Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 June 1892 — ELECTRIC RAILROADS. [ARTICLE]

ELECTRIC RAILROADS.

Their Remarkable Growth In Five Years. For years the horse remained in front of a car as the only means of transporting people through our cities, and it was not until the introduction" of electricity for this purpose that any marked improvements were made in this character of travel. The early experiments in electricity were interesting only from a scientific standpoint, as the source of electricity was the primary battery and it was not until the invention of the directcurrent dynamo that a means of generating electricity was devised, by which it could be distributed economically in a way that would make electric-traction practicable. Let us look briefly at what has been done in the case of electric trolley railroads. Scarcely five years have elapsed since it was shown that the trolley system could be made a practical success as a means of propelling cars, and yet to-day more than 450 roads are reported as being operated by electric power, having a total mileage of more than 3,000 miles and employing nearly 5,800 motor-cars. Thus about three-eighths of the street railroads in this country are now operated by the trolley system. The old tramrails are being replaced by better forms of construction, handsome cars measuring thirty feet in length replace the old style of horse cars, and a speed double that attainable with horses is used with perfect safety in equipping street roads with the trolley system. Many of our large cities are already so equipped, and it is estimated that $155,000,000 has already been expended. It has also been proposed that the experiment be tried to ascertain if electricity cannot be used practically to supersede steam on railroads. Many of us doubtless will see this accomplished, although probably not until electricity can be generated directly from coal, without the use of the steamboiler, in which event a train of cars so propelled, it is estimated, will nfove at least five miles for the same cost that is now required to move a train of the same weight one mile*by steam.—Engineering Magazine.