Show The Change From Steam to Electricity Electric-ity in Railroading One of the great scientific advances of the past year has been in the direction direc-tion of electric railroading The advance ad-vance however has taken a unique j i t direction It seems that engineers having done all they can do on the i natural level are seeking to encompass I inaccessible mountain peaks and i passes or when thee are lacking going go-ing beneath the surface As an example ex-ample of the first category we have at least 40 mountain roads in Switzerland among which the Jungfrau scheme is i a recent instance Examples of the 1 second class may be found in the sueS sue-S cessful underground system of Buda pesth the electric equipment of additional ad-ditional London subsurface roads and I the proposed underground rapid transit tran-sit schemes in New York City The I j instances in both cases might be I greatly multiplied Ali this portends a i 1 near and great improvement in the j general rapid transit systems of the j I world The development of ordinary j surface roads in the Unit < id States I I while it has not reached a climax has advanced wonderfully in nearly every i I large city in the country except New York City and even there the general adoption of electric traction is only a I question of time These trolley roads reaching as they do out in the suburbs sub-urbs and connecting cities villages and towns are forcing the steam railroads rail-roads to great lengths in the matter of successful competition I think the ultimate result of this will be the J widespread resort to electric power on i steam railroads Already we have had evidence of it in the B O tunnel in i Baltimore the N Y N H at New j Haven places on the Burlington Mt Holly branch of the Pennsylvania road in New Jersey and at Nantasket beach on the N Y N H H Altogether Al-together I think that the epoch of general electric railroading is well started J O S WETZLER |