OCR Text |
Show ELECTRIFICATION OF GERMAN RAILROADS. Consul Thomas H. Norton WTltcs from Chemnitz that for several years past German engineers have been actively ac-tively cngagod in tho preliminary studies for an ultimate change to electricity elec-tricity as tho motive power in ordinary ordi-nary railway transportation of passengers pas-sengers and freight. Mr. Norton discusses dis-cusses the proposition as follows: "The technical problems connected with the safe and economical transmission trans-mission and application of the' electric elec-tric current have, one alter the other, been satisfactorily solved. Tho decisive de-cisive experiments in 1903, conducted by the Prussian railway authorities In connection with tho General Electrical Elec-trical company, on tho line between Nledorschoonwelde and Splndlersfeld, Bhowed conclusively that tho proper motor had been devised to uso effectively ef-fectively tho alternating current, which nlone can servo for the. transmission on a single conductor of high tension currents. "Since then no material advance has been made from the mechanical standpoint, nor has much been required re-quired of the electrical Inventor. Tho new motors have rendered admirable service when utilized for urban and suburban traffic, and when applied on short lines. It is now a purely oco-nomlc oco-nomlc question whether the time has arrived to discard tho time-honored steam locomotive after Its eighty years of faithful servlco and replace it by the electrical locomotive as sole mo tlvc power for extensive railway systems. sys-tems. "Tho matter is now ono of keen discussion dis-cussion among American railway managers. man-agers. The results of an exhaustive study by Ph. Pforr, a prominent German Ger-man engineer, on the subject, may be of timely lntorost, and they tiro herewith here-with briefly summarized: "It is essential for the economical transmission of the electric current In connection with railway use that it leave the power houses under a tension of 50,000 volts, and that this bo lowered to 15,000 volts when directed di-rected into the conductors, which sup ply directly the locomotives on a line. Transformers for this purpose are located lo-cated most advantageously at distances dis-tances of twenty-five miles along a ltnv On n dnnhlii tr.arL- a n ftflfl-lf llnwnt equipment is required; on a singlo track, one of 3,000 kilowats suffices. The cost of transformers per mile is calculated at $1,43C for doublo track lines, and at ?SC2 for single track lines. The total cost for transformers transform-ers and accessories on 'the' entire system, sys-tem, aa detailed, would be about $26, 000,000. "Overhead wire conductors cost $3,830 per mile of single track. This amounts to $107,500,000 for the entlro network of 21,010 miles of single track. "The cost of cables for distributing the current from the power houses to the transformers depends upon tho location lo-cation of the plants. Assuming distances dis-tances apart of 126 miles, the entire system would require thirty generating generat-ing plants. This distance allows a mutual rendering of assistance in case djnaraos are disabled. Upon -this basis ba-sis there would be an average cost per mile, for distributing cables, of $1,530 on single-track lines, and of $2,490 on double-track lines. The entire en-tire equipment would involve an outlay out-lay of $12,500,000. These three items constitute a total Investment for per manent equipment along existing railway rail-way lines of $234,600,000." |