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Show ELECTR! C ENGINES Giant Machines Will Be Used on Panama Canal WASHINGTON, Dec. 17. Instead of the familiar olJ tow path ruulo, gont electric locomotives will movo the shipping through tho Panama canal locks The ordinary locomotive would spin Its wheels wildly and ineffectively in-effectively upon the usual fonn of sieol rail when its draw bar felt tho weight of a 20,000-ton warship. Hut tho big electric locomotives will bo geared to tho tracks by a middle rail cut into tho form of a rack, giving enormous traction power. Millions of p.mndx of uteel will bo required for the construction of theso tracks at the lock sidings, and within the next week or two the canal commission com-mission will start tho work of adver- J tislng for 8,000 tons of steel material. i Some of tho larger Items are 3,212,544 I pounds of steel cross ties, 1.031,240 jrounda of rolled steel conductor slot covers, 6,651 000 poupnda of carbon 6teel rack castings, and 1,27.1.090 pounds of steel channels. About 2,000 i tons of 90 pound steel rail3 for the ! towing syutem will also bo wanted. The commission will lnstnll this rack railroad Itself, allowing two years for the work, so as to keep pace with the lock construction. |