ELECTRIC RAILWAYS

surface, elevated or underground railways in which the motive power is electricity. Prior to 1884, a few small roads had been built to demonstrate the feasibility of electric traction but it was not until 1888 that the Sprague Electric Railway system invented by Frank Julian Sprague, was put into operation in Richmond, Va. with such an increase in transportation facilities and such a saving in the cost of operation that it foreshadowed the end of animal traction and marked the beginning of a new era. From that time the development of electric traction systems has been rapid. First came the electric equipment of existing horse railways, then the institution of the overhead trolleys, then the electrification of railroad systems formerly operated by steam, though this has hardly progre ed beyond the zones of suburban traffic. Subways use electricity exclusively for motive power, as do most elevated roads. The genesis of the system was crude and the ingenuity of engineers has been taxed to obviate mechanical difficulties, save wear and tear and cheapen cost of operation. One of these marked improvements was the “magnetic blow-out’ devised by Elihu Thomson, the effect of which was to control the breaking of the circuits and eliminate the destructive effects of sparking due to the breaking. Another was the ‘multiple-unit’ system of control, by which a number of cars on a train could be equipped with electric motors and operated from any one of the cars. Another advance was registered by the Westing house controller, which, operating pneumatically, supplies current to the motor, the valves of the system being worked by magnets in a local circuit which derives its energy from a few storage batteries on each car and is operated by a master-controller on each car of the train. Thus all the operations are independent of the line current. The obstacles that overhead trolley wires put in the way of firemen in the case of conflagrations has led many cities to forbid their use. This has made nece ary the substitution of the conduit system now in use in New York, Washington and many other large ities. The conduit is a small tunnel for the conductor rails and the current for the car is collected by a device known as the plow, which pa es through the slot and has two metal contact shoes held by springs against the conductor rail. Ducts are placed beside the tracks, and these contain the feed wires that are connected at intervals with the conducting rail. Electric railway today spread over the country in a vast network of transportation facilities that have contributed immeasurably to the comfort and convenience of the people and have a isted in the upbuilding of outlying districts. Especially is this true of the inter-urban railways, where for long distances a speed can be attained approximating that of an expre train. While in a limited sense they are a commercial competitor of the steam railroad, in a much more important sense they are complementary, and the succe of the as is bound up in the prosperity of the other.