has been followed by a similar meeting each year.
Last year the work of arranging the program was left to the President, who decided that it would be more interesting to the membership of the Club to have a series of addresses by engineers and others well equipped in the knowledge of electrical science rather than a single technical paper, as is the custom of the Club The same character of program has been arranged for this evening, and we have present, Mr. L. B. Stillwell, Electrical Director of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company and Consulting Engineer of the Hudson and Manhattan Tunnels; Hugh Hazelton, Electrical Engineer, of the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad Company; Mr. W.J. Wilgus, Consulting Engineer of the Detroit River Tunnel Company; Mr. W. S. Murray, Electrical Engineer, N.Y., N.H. & H.R.R.; George Gibbs; Walter C. Kerr; B.G. Lamme, Chief Engineer, Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, and Mr. William McClellan, who will take part in the program of the evening. The first topic for the evening will be on the Belmont, Interborough and Manhattan & Hudson River Tunnels, by Mr. L. B. Stillwell and Mr. Hugh Hazelton, representing those various works which are the latest in connection with tunnel construction and operation that we have in this section of the country. Mr. Stillwell and Mr. Hazelton will arrange between them as to what portions of the program they will take. They will illustrate their address with a number of lantern slides. I first have the pleasure of introducing Mr. Stillwell. (Applause.)
Mr. STILLWELL - Mr. President and Gentlemen: During the six months beginning September, 1907 and ending February, 1908, six tunnels for the equipment of which my firm is responsible have been completed and opened for operation. These tunnels are the 42nd Street tunnel of the New York & Long Island Railroad Company, the Brooklyn tunnels of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company and the Hoboken tunnels constructed by the Hudson Companies. There is not a great deal that is new to be said in regard to subway and tunnel equipment of this character. Of course there is progress each time a new undertaking is carried out and naturally each new work represents, in some respects, improvement as compared with its predecessors, but there is nothing radical or startling in the equipment of these tunnels as compared with that of the sections of the New York Subway system which were completed several years ago.
There are, nevertheless, certain new features, especially in connection with the work of the Hudson Companies which Mr. Hazelton and I will lay before you, and in connection with the signaling and special safety devices installed in the Brooklyn tubes of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company which I have asked Mr. Waldron, Signal Engineer, of that Company, to describe.
The 42nd Street tunnels are distinguished from the others by the use of an overhead conductor rail in place of the usual third rail supported on the ties of the road bed.
Certain legal questions affecting the Company's franchise have been raised in connection with the 42nd Street tunnels and they are not yet open to the public.
The Brooklyn extension of the Interborough Company is in operation as far east as Borough Hall and is carrying from fifty to sixty thousand passengers a day.
The Hoboken tunnels are in operation between Hoboken and 19th Street, New York, and are carrying approximately the same number of passengers per day.
Before undertaking to describe the work on these several lines completed within the last year I have prepared a few figures concerning the operation of the Subway lines of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company which I think will be interesting as showing that the operation of these lines, as far as passenger service is concerned, is on a scale which compares favorably with the most important railroad systems of the country. These facts I think are not generally appreciated. The application of electricity to the terminal problems of some of our large railway systems has proved of enormous advantage and this work has naturally attracted the especial attention of railroad engineers. The equipment of the New York Subway may be regarded as the logical development of the trolley car, which evolving itself into the train of several cars, as used on the New York elevated, then to the heavy eight car Subway trains, has carried us in respect to the power used in the movement of the train very considerably beyond the limit established by the heaviest passenger locomotive. In other words, engineering development in the railway field, starting in one case with the trolley car and working up to the heavy train unit, and starting in the other case with the steam locomotive and substituting electric equipment for steam, has led to a common goal as regards magnitude of the power employed and the purposes for which it is employed. Obviously great benefits must result from the contact and co-operation of the men educated along these two lines of experience. The following figures will illustrate the magnitude of the operations of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company in Greater New York.
During five weeks day ending March 18, 1908, the Manhattan division operated on the average 188,451 car miles per day. The average number of passengers carried was 827,783.
The Subway division during the same period operated an average of 137,906 car miles per day and carried an average of 691,911 passengers.
Combining the two divisions we have a total average car mileage per day of 326,357 and a total average number of passengers per day of 1,519,694. On the basis of these figures the annual car mileage of the Interborough systems exceeds 100,000,000 per annum. It exceeds by nearly 50 per cent. the aggregate passenger car mileage operated by the N.Y., N.H. & H.R.R. system and is approximately equal to the entire passenger car mileage operated by the New York Central railroad system, according to the latest figures which I have. (1906.) It is more than double the passenger car mileage of the Erie system and falls little short of the aggregate operated by the Pennsylvania lines east of Pittsburgh.
The eight-car express trains of the Subway division have motor car equipment aggregating 2,000 horse power and the total weight upon motor driven axles is about 225,000 lbs. without passengers. The electric locomotives of the New York Central Railroad are equipped with motors carrying 1,600 horse power and the weight upon the drivers is 137,000 lbs.The equipment of a Subway express train, therefore, exerts tractive effort exceeding that of a New York Central Railroad locomotive by about 60 per cent.
Express trains in the Subway are operated under a headway slightly exceeding two minutes and considerations of safety in train operation require special equipment and special vigilance and care upon the part of the operators to an extent hardly parallel on any other railway. I wish to say right here, in the face of much newspaper criticism which has been leveled at the operating officers of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, that these men in general deserve not censure but the utmost praise that can be accorded them. They are not only exceptionally faithful but exceptionally skillful in dealing with problems, in some respect more difficult than any that have been presented hitherto in passenger transportation.
Mr. Stillwell described the equipment of the several tunnels, using lantern slides to illustrate his remarks. The following is a summarized statement:
New York & Long Island Railroad Company's Tunnels.
There are two stations on the Long Island side of the river; one at Jackson Avenue and one at Van Alst Avenue. The present terminal Is located at the point last named, where there is also a loop for the operation of shuttle trains and cars which may be operated simply in the service under the river. Beyond Van Alst Avenue the tracks emerge to the surface. The plan contemplates the operation of steel trolley cars over various lines in the Borough of Queens and through the tunnel to the New York side without change. The conditions governing the operations of these tunnels, therefore, differ materially from those governing in the case of the Hudson and Interborough tunnels, by reason of the fact that it is necessary to provide for the operation of trolley cars which, when outside the tunnel sections, are supplied by the ordinary overhead trolley. To meet these conditions a contact rail supported from the roof of the.tunnel over the center line of the track is used as a substitute for the ordinary third rail construction. This rail is a standard T section, weighing 20 lbs. per yard. It is supported upon insulators carried on adjustable brackets which are bolted to the flanges of the tube sections. In the concrete sections of the tunnel the insulators and brackets are similar but the brackets are secured to the concrete roof by expansion bolts. The bracket which carries the insulators is adjustable in four directions. The rail is supported at intervals of about 9 ft.
Car No. 601 of the New York & Queens County Railway Company is the first self-propelling car that ever traveled through a tunnel beneath either the East or North rivers. This car on September 24, 1907 was operated successfully through the north tube of the 42nd Street tunnel. As an illustration of the great urgency with which the equipment of these tunnels is rushed to completion it may be noted that this car was operated within two days' time after the work on the tunnel proper had been completed to a point which enabled the workmen to get out of the way of the car.
As the clearance above the roof of the car is very slight it became necessary to design a special contact pantagraph. This pantagraph occupies, when depressed to its lowest position, but 8 ins. vertical above the roof of the car, including 1 3/8 ins. between the support of the pantagraph and the top of the car roof.
Interborough Rapid Transit Company - Brooklyn Tunnels.
In the equipment of these tunnels the same general system of power supply is adopted as has been used in the equipment of the original sections of the subway.
A new sub-station is erected in Willow Place, Brooklyn, and power is transmitted to this point from the power house at 59th Street and North river in the Borough of Manhattan. This power house is connected by cables to the power house of the Manhattan division of the Interborough Company at 74th street and East river and power as supplied from each of these plants is therefore available at the sub-station in Brooklyn.
The distance of transmission by cables laid in ducts is unusual; being something more than seven miles. The voltage employed is 11,000 volts; the frequency 25 cycles per second; and the system three-phase.
On account of the restricted clearance in the tube sections the standard third rail construction could not be used and a rail of special section was installed. This rail weighs 80 lbs. per yard This type of rail and its supports were designed primarily for the Hudson tunnels but were adopted also for the equipment of the Brooklyn tubes of the Interborough system.
In operating the tube sections of the original subway under the Harlem river it has been found that a very small leakage of water quickly causes a breakdown across the surface of the insulators. The rail used in the Brooklyn tunnels, therefore, is carried upon insulators which are designed with reference to a maximum drip surface. The rails are 60 ft. long and are of special quality; their resistance approximating eight times that of standard copper. They are bonded by two 500,000 c.m. copper bonds.
The electric conductors for lighting and for signals are carried upon the walls of the tube.
A hand rail is provided for employees or for passengers who, in emergency, may leave the trains and walk upon the bench walk which is provided at the side of the tube.
The arrangement of the apparatus in sub-station No. 21 differs in some respects from that adopted in previous sub-stations of the Interborough system, notably in the fact that the gallery which carries the switch gear is raised only a few feet above the level of the floor.
Electrical Equipment Of East River Tubes Of The Interborough Rapid Transit Company.
Power Circuits
The same general system of power circuits is used in the tubes as has been found so satisfactory in the original subway equipment. This consists of a third rail which supplies power to the motors in the usual manner with a return through one of the track rails, both of which are bonded with compressed terminal bonds. The other track rail is used for signal circuits only, and is bonded with the usual signal bonds.
The third rail is fed at two places in each tube by a 2,000,000 c.m. cable, one feeding point being located at a point under Willow Place, Brooklyn, and the other near the bottom of the river, and the rail in each tube is entirely independent of that in the other. An accident or short circuit in either tube need not, therefore, interfere with the operation of the other. All of the above feeders are fed from sub-station No. 21, located in Brooklyn, but each third rail is also connected to its corresponding rail of the main line at Bowling Green.
At the end of each feeder and at Bowling Green suitable switches are installed which permit disconnection at any of these points.
The track rails are also fed at two places by 2,000,000 c.m. cables which are insulated to reduce the electrolytic conditions. No switch or other means for disconnection are considered necessary in the return circuit.
CONTACT RAIL
The splice bars, which are of special design, grip the outside inclined edges of the rail and are bolted together with two in. bolts passing under the rail.
The same splice plates are used for anchoring the rail, the two bolts in this case passing through a special cap which is fastened to the top of the anchor insulators. Each rail is anchored twice near its middle point.
A wooden board 8 1/2 ins. wide covers the rail in the same manner as in the main line of the original subway. The method of carrying this board is however special on account of the clearances. A wrought iron bracket bolted to the ties is used tor this purpose in the tubes instead of the posts bolted to the rail used in the original construction. This form of construction has some advantages for use under salt water, as the protection board is clear of the rail and, therefore, not liable to be alive in wet spots.
DRAINAGE
While we do not expect great leakage in the tubes as constructed, an equipment has been installed which is considered sufficient to take care of anything short of an actual break in the tube structure.
For this purpose sumps have been provided at five points in the tubes, each having a storage capacity of about 1500 gallons from which the water is pumped by air driven pumps discharging through 6 in. cast iron pipes to the sewers in either Brooklyn or Manhattan.
For these pumps a room has been excavated out of the solid rock section between tubes, the sump being located under these rooms below the track level. Each of these rooms are approximately 7 x 14 ft., and are designed for the installation of two Cameron pumps each having a capacity of 600 gallons per minute.
In the present equipment we should have six of these pumps, one each in the sumps on the inclines, and two at the bottom giving a total capacity against a leak from either side of 2400 gallons per minute. The arrangement of air and discharge piping is such that a break in any line can be cut out by suitable valves without seriously affecting the efficiency of the system as a whole. In normal operation all pumps will be automatic starting and stopping from floats in the sumps, and the pipe lines will be connected so that a break in any line will not shut down all of the pumps even though the valves at the break are not closed.
Air for the pumps is supplied from two independent compressor plants, one located at each end of the tubes, having a combined capacity of about 3800 cu. ft. of free air per minute.
The compressors are high speed direct connected motor driven with automatic starting devices which start the motors when the pressure on the line falls to any predetermined point and stop them when the pressure reaches 90 lbs. per sq. in. These plants have separate feeders and are supplied from independent sources of power.
Should the amount of water exceed the capacity of the above equipment, or should it from any cause entirely fail, an emergency pump car has been provided, having a capacity of 2,000 gallons per minute, which can be placed at the point of trouble and connected to our discharge lines. This equipment consists of a motor driven centrifugal pump capable of pumping against a head of 200 ft. with an auxiliary pump for priming. The whole apparatus is mounted in a special car, which also carries the necessary suction and discharge hose and connections and wire sufficient to reach a feeding point.
VENTILATION
The piston action of the trains passing through the tubes makes a draft almost a gale which in operating conditions furnishes ample ventilation, openings being provided at each end for admission of fresh air and the discharge of the old air.
In order to provide air to passengers in stalled trains, should the line be blocked for any considerable time, and also to quickly remove the smoke from a fire or short circuit of any kind, a rather novel ventilating plant has been installed which may be of interest.
At each end of each tube air flues have been installed terminating in nozzles extending into the tube toward the middle of the river. These flues are connected to blowers located at the top of the ventilating shafts at each end, which are arranged so that the air may be discharged at a high velocity through the nozzles into either tube. This it is expected will act as a kind of injector forcing the air from the ventilating shaft at one end through the tube out of the ventilating shaft at the other end.
Under normal operation this forced draft will be in the direction of traffic through both tubes. Should it be desirable to reverse this direction, dampers at each plant will change the flow to the nozzles in the other tube. These dampers are electrically interlocked, so that it is impossible to blow the air into both ends of either tube at the same time.
The ventilating shafts are divided by a partition wall, and all openings between tubes are closed by sliding doors so that the forced circulation of air in one tube will not be discharged into the other tube.
The fan equipment at each end consists of two steel plate blowers, each having a capacity of about 46,000 cu. ft. per minute against a pressure of about 3 oz. per sq. in. One of these blowers is held as a reserve permitting the regular repairs without cutting off the emergency feature of the plant. While one blower is large enough to supply all the air required, the second can be started if conditions demand, thereby slightly increasing the air supplied.
The operation of the ventilating blowers and dampers is placed in the hands of the despatcher at the Bowling Green station, who has entire charge of the apparatus in the tube as described hereafter and is in close touch with the conditions existing therein.
Each blower is provided with an automatic starter so arranged that by pushing a button in the office at Bowling Green the blowers will be started at each end of the tubes. A similar button controls the operation of the dampers, directing the flow of air through the tubes.
EMERGENCY APPARATUS
This feature of the equipment has received very careful consideration, as it involves not only the operation and safety of equipment, but possibly the lives of passengers in the tubes. After considering several alternative plans, it was decided to place the entire operation of the trains through the tubes in the hands of a competent man who would be at all times located in the office at Bowling Green station, and to give this man all possible means of getting information in regard to conditions in the tubes as well as means for handling any emergency that might arise.
To this end there are located at each manhole throughout each tube (about 300 ft. apart) a telephone connecting to a switchboard at Bowling Green from which the motorman of a train in trouble can tell the despatcher the exact nature of the trouble. At all of these points there are also located emergency alarm boxes which can be pulled in case of an accident requiring the cutting off of the current. Pulling this box instantly cuts off the current and at the same time rings a gong in the Bowling Green office telling the despatcher just where the trouble is located.
By means of the train indicator, which will be described under the signal system of which it is a part, the despatcher is enabled to see at a glance how many trains are in that tube which are in trouble and can act accordingly even though he fails to get into direct communication with the motorman by the telephone system. As described above he then has control of the blower system if he considers it necessary and has the necessary authority for starting the operation of other trains which will not endanger the one in trouble.
While the use of wood in these tubes is almost eliminated, there is a possibility of a fire in the insulation or other material which it is at the present time impossible to eliminate, and to have ample means at hand to promptly check this kind of accident, we have installed at each manhole a liquid fire extinguisher, and in case this is not sufficient a 2 1/2in. fire hose which is always in place with ample water supply in the lines.
TUBE LIGHTING
A special effort has been made to make the lighting of the tubes as permanent and reliable as possible. Two independent circuits have been run in each tube either one of which will provide light enough to enable one to walk safely through the tunnel. These lines are fed from separate transformers on our lighting feeder which is entirely independent of any of the power equipment and supplied from a separate plant in the power house. For protection against the failure of this equipment an automatic switch has been provided which will throw the tube lights to the power circuits at once upon the failure of the regular supply.
STATION LIGHTING
The general type of station lighting of which Borough Hall is an example is similar to that of the old equipment with which you are familiar. We have, however, provided more light and supplied a greater portion of these lights from our power circuits, so that the station will be reasonably lighted in case of the failure of either supply.
Of the several tubes equipped by my firm during the last year or two the tubes of the Hudson Companies have afforded the best opportunity for the incorporation of new features. These will be described in some detail by my partner, Mr. Hugh Hazelton, who has been in immediate charge of this work. The one point which we have tried to emphasize is the elimination of every thing combustible from the cars, so far as this is possible. We have adopted a seating arrangement suggested by practice on the elevated lines in Berlin.
The grades of these tubes are exceptionally heavy, rising to as much as five per cent. in one instance, and I would point out that it is only by the multiple unit system of electric operation that we can operate with safety on such grades. With this equipment we are not dependent upon the brakes, in case of emergency, to hold trains on grades, as in case of the failure of the brakes the trains may be held by reversing the motors.
I will now give way to Mr. Waldron who will describe the signal system installed by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company in the Brooklyn tubes.
Mr. WALDRON - Mr. President and Gentlemen. At Mr. Stillwell's request, I will briefly describe the new features introduced in connection with the signaling in the East River Tunnel of the Interborough System:
What is known as the Brooklyn Extension of the New York Subway consists of a double track road from Fulton Street, New York, down Broadway to Bowling Green, under the East River to Borough Hall station, Brooklyn, and four tracks beyond that point. At the south end of the Bowling Green station, the South Ferry Loop tracks leave south bound main line track, curve around to the South Ferry station over the top of the Brooklyn tracks, and join the north bound main line track at south end of Bowling Green station. The grade leaving Bowling Green station for under the river, is decending three and one-tenth per cent., and approaching Borough Hall station from under the river is ascending three and one-tenth per cent.
The problem given to the Signal Department of the I.R.T. Co. was to signal these tracks in such manner as to permit the maximum number of trains to pass under the river in safety, and not neglect the service at the South Ferry station. It was found that the greatest speed a train could acquire in passing under the river, would be about 60 miles per hour and that the speed at the top of the three and one-tenth per cent. grade would be about 22 miles per hour. The signals were located so as to provide for the safe braking distance at the maximum speed of train, at point where signal is, and should a motorman disregard such signal, his train would be brought to a stop before reaching a train in next block in advance. The junction of the South Ferry Loop track with the north bound track from Brooklyn, at the south end of Bowling Green station, at the top of the three and one-tenth per cent. grade, introduced some very interesting features.
The study of this, made with a two minute headway service from Brooklyn, and a four minute headway service around South Ferry Loop, showed conclusively that in order to run any kind of service, it would be necessary for north bound trains from South Ferry to skip the Bowling Green station, and also necessary to reduce to a minimum the delays occasioned by stopping trains from Brooklyn on the steep ascending grade, as every train so stopped requires from 12 to 15 seconds to release brakes and get train under way.
It was therefore decided to install a complete system of visual indications in the Bowling Green tower, and arrange this in such manner that the operator at that point would have a miniature reproduction of the road between Wall Street, New York, and Borough Hall, Brooklyn, and know the exact location of all trains on that road. He would have under his jurisdiction the control of signals and stops at both entering ends of tubes, so that when a train for any reason should be delayed in either tube an unusual length of time, he could immediately prevent other trains from entering therein. It was also arranged that either track under the river could be used for traffic in reverse direction in a safe manner. When used in this way, the automatic trips will clear up automatically as the train approaches them. The entire control of traffic through the tubes is under the jurisdiction of the operator at Bowling Green tower.
The apparatus at Bowling Green tower for reproducing the condition of tracks under the river, and showing the location of trains passing through from New York to Brooklyn or reverse, consists of a box about four feet long, two feet high, and one foot wide with black glass front, behind which are placed colored lights. On the face of this glass are two narrow strips about 1/2in. wide, which are arranged to represent longitudinal sections of each tube under the river, and when there are no trains in the tubes, these are green ribbons of light extending from Borough Hall to Bowling Green. Miniature signals in their correct location are placed on this model. When a train enters the tube at either end, the green light is immediately changed to red for the block which that train occupies. This red light follows the position of the train through the tunnel. Just as soon as a train passes out of a block, the green light is again displayed in its rear.
To reduce as much as possible the delays which the junction south of Bowling Green would occasion to trains from Brooklyn and South Ferry Loop in entering Bowling Green station, there were installed additional signals and stops with cut overlap track sections which permits trains to approach towards the Bowling Green station immediately upon the preceding train starting from station platform without decreasing the factor of safety. It is found that this arrangement makes a saving of about nine seconds to each train from South Ferry Loop, and of about 12 seconds to each train from Brooklyn, over what would be the case were the same method of control in vogue at this station as at other stations in the subway.
The Interborough Rapid Transit Company has been trying for a number of months to get permission to install this same arrangement of signals at the approach to express stations, but up to the present time have not been granted the necessary authority to do so. If these changes were made, two additional express trains in each direction per hour, could be added to the Subway service.
The PRESIDENT - Mr. Hugh Hazelton, Electrical Engineer of the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Company.
Mr. HAZELTON - Mr. President and Gentlemen: Mr. Stillwell has already told you that there is nothing new and certainly nothing radical about the equipment of the Hudson tunnels. The state of the electric art is such at present that it is not necessary to try anything new or experimental on a railroad of this kind. There are, however, a number of features which may be of interest, as it has been the intention to provide, a little more perhaps than usual, for the comfort and convenience of the passengers especially in the car design, and I hope to explain some of these features to you to-night.
You are doubtless familiar with the Hudson tunnel lines, as they have been pretty well advertised recently, but a brief description may be necessary in order to explain what the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad has done and what it expects to do in the way of improving service between surburban towns in New Jersey and New York City.
The Hudson & Manhattan Railroad system will when completed comprise about 19 miles of tunnel, of which six miles are now in operation and six additional miles of tunnel are completed ready for oncrete sidewalls, ballast and track. By the end of the year it is expected that about 16 miles of tunnel will be completed and in operation. The line now is operation begins at Hoboken where a terminal station is placed adjacent to the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad station, and from this point cars run to 19th Street and Sixth Avenue. The Sixth Avenue line will be extended eventually to 33rd Street, where a terminal will be built. On the New Jersey side a station will be placed adjacent to the Erie Railroad station, there will also be a station directly below the Pennsylvania Railroad station. There are two downtown tunnels that cross under the river between the Pennsylvania Railroad station and Cortlandt Street, and the Terminal station for these downtown tunnels is located on Church Street between Cortlandt and Fulton Streets. This Terminal is located so as to be within convenient distance of the business portion of the city. The Terminal at 33rd Street and the stations up Sixth Avenue furnish convenient access to the shopping district, so that when the road is completed a passenger, either from the Lackawanna, Erie or Pennsylvania railroad, or from trolley lines at Hoboken or Jersey City, can ride under the river directly to the shopping district along Sixth Avenue, or to the heart of the business district near the Church Street Terminal. A pair of tunnels are to run west under the Pennsylvania right ot way to a point about two miles west of the Pennsylvania Railroad station at Summit Avenue, where the tunnels come to the surface and the tracks will connect to the Pennsylvania tracks.
There is a traffic arrangement between the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad, whereby the Pennsylvania local trains from Newark will run through the downtown tunnels from Summit Avenue to the Church Street Terminal. The cars of the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad will also run over the Pennsylvania Railroad lines as far as Newark, so that when this joint service is in operation it will furnish rapid and efficient transportation between Newark and New York. The train headway will be much closer than on the present Pennsylvania schedule, and the time will be about 15 minutes less than the present time from Newark to Broadway, and the trip will be made without change of cars.
It is expected that the traffic over the lines of the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad will be of a nature similar to the present ferry traffic, where the number of passengers in the rush hour is from one-tenth to one-sixth of the total number per day. It may also be likened to the traffic over the Brooklyn Bridge where the number of passengers during the rush hour is about one-eighth of the total number of passengers per day. In order to provide for this heavy rush hour traffic, special provisions have been made to load and unload transfer passengers with the least possible delay. It is the intention to run trains during the rush on a one and one-half minute headway, and the stations are of sufficient length to accommodate eight car trains.
In order to avoid delay and danger all grade crossings have been eliminated by building the tunnels one above another at junction points. The tunnel construction allows a way for avoiding grade crossings which could only be accomplished with great expense on surface lines or elevated constructions.
In order to handle passengers with the least delay, the terminal stations have been provided with two station tracks for each incoming track, so that while a train is standing at the station another train may enter the station without delay. The Terminals are also provided with platforms on each side of the train, one of which is a loading and the other an unloading platform, so that passengers leave from one side of the train and enter the train from the opposite side, thus avoiding any confusion. The same plan is carried out at the terminal station at Hoboken and at 33rd Street, Sixth Avenue. In addition to this provision at the station platforms the cars are provided with doors at the center as well as at the ends, so that when the trains are standing in the terminal stations each car will have three exit doors and three entrance doors. The car doors are arranged to slide into pockets at the sides of the car. They are supported on hall bearings and are operated by air cylinders controlled by the guard. The valves which admit air to the cylinders are so designed that as the door closes, a certain amount of air is retained in the exhaust side of the cylinder to cushion the door when it has reached a distance of about four inches from its closed position. In passing through the last four inches of its travel, the door moves quite slowly in order to prevent catching passengers' clothing. The edge of the door is also protected by rubber hose to further prevent the possibility of injury.
The cars are of steel throughout, including roof, headlining and doors. The floors are made of carborundum cement laid on corrugated steel plates.
All wires are covered with asbestos braid and placed in iron conduit pipes. No pains have been spared, therefore, to make the cars thoroughly fireproof. In order to provide for the center doors and at the same time minimize the weight of the car body, a truss frame was designed with five panels, the center door occupying the middle panel. The depth of this panel is about 7 ft., which is equal to the height of the side of the car. It follows that for a given strength the weight of this truss is much less than that of any girder or truss beam which could be placed below the car floor. In the Interborough steel cars, which have no center doors, the side sheathing of the car forms a plate girder about 3 ft. in depth, which carries the weight of the car. It will be seen, however, that the introduction of a center door would cut through the girder at the point where the maximum bending moment occurs. It is believed, therefore, that the truss construction is very much better adapted to cars with center or intermediate doors.
To show the strength of the truss construction, one of the Hudson cars was loaded with 190 workmen and the resulting deflection was less than 1/16of an inch.
The end framing of the car has been made unusually strong in order to prevent the possibility of damage from rough handling in switching or in case of collision. Steel castings which project about 8 ins. above the top of the buffer timbers have been rivetted very securely to the center sills so that in case of collision if the platform of one car is forced up over the platform of the adjacent car, the buffer timber will strike against these steel castings where the force of the impact would be used up in crushing the buffer timber.
The cars are arranged to accommodate forty seated passengers. The seats being placed along the sides of the car. The seats are divided by 12 partitions which reach about to the height of the passenger's shoulder, and therefore form convenient supports to lean against. At each seat partition a vertical post extends from the edge of the seat to the hand strap rod. These posts are made of drawn steel tubes covered with porcelain enamel, so that they can be easily kept clean.
The cars are brilliantly lighted and in addition to 30 16 c.p. lamps for the general illumination, there are four lamps supplied from a storage battery placed under the car. These storage battery lamps remain lighted at all times, so that in case the current goes off the third rail, the passengers are not left in darkness.
Each car is provided with two 150 h. p. motors and the current is suppled to these motors from a contact rail placed at the side of the track. The location of this contact rail is identical with the contact rail of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, and also the Long Island Railroad Company. The contact rail is a special channel shaped section weighing 75 pounds per yard. This special section was required in order to get the rail and the necessary insulators within the limited space left by the curved section of the tunnel.
The rail is of a composition low in carbon and manganese and the conductivity is only about one-eighth that of copper of equivalent section.
The contact rail is protected by a continuous plank 2 inches thick and 9 inches wide placed about 4 inches above the top of the contact rail. This protecting plank is made of Jarrah wood obtained from Australia. This Jarrah wood is very hard and close grained and is particularly desirable for this purpose on account of its very slow burning qualities. For example, the flame of a blow torch was directed against a plank of Jarrah wood 1 inch thick, and it took 12 minutes for the flame to burn through the wood, whereas with a similar piece of oak treated in the same manner the time required to burn through was about eight minutes. It was also found that after the flame was removed from the Jarrah wood it would not support combustion. The Jarrah wood costs about $10 per thousand board feet more than first quality oak, but it has less tendency to warp and crack and is practically unaffected by moisture.
In closing I wish to give you the results of some experiments we recently made to determine the time which a passenger may save by using the Hudson tunnels in place of the ferries over the river, that is, the actual time required for a person to go from Broadway and Dey Street to the Pennsylvania station over the Cortlandt Street ferry, was found to be 25 1/2 minutes. At the time of day when the test was made the ferries were running on seven minutes headway, and the time required in crossing the river is about 10 minutes. It is expected that the Hudson & Manhattan trains will run on 1 1/2 minute headway through the downtown tunnels, and the running time between the Pennsylvania station and Church Street Terminal is 3 1/2 minutes. The total time, therefore, from Broadway and Dey Streets to the Pennsylvania trains in Jersey City by way of the Hudson tunnels will be about 10 1/2 minutes. A saving of about 15 minutes will, therefore, be made in the time from Broadway to Pennsylvania station in Jersey City by the Hudson tunnels.
A similar determination has been made from a number of actual tests on the time required for a passenger to go from the Lackawanna station at Hoboken to 33rd Street and Sixth Avenue by Christopher Street ferry and surface trolley. This time was found to be from 32 to 38 minutes, depending upon whether the passenger was fortunate in catching a ferry boat and making good connections with the trolley cars. The actual running time from Hoboken to 33rd Street Sixth Avenue through the Hudson tunnels will be 17 minutes, and allowing for the time to get on a train at Hoboken and to get off and get to the street at 33rd Street, the total time from Hoboken to 33rd Street and Sixth Avenue may'be taken as 20 minutes. This shows a saving of from 12 to 18 minutes. In addition to the saving in time the tunnel service affords means for avoiding the delay and danger of ice and fog on the river, and it is therefore believed that the service will not only prove attractive to the present residents of surburban towns in New Jersey, but that it will also help materially to build up a large section of desirable property which has hitherto been backward in developing on account of imperfect transportation facilities.
The PRESIDENT - We will next have the pleasure of listening to Mr. W. J. Wilgus.
Mr. WILGUS - Mr. President and Gentlemen: We have heard Mr. Hazelton refer to the fact that nowadays there is little room for making radical departures and experiments in the application of electricity to traction problems. If I were entirely sure that those who are to follow me this evening held .the same view, I would have less doubt about how I should treat our topic. But I will assume that differences of opinion will not arise.
Since July first last, the electrification of the New York Central lines entering the Grand Central Station has been completed and all trains of that Company are operated by electricity in a manner that is successful from an operating, as well as from engineering and financial standpoints. The result of observations of this operation has brought out a number of interesting features which are apart from the question of propelling trains electrically. They may be termed the by-products of the electrification of a steam railroad.
One point is the fact that with electric operation it is feasible to use other than the ground surface, which in a city like New York is of immense advantage. In other words, it is possible for a railroad to utilize what may be termed its air rights, for overhead and underground structures which is impossible with steam railroads. This is a very important advantage, as may be inferred from the fact that due to the use of electricity as a motor power, the value of the property of the New York Central at the Grand Central Station if increased in value to the equivalent of the frontage on Fifth Avenue only two blocks to the west, will add $50,000,000 to the assets of the Company.
Another feature is the ability to save a great deal of money in the lighting of stations and terminals. With a power station economically designed and operated for providing propulsion current it is practicable to provide at a low cost, additional current for the lighting of stations and yards, and for other purposes apart from the movement of trains. To illustrate the money value of this advantage, it is expected that when the Grand Central terminal is entirely completed and the electric zone in operation, a saving in the lighting of stations and yards and providing power for running draw bridges, elevators, etc., will amount to over $200,000 per annum.
Another advantage of having large power stations for the movement of trains is their availability for supplying current for labor saving devices in connection with freight terminals. As you all know in the operation of such terminals along the river front there are a number of isolated plants for operating float bridges, elevators, moving platforms, cranes and similar devices. Investigation will show that in almost every instance the propulsion electric current can be used to great advantage.
Another feature is the cheapness of power at times of the day when the movement of trains is light. As is well known, power stations are designed with sufficient capacity to handle service during the peak hours, say one hour night and morning. During the other hours of the day the cost of the production of power is simply the cost of burning coal under the boilers. This cheaply produced power may be used to run switch engines in yards that are usually operated at times when passenger travel is not heaviest. In one yard I have in mind a saving of $114,000 per annum can be effected in this manner.
In connection with the electrical operation of steam railroads another feature has been developed which is, I think, very important, viz: the feasibility of establishing reliable safety devices in connection with the signal system. For instance, as a check on motormen, a device may be used which will beyond preadventure bring trains to a stop in case they improperly attempt to pass signals. This device makes entirely safe and feasible the use of one man at the head of the train instead of two, as is now very common on electrically operated "steam railroads," where one acts as the operator and the other to observe and check signals. This duplication of men means undue cost of operation, and if it can be safely dispensed with by mechanical means, a large saving in train expenses will ensue. Such automatic stops will also do the same work as surprise tests in detecting men who flagrantly run by signals in the stop position.
Our President has told me that he could give me no more than five minutes, and that time is about up now. I thank you for the attention you have given me. (Applause.)
The PRESIDENT - Mr. W. S. Murray, Electrical Engineer of the N. Y., N. H. & H. Railroad will speak on the electrification work of the New Haven between Stamford and Woodlawn.
Mr. MURRAY - Mr. President and Gentlemen: I consider it an honor to say a few words to the New York Railroad Club; but before coming to the interesting topic I am expected to speak upon I want to express my regrets at the absence of Mr. Calvert Townley whom I so inadequately represent. While I have represented the New Haven Road and am somewhat familiar with the subject of its electrification I have not trusted myself to get up and talk generally about it for fear that I may take up too much of that valuable five minutes time allotted to the speakers; so, I have rather confined myself to a typewritten manuscript which I will read as quickly as I can. I will say that it does not deal with technicalities. It is somewhat light and I hope you will bear with me while I get through with it.
Mr. President, Fellow Members and Guests: It is a privilege to have the opportunity and honor of addressing you. In advance of what I have to say on the subject assigned, I wish to sincerely couple my regrets to those of my hearers in the absence of Mr. Townley, to whom the honor was first entrusted, and whom I so inadequately represent.
While I am not unmindful of the concrete subject, to which I am harnessed, viz: "The advancement that has been made in the operation of trains by electricity," I am not going to occupy your time by an historical sketch of the chronological increments in the betterments of steam or electric traction, but hold to the present. Ever since I elected to embark upon the good ship "Electricity," which, by the way, was not entirely a pleasure excursion, I, doubtless, have been relegated to that class of specialists known as Electrical Engineers. It is true, I probably know less about all other subjects than I do about electricity, and so in this dangerous condition, like the drowning man and the straw - enough said!
Gentlemen, to-night, is your electrical night. To-night the steam and electrical engineers mingle with one another. Instead of it being once a year I would that it were all the year around! I recognize with anxiety and concern the classification of steam and electrical engineers. How foolish the steam engineer who does not take his hat off to the electric locomotive; how foolish the electrical engineer who does not keep his hat off to the steam locomotive. At this juncture I am reminded of a remark I once heard a prominent electrical man well up in the problems of electrical traction make in an effervescing moment of enthusiasm, he said:
"Yes, gentlemen, we've got the old steam locomotive harpooned in the neck."
As I listened to this it reminded me of the time I once threw a harpoon. It was not at a locomotive, but it was, with all intent, at a sword fish. I had waited patiently all day for the opportunity, and you can imagine my exhultation when I saw the point of that javelin disappear under the surface of the water and its shaft come to a sudden stop, and then things happened. I felt my dory give a convulsive throb; it seemed to ride up about four feet on the crest of an unbroken wave. The 300 fathoms of line I had spun out with a song that drove all other thoughts from my mind, so much so, indeed, that while in a daze of amazement watching the last fathoms disappear over the prow of my little craft, I was totally unprepared for the cruel shock which came when my line finally brought up hard. When this happened, it seemed as though everything in the world had left me, but the ocean. No, this is not quite right for I did find myself astride of the little flagpole I had carried with me in leaving the boat. This having been installed upon the stern post was the only offer of detention I had, but it was not strong enough. It was not over a mile from shore so, of course, I had no difficulty in wading to it, and there I crawled up on a high rock to see if I could locate my boat, but naught but the expanse of the sea met my eye. Two weeks after this, 110 miles up the coast, the hugh carcass of a whale was cast up on the shore. A harpoon was discovered firmly imbedded in his neck, and what at first seemed a mystery, in the fact that the line from the harpoon lead to the mouth of the whale, was afterwards explained in discovering my dory inside of him, and so gentlemen, I know you can understand now my antipathy for throwing harpoons.
The steam locomotive is the possessor of my highest esteem and respect. It is the rule, the electric locomotive is the exception. But let us be willing to let the exception prove the rule. I always shudder when I hear some electrical man use that timeworn expression, "Well, the steam locomotive will soon be relegated to the scrap heap," and let me remark that it will be a "heap" of a big "scrap" before it is. The electric locomotive belongs as much to you all, as it does to us. There are differences between electric locomotives, as my good friend, Mr. Wilgus, and I admitted at the last meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and in these differences there exists food for the royal appetites of electrical engineers who are earnestly and conscientiously looking for the electric engine, whose characteristics best conserve the duties for which it has been called.
It is no little privilege to lay before you, the old school of conservative practise, our new ideas. You are by right of eminent domain our judges and masters. While the electrical engineer may unravel in his own mind the various technical details in his consideration of whether this electrification or the other is one properly related to direct current or alternating current, the final great tripod on which any or all of them stand is Reliability of Service, Fixed Charge and Operating Expense.
The hair on the heads of our younger members and guests will be gray, before, if ever, they see the good old reliable steam locomotive taken off transcontinental lines. Data is young to-day, but analyzing what we have brings out some significant facts. A pound of coal burned under the boilers of our central station at Cos Cob will produce twice the draw-bar as a pound of coal burned in the fire box of a locomotive. Electric machines will yield twice the locomotive miles per diem as their steam brothers, and their repairs for the same mileage will, even at this day, be one-third. These two departments of economy take the measure of electricity's application. Large cities may dictate the electrification of their railroad terminals to safeguard their people and abate the smoke nuisance, but outside of these limits, the railroad company is permitted to play its own hand, and I do not have to ask your agreement to a fact that unless electrification is a business proposition-and. by business proposition I mean, that for a dollar spent, after interest, depreciation, insurance and taxes, have been paid, there remains six or eight cents for someone else - Steam will remain.
I would I had time to launch myself into a description of some of the failures we have had with the alternating current system. These have been much more interesting and instructive than our successes. Trouble! What else! But what one of you here to-night ever got anything that was worth while that you did not have to sweat blood for it? Who but my esteemed friend, Mr. Walter C. Kerr, has better illustrated the point than when he told his inimitable story about Michael and Patrick, who while furling sail on to the gallant royal topsail yard fell therefrom, together, Pat taking the upper position in their gravitorial descent to the sea. In reply to Mike's supplication that he hoped the Lord was with him, Pat said: that if he was, he was "going some" - and so trouble, like grades or curves, only requires more tractive effort to cut through it, and you've got to be "going some."
Trouble is of two casts: Surmountable and Insurmountable. There is no mistaking when the one or the other is present. Do you remember the first time you shot at the little round bull's-eye, and all your lead seemed to go up in the right hand corner of the target? There was trouble present, but if the bull's-eye had been all by itself you would never have known just why you didn't ring the bell. Gentlemen, it all depends upon whether you can see the cause of your mistakes. We have made some, but we can see them, and they are not fundamental, and when they are wiped out they will not return. They have to-day been magnified because they have been the cause of our holding complete electric operation in abeyance. Our brother company operates 100 per cent.; the New Haven 50 per cent, electric. Had we adopted the D. C. method of propulsion, doubtless, we would to-day be operating 100 per cent. Would that be a reason for adopting it? Yes, to some, but not to those who really know the New Haven conditions.
Inalienably attached to each other are long distance and high voltage and there has ever followed the desire to convert this high tension power into mechanical work with the least number of transformations. If we are at one apex of a triangle, we do not go to another via two legs unless there is a fence in the way, and sometimes we even get over the fence.
I have purposely avoided technical data in my talk with you to-night. The technical nights on the floors of our engineering societies offer vast and splendid opportunity for this. Two years ago, Mr. Townley described to you the nature and reasons for the adoption of the Single-Phase System on the New Haven road. The specifications you heard that night have been taking shape in the form of a power house, line and locomotives. All the shots are on the target, some of them have rung the bell. Considering we were forced to meet the D. C. current condition, south of Woodlawn, thus complicating to a great extent the control of our electric locomotives, I, somehow, feel safe in the hands of a patient public, who will for the sake of advancement of the simplicity of electric traction, wait until we correct the sights for those remaining shots.
I thank you for your attention.
The PRESIDENT - We will next hear from Mr. George Gibbs, Chief Engineer of electric traction and terminal station construction of the Pennsylvania Railroad.
Mr. GIBBS - I have been asked to speak briefly upon the advance, since our last Electrical Night, in the application of electricity for the operation of trains. I am somewhat at a loss how to deal with the subject in a ten minutes talk in a manner which would be helpful or novel.
The general subject of heavy electric traction has continued to excite the interest of engineers, and much has been written upon the subject in papers before societies and in the technical journals. There has been steady advance made in our knowledge of general application methods but as yet no complete and authoritative figures for operating results are obtainable.
Since our meeting a year ago the following very important projects have been put into complete or partial operation, or have been decided upon. I give a brief list only of projects involving steam railroad conditions, as distinguished from those of single-unit light trolley operation.
The New York Central & Hudson River R. R. Co. has put into complete electric operation their New York terminal. The change from steam to electric train operation went into effect on July 1st, a year ahead of the date set by law for the conversion. It should be understood that I refer to the operation of New York Central trains and not those of New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad which run into the same terminal and which are now in progress of equipment for electric operation. This work of conversion to electric operation has been accomplished coincidently with the progress of an entire re-construction of the terminal station and yard still under way, and without material interference with the regular daily operation of a very dense passenger traffic. It constitutes an engineering feat of the highest importance, and an epoch in the history of electric traction. I would commend to your attention the admirably clear and concise paper read before the American Society of Civil Engineers on the 18th inst. by Mr. W. J. Wilgus, Vice President in charge of the conversion.
On July 24th last, the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company inaugurated in part their electric service between the Grand Central Station, New York City and New Rochelle, and later extended service to Stamford, Conn., 21 miles distant from Woodlawn. This installation is of special interest as the first application in this country of alternating current motors for the propulsion of heavy steam railway trains, and the first application anywhere of large .single-phase alternating current electric locomotives for high speed trunk line passenger service; the Erie Railroad installation, mentioned elsewhere, antedates the New Haven by a month but is in the nature of branch line and light work. On the continent of Europe three-phase alternating current has been used for electric locomotive service for some years, but the single-phase installation on the New Haven constitutes a radical departure from foreign practice, and a distinct novelty upon the scale contemplated. An interesting feature of the installation is found in the necessity of operating these alternating current motors over the tracks of the New York Central terminal which are equipped for direct current only, and that this dual operation has been accomplished is a tribute to the ingenuity of electrical designers. The progress and completion of the New Haven installation will be watched with interest by railroad men everywhere.
On June 10th the electrification of a division of the West Shore Railroad of the New York Central Company, between Utica and Syracuse, N. Y., was put into operation. This is a double, and in part, three and four track line of 44 route miles and 106 track miles length. It is equipped for third rail direct current operation of local service trains, and results will be watched as an important test of the economic and traffic fostering effect of electric traction on an existing steam railway, and of its ability to retain local passenger business in competition with the interurban trolley.
On June 18th the electrification of a portion of the Rochester Division of the Erie Railroad was completed. It is a single track line 34 miles in length, equipped for light service of one or two car trains, taking power from high tension overhead trolley, supplied with current from Niagara Falls.
On September 24th the first trial trip through a sub-aqueous tunnel under the East River from 42nd Street, Manhattan, to the Borough of Queens, was made. This tunnel is known as the "Belmont Tunnel," and has been designed only for the operation of trolley cars, and has not yet been put in regular service. Mention might be made of the fact that this was the first tunnel connection with the Borough of Manhattan.
On January 7th the tunnels under the East River from the Battery to the Borough of Brooklyn were placed in regular operation, the line being a continuation of the existing New York subway system and operated as a through route therewith.
On February 25th the Hudson Tunnel Companies began the regular operation of their North, or Morton Street tunnels, between Hoboken and 18th Street and Sixth Avenue, Manhattan, thus completing the first through transit line from New Jersey to New York City under the waters of the Hudson River. The electrical characteristics of this installation do not present any special novelties, being quite similar to those in use on the New York Subway. Thus, at the present writing the Borough of Manhattan is in direct railway communication with the main land in New Jersey and with the adjacent portion of the City across the East River on Long Island.
It is probable that during the present year another link will be completed under the Hudson River, (the Hudson Companies downtown tunnels) and the one under the East River at 42nd Street put in regular operation, leaving, of those under way, only the completion of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company's terminal and tunnels for a later date. At the present writing all of the Pennsylvania Company's six tunnels, two under the Hudson and four under the East River are connected, and their lining and finishing is progressing.
Other important projects of interest to railway men were dexermined upon during the past year, as follows:
Electrification of the Cascade Tunnel of the Great Northern Railway in the State of Washington, and the electrification over the Bitter Root Mountains on the Pacific Coast Extension of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway.
The former project at present contemplates only electric haulage through the two and three-quarter mile tunnel on a 1.7% grade, and is undertaken largely because of the difficulty of ventilation with steam haulage through this long tunnel.
The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul project is more extensive and involves the operation of a 54 mile mountain division having grades of 1.7% approaching the summit from both sides, each approximating 25 miles in length. The line includes numerous tunnels with a summit one of 8,700 feet in length, and it is expected to haul over the grades electrically, without doubling, the ruling road train load of 1800 tons behind the tender.
Both the above projects will use current generated from water powers, and are expected to produce highly economical operating results, and in the case of the St. Paul, electric haulage will do away with the danger of fire in a National Forest Reserve country of great scenic beauty.
The PRESIDENT - Mr. Walter C. Kerr will be the next speaker.
Mr. KERR - Mr. President and Gentlemen: Those who were to speak to-night were intended to speak for ten minutes and also that the general topic was the advances which have been made in the application of electricity to the propulsion of trains and to important signal systems. I regret that I am not quite so able to speak on such advancement as some of our electrical brethren; but I wish to say a few words on the subject generally. I regret to say that I am not going to be able to do justice to this subject.
All such advancement is served up to us by our electrical brethren rather rare - that is, before it is done. Then again in somewhat different form when it is done. This serving is done on all occasions. Then a little later we have it again, or what's left of it just as we would have hash for breakfast-and so those of us who are a little slow have a hard time finding an unpreempted topic for our ten minutes under the general subject. So many advancements as they first come to us are or the kind that haven't quite arrived that it seems to me reasonable, even fashionable, for me to choose trom that class.
In the application of electricity to the operation of trains, my chief wonder is that so little of it has been done during the past three or four years. Of course everything negative since Oct. 23 is forgiven; but prior to this very little was actually done in proportion to the advanced state of the art, and especially in proportion to the amount of di cussion held concerning it.
One of the things which impresses me is the great cost of much that is proposed; I mean first cost. I am not intending to be pessimistic much less to fail to credit the good advances that have been made by the many industrious workers, backed often by the liberal hand of capital, which frequently seems more than willing to spend freely and wait long for returns; but now with some twenty years of development - the last five being especially high in quality - is it not a little strange, and therefore fair to question, why we can count on our fingers all the instances in which steam track has been electrified?
The advantages of electric traction over steam for long tunnels early appealed to the railroads, and resulted in the equipment of four properties: the Baltimore tunnel, the Sarnia tunnel, the P.R.R. New York Extension, the Detroit tunnel of the Michigan Central.
About every railroad entering a large city and having considerable suburban traffic has perennially contemplated electrification. Three - the Long Island, the New York Central, and the N.Y.,N.H.&H. - have constructed; each however having for its primary cause the necessity of connecting with tunnel electrification.
Dozens of railroads contemplated electrification on various branches. Four have proceeded to action - the West Jersey Division of the Pennsylvania, the Rochester Division of the Erie, the Utica-Syracuse section of the West Shore, and the Denver and Interurban Division of the Colorado Southern.
The early installations of the New Berlin and Nantasket Beach Branches of the N.Y.,N. H.&H. are not here included, as they should perhaps be regarded more as interesting pioneer experiments.
About every railroad with a heavy mountain grade has had engineers figure and electric companies propose over and over again how to make the needed improvements. Not one has constructed, and only one seems to have immediate intentions.
In all:
Four tunnel electrifications,
Three suburban, but all related to tunnels,
Four branch lines,
No mountain grades.
When one reflects upon the almost unparalleled degree to which electric devices and systems have been applied to the many industrial and public serving arts - the rapidity with which they have been seized upon, used, and then extended, until nothing seemed too new or too good to become obsolete, one cannot resist the inclination to ask why heavy electric traction has not made more headway.
There seems to be no question about the sufficiency of the apparatus - whether it be of one phase or another - nor yet of the transmission systems, whether one be better than another. No one seems to have doubted the ability of the best systems of electrification to substantially meet every requirement by way of traction, acceleration, speed, grades, endurance, economy, and all other necessities.
The advancement has been great. Perhaps it has been commercial, but has it been commercially attractive as judged by use? I think it fair to assume that first cost has been one of the important factors standing between merit and adoption.
It is easy to say that it takes time to disseminate information; for the right men to become educated; for old methods to give way to new ones, but it also takes time to earn or borrow money enough to pay for expensive things.
The moral of all this is my belief that the time has come to get down the costs. The arts have developed sufficiently to let this be done. It is not merely the cost of electric apparatus, which at best is expensive - but all costs that enter into the non-electric processes.
This getting down and holding down of costs is an art in itself. It forms no part of electric engineering per se. It is an attendant of every form of engineering, and particularly of construction processes.
An electric railway is about 15 or 20% electrical and 80 to 85% other things. Electrification of a steam road is perhaps 75% electrical and 25% other things.
This is not the time to discuss the several factors that have of late appeared to reduce total costs, nor those which have loomed up to increase them, but it may be pertinent to remark that the turbine has cut the cost of generating units in half. Large boiler units and their attending train are on the eve of a similar reduction. These in turn cause proportional reductions in the structures which contain them.
Briefly, the cost of generating plant is on the right road. I have seen good thermodynamic engineering reduce the normal cost of a heating system 50%. I have seen good engineering contemplation reduce the cost of coal handling apparatus even more - while skill and experience frequently cut a normal foundation cost in half without impairment. Such results are now relatively difficult because of the great and unwarranted increase in the cost of labor and material - yet this enhances their absolute value.
What we want is to get good men on the job who know how, and then keep them on it. We want the man with the axe. The kind who knows how to save by the hundreds of thousands through new methods of procedure rather than by shaving a dollar here and there off from standard conventional practice. This is the spirit and talent we want - not merely the spirit of economy, but the talent of capacity. Such talent begins to exert its force in the early planning of a job and keeps forcing until the finished end.
If all who help make costs will help reduce them, we may not see a certain class of cars and their electric equipment grow from $12,000 to over $20,000. We may see the cost of electric locomotives less appalling. And we may hope to see field work do something more attractive than double its cost whenever it hits a snag. If cost can thus come down some, and the more or less incorrect ideas - of those who must bear them come up some, we may begin to realize the effectiveness of their meeting on the plane of progress.
It is my opinion that if much of the technical advancement now made in the application of electricity to the operation of trains is to be made effective, it needs vastly more attention paid to the restraint of costs - to which end there may need to develop certain restraining combinations of diligence, skill, and nerve that I trust would not be deemed unlawful.
The PRESIDENT - Mr. B. G. Lamme, Chief Engineer of the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co., will speak on Freight Locomotives for the Spokane & Inland Single Phase Railway.
Mr. LAMME - I will describe an electric railway system which is operating freight locomotives over a fairly large territory. This is the Spokane & Inland Railway which operates out of Spokane, State of Washington, a line of 116 miles in length. It is not one straightaway line of this length for there is one branch 40 miles long, the main line therefore being 76 miles long. The system is direct current in Spokane but single-phase alternating current is used immediately outside the city, and right at the beginning of the alternating current part is an up-grade of 2 per cent. 8 miles long. In working out the original proposition all available data was obtained but as the line had not yet been laid out fully, complete information regarding the extensions could not be furnished. What information that was given indicated that the extensions would, in general, be level or slightly rolling country. It turned out afterward that only about 10 miles of the entire road was level and about 40 per cent of the total length represented grades of 1 1/2 per cent, up to 2 per cent. The general tendency is up-grade out of Spokane. At first it was considered that the heavier service would be toward the city, the general trend of the grades thus being favorable.
However, a rather heavy outgoing service has developed certain difficulties which I will explain later. The first electric equipment of this road covered 21 motor-equipped passenger cars, each with 4,100 H. P. motors per car, these cars to be operated either alone or with trailers, or in multiple unit. The order also covered six freight locomotives, each equipped with 4,150 H. P. motors. A later order covered eight freight locomotives of somewhat larger capacity, to which I will refer later.
The first six locomotives were equipped with four motors, each of the geared type. The motors had the usual one hour ratings and I will show wherein this method of rating did not prove entirely satisfactory. The locomotives were somewhat similar in appearance and construction to ordinary interurban cars, there being two swivel trucks, each carrying two geared motors. Each locomotive weighs 50 tons. With the gear ratio used, each locomotive can develop about 15,000 lbs. tractive effort for one hour at a speed of about 15 miles per hour, and can develop continuously over 7,000 lbs. tractive effort at about 21 miles per hour. The 2 per cent, grade for 8 miles was considered to be the most severe condition and as this required about 15,000 to 18,000 lbs. tractive effort for slightly over one half hour the motor equipment, with its one-hour rating of 15,000 lbs. tractive effort, was considered ample for the service. However, on account of the numerous grades which were encountered it was found that the locomotives were worked too close to the maximum temperature. This was due principally to the fact that the method of ventilation first applied was unsuitable. The motors on these locomotives were artificially ventilated or cooled, as is now the regular practice of such equipments, but the air was supplied from blowers geared to the axles of the locomotives. This method of blowing is effective at high speeds but possesses the defect that the amount of air blown through the motors decreases very rapidly as the speed decreases with heavy load. In other words, the blowers deliver the least air at the time they should deliver the most. Also, no air is blown over the motors when the locomotive is at standstill. In order to overcome this difficulty separate blower outfits were supplied which operate at full speed continuously independently of the speed of the locomotive. This gave the required ventilation and the locomotives so equipped, are able to handle their service over the present line without overheating. However, on future extensions of this line more difficult conditions will probably be found in the way of verv long continuous up-grades and it may be necessary for these locomotives to be operated with lighter loads on such service.
On the new order covering eight locomotives the question of more severe conditions was taken into account at start. The type of locomotive is very similar to those first built, having two swivel trucks, each with two geared motors. Each locomotive weighs 70 tons. The motors are so proportioned that with the gear ratio used, a continuous tractive effort of over 16,000 lbs. can be developed at a speed of about 15 miles per hour, while a one-hour tractive effort of over 25,000 lbs at a speed of 11 to 12 miles per hour can be developed. These locomotives are rated on tractive effort instead of horse power and it is to be noted that the continuous tractive effort is slightly greater than the one-hour tractive effort of the old locomotives. From what I have said before regarding tractive effort required on the 8 mile, 2 per cent, grade, it is evident that these new locomotives can do this service, at about the continuous tractive effort, and therefore these locomotives could handle this load on such a grade indefinitely. In other words, the normal service of the locomotives on the grades is made to conform with their continuous tractive effort and the one-hour tractive effort is simply a margin or emergency condition.
A lesson to be learned from this is that in electric freight service where a heavy tractive effort is required for long periods, or even in passenger service where there is heavy service with few stops, the locomotives should be rated in tractive effort and not in horse power and should be rated on the continuous tractive effort and not on the one-hour rating, which is the present practice with electric equipments. There is one important difference between a steam and an electric locomotive. In a steam locomotive there is a certain maximum tractive effort which it can develop, and this can be developed as long as desired without detriment. In an electric locomotive, however, the limiting tractive effort is not dependent upon the equipment itself, but upon the power which can be supplied to the locomotive from the transmission system. The maximum tractive effort which can be delivered by an electric locomotive is usually far in excess of what it can safely develop without overheating the motors. Over quite a wide range, the losses in a motor and the tractive effort which can be developed, are almost in proportion to each other, and as there is a limit to the losses which can be allowed without overheating there is also a limit to the tractive effort which can be developed without overheating. As the heating is a function of the period during which the losses are developed it is evident that the motors can be rated at various tractive efforts, depending upon the duration of the run. It is evident that the motor can stand a greater loss and therefore develops a larger tractive effort for one hour than it could for 5 to 10 hours, which would correspond to the continuous rating of the motors. Therefore if the hauls are short and the service intermittent the motors could be rated in a tractive effort corresponding to such service, while if the hauls are of long duration the motors should be rated in tractive effort corresponding to such larger periods. In freight service therefore the proper rating of the locomotive should be in terms of the continuous tractive effort which they can develop without undue heating, and any higher ratings for limited periods should simply be considered as emergency ratings. The horse power rating of such locomotives should be incidental, as the horse power with a given tractive effort is a function of the speed and the speed in turn is a function of the voltage applied. Therefore, where a wide range of voltages is available on a locomotive, which is the case with singlephase systems, then the horse power is an indifferent term, for it depends upon the voltage applied to the motors and upon the tractive effort. The motors can therefore have almost any horse power rating, depending upon the tractive effort rating and the speed which can be developed with the various voltages available. Such horse power ratings are therefore liable to lead to confusion, and the locomotives should, in practice, be rated in tractive effort at any speed within given limits. This method of rating points to the reason why forced ventilation is being adopted on electric locomotives. Experience shows that with artificial cooling the continuous tractive effort rating can be increased from 50 per cent, to 80 per cent, in many cases, while the one-hour rating will be increased a very much less amount, and in motors where such a method of ventilation is applied in the best manner the continuous rating continues to approach fairly closely to the one-hour rating; that is, it may become 65 per cent, to 75 per cent, of the one-hour rating. In the first Spokane electric locomotives this condition was not met as perfectly as in the later ones, principally because the modification in the method of ventilation which I described could not be applied as effectively as would have been the case if the apparatus had been arranged for this method in the first place.
That is all I will say about the Spokane Railway, but I will add something on the question of electric locomotives for replacing steam. Several speakers this evening have mentioned this and it has even been hinted at that some people think that the steam locomotive will be a curiosity in 10 years. The question was put to me some years ago by a man connected with a trade journal, as to how soon electric locomotives could replace all the steam locomotives now in this country. So I figured awhile on it and then told him that, as a rough estimate, I would say that if all the electric manufacturing companies in this country should shut down their other electrical work and devote themselves exclusively to the manufacture of electric locomotives, they would be able to replace all the present steam locomotives in from 10 to 20 years. This was on a basis of no repairs or renewals and no increase in the railroad business. Assuming that the increase in the railway business and the repairs and renewals about balanced the increase in the growth of the electric manufactories, then it would still require about 10 to 20 years for the steam railroads all to become electric. As I stated, this was on the assumption that all other electric work was abandoned. But as the power house and transmission systems would also have to be built in sufficient quantity to permit the operation of these electric locomotives, the conclusion was drawn that the steam locomotive would not become a curiosity in this country for many years to come, even assuming that the railroads were willing to electrify as fast as the material could be manufactured. So I think we may assume that the steam locomotive has at least a 20-year lease on life even from the most optimistic view of the electric man.
The PRESIDENT - Mr. William McClellan, Vice-President of The Campion-McClellan Co.
Mr. McCLELLAN - Gentlemen: As these electrical nights of the New York Railroad Club come and go, the position of the Electrical Engineer certainly becomes more gratifying. The lists which have been made of work that has been completed prove beyond any doubt that the prophecies of former years have been fulfilled. The electrical engineer has shown that the electric locomotive and multiple unit car can do all the work that has, heretofore, been done by the steam locomotive or any other means of transportation. He is now in the process of proving that he can do this work more cheaply and better.
One point is worth emphasizing, and is important in connection with what has been done. No matter how great or difficult electrification problems may be ahead of us, we can never have harder ones to solve than we have already been met successfully in the New York Central, the New York, New Haven, & Hartford, and the great tunnel electrifications close by us.
The immediate results of these successes is that the electrical engineer is getting a hearing on the score of merit instead of necessity as heretofore. The railroad manager is beginning to realize that electrification can provide increased traffic and revenue, and increased capacity on the same trackage; is flexible; and, perhaps, can be operated on a cost basis which makes it a paying proposition.
Mr. Kerr has referred very sensibly to the question of cost. We must acknowledge that the expense is usually great. The improved service which accompanies electrification should not be forgotten, however, for the comparison is often not a fair one. It would be better to make estimates for the improved service with all that goes with it, first on the basis of using steam, and second on the basis of using electricity. The amounts, in many cases, would be found very nearly equal - if, indeed, the steam could provide the required service at all.
It is also worth noting that the attack of electrical engineers on the field of heavy transportation has spurred on our steam friends to greater attainments. Improvements have come in the design, the capacity, and the efficiency of the steam locomotive which enable it to meet its younger rival with much greater resistance.
The question has been asked as to why, after these successes, general electrification does not come more rapidly. The great cost has been assigned as the most potent reason and this is undoubtedly true. No matter what financial results may be shown to be possible after electrification, millions must be financed and spent before the results appear. This financing must be done, in many cases, while carrying on operation far beyond the normal capacity of the road.
It has also been stated that the manufacturing facilities of the country along electrical lines would not permit of rapid wholesale electrification.
But there is another reason of equal or greater importance and this is the uncertainty of the proper system to adopt. Railroad managers look at improvements and changes from the standpoint of their whole lines. They are unwilling to grow enthusiastic over general electrification when the men who know most about the technical details cannot agree as to the best method.
We have to-day five systems which are of sufficient value to have been adopted in various parts of the country:
1 - The Third Rail, 650 volts.
2 - The Single Phase, 3300-11000 volts.
3 - The Three Phase, 3300-11000 volts.
4 - The 1200 volt Direct Current.
5 - The Gasoline Electric Car.
Among these systems, no conservative engineer is willing to make a general choice at present, for our knowledge is insufficient. Only one thing may be safely asserted, and that is that the general electrification of trunk lines absolutely demands the use of high voltage current, and by this we mean from 6000 to 11000 volts or higher.
What is required is a broad view, if all that is spent and done, is not to be changed at great expense later. Perhaps each one of these systems may be of superior value under favorable circumstances for this piece of road or that terminals. But we are not electrifying small portions of roads or terminals. We shall ultimately electrify whole systems, and a choice of method now must be made with this fact in mind. Right here is necessary the experienced railroad manager with his acquired greater perspective, joined with the. trained and experienced electrical engineer with his knowledge of the technical practicabilities. With these two working together, slowly and carefully, but confidently, holding the problem off until sufficient of the future can be seen to determine the outcome, real progress will be made. We can confidently expect progress of this sort but nothing which is wholesale, rapid, or radical.
The PRESIDENT - A gentleman who was unable to be present this evening, Mr. C. L. De Muralt, Consulting Engineer, and Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Michigan, has sent in a paper entitled "Some Notes on the Speed Question in Electric Service." This will be printed in the proceedings of the evening.
The attendance at this meeting of 515 members who, with very few exceptions, have remained until the closing hour of the session, may be accepted as emphatic evidence of their appreciation, and is highly gratifying. It also suggests that the policy of the Club in having an electrical night as an annual feature of its season's programme for practical education and mental enlightenment, is a matter of mutual benefit and pleasure that is regarded as wise, and that meets with cordial approval.
I desire on the part of the Club to express our thanks to the eminent gentlemen who have favored us with these very interesting remarks and illustrations on this important subject.
