that Committee that too much credit cannot be given the other two members of that Committee and, without their hearty and intelligent co-operation, it would have been almost impossible to have presented a show of that character in the way that it was done. And at this time, wish to make this acknowledgment of the value of the help that they gave me, and I want to assure you that the credit, if any credit there be, should be equally distributed among all the members of that Committee. Mr. Handlan and Mr. O'Brien spent many days and many nights in helping get the show together, and if it was an enjoyable affair and you did appreciate the efforts put forth by the Committee, I feel that they are also entitled to your kindest consideration. I am deeply appreciative of the compliments that have been paid me, and indeed grateful for the Executive Committee's concrete evidence of their approval. (Applause.) THE PRESIDENT: Gentlemen, there being no Committees to report, and no unfinished business to be disposed of at this time, we will take up the next order of business. We are especially favored tonight through the courtesy of the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, in having the first showing of a series of moving pictures which will go to make up the very elaborate programme that we are able to offer to the members of the Club and our guests tonight. These pictures will illustrate to the public the necessity and the value of present day electrical methods, applied more especially to heavy tonnage traction. Mr. William T. Whalen, Special Representative of the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, is here tonight, and he will address us, in connection with the moving picture film, explaining to us what is regarded by all engineers, I think, as the coming motive power of the railroads of this country, under certain circumstances. Mr. Whalen's father is one of the oldest railroad men in this country, and is still in active service with one of our largest roads. Directly after Mr. Whalen's address is finished, we are going to have a moving picture of the famous "Cody Trail" into the Yellowstone National Park. Following that we will have a film illustrating the great Keokuk dam and power-house. I take great pleasure, now, in introducing to you Mr. Whalen of the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company. (Applause.) ELECTRIFICATION OF STEAM RAILROADS. By MR. WILLIAM T. WHALEN, Special Representative, Westinghouse Mr. President and Gentlemen: It has been customary before showing these pictures, to show a comic film, but because of the length of the entertainment this evening, it was decided to eliminate that feature, and to go right into the discussion or the talk on the subject of electrification of steam railroads. The considerations which have thus far prompted the substitution of electricity for steam have been the elimination of smoke and gases in long tunnels, the reduction in congestion, and the matter of increasing the capacity of trunk lines. This has become necessary because of legislation, because of the increasing cost of coal and oil, for the making of steam, and upon the other hand we have the constantly lowering cost of electricity, which has caused many of our roads to modify their power from steam or oil to electricity. However, if the lights may be turned out, a great many of these points can be better shown as the pictures progress. NORFOLK & WESTERN ELECTRIFICATION. The Elkhorn Grade Electrification of the Norfolk & Western Railway is located in the midst of the Pocahontas coal district where this company's main line crosses the Appalachian moun tains. The electrification now in operation extends from Bluefield, W. Va., located on the eastern slope of the main range crossing. to East Vivian, a point approximately 30 miles west. The main line is double tracked throughout this distance, with the exception of the Elkhorn Tunnel, which is located at the summit of the mountain. This tunnel is 3,100 feet in length. In addition to the main line double track, there are numerous sidings and spurs, Norfolk & Western Elkhorn Grade Electrification. branches to coal operations, and yard trackage, etc., bringing the total trackage of the electrified zone up to nearly 100 miles. Curvature is very severe, and practically continuous; 60 per cent of the tracks being on curves with some of these curves on the main line as short as 12 degrees, while curves as short as 16 degrees are found on the sidings. The average curvature over the whole electrified zone is about 3 degrees. Most of the coal operations are on the western slope of the mountain, and from this originates a heavy east bound traffic. Several branches extending to coal workings, however, meet the electrified zone on the eastern slope of the mountain. The grades are quite severe; starting at Vivian at the western terminus of the electric zone, and proceeding east the grade gradually rises until the Elkhorn Tunnel is passed, the sequence of grade over this section being 1 per cent, 11⁄2 per cent and 2 per cent. From the eastern portal of the Elkhorn Tunnel a descending grade of 22 per cent is found, then a rising grade of approximately 0.4 per cent, then 14 per cent again into the Bluefield yards. The main traffic of the road is shipment of coal from the coal mining districts on the western slope of the mountain easterly to shipboard. A considerable portion, however, of the coal mined on the eastern slope of the mountain is shipped west to the north central manufacturing district of the United States. It will readily be observed that the single track Elkhorn Tunnel located in the top of the mountain, through which both directions of traffic would have to move, was naturally a very great restriction, tending to limit the traffic capacity of this road. This, together with the long 2 per cent grades on the western slope of the mountain, and which grade extends through the tunnel, with the additional handicap of difficulty to ventilate the tunnel, were among the chief factors tending toward electrification. The traffic of the company had grown to practically track capacity, so it was necessary to build additional track or provide other means to increase the capacity of the existing track. On account of the rough character of the country additional track capacity was hard to secure through the construction of more trackage. There also would have been a great expense to enlarge the tunnel. The means turned to to provide this additional capacity, therefore, were to increase the speed obtained, increase the weight of trains, eliminate congestion caused by delays for coal and water, etc. The natural agent to harness for this purpose was electricity. The steam locomotives used here were of the Mallet compound type, equipped with superheaters and mechanical stokers. They were of the highest type modern steam equipment of this character. Mallet steam engine and tender weighed 571,000 pounds. The traffic on this road was very rapidly increasing, at the time electrification was taken into consideration. This increase has been regular since, and has advanced to the point where record of from 80,000 to 90,000 tons trailing load per day are transported over the mountain in a one-direction movement, 24 hours. Aver age trailing tonnages at the present are running from 40,000 to 50,000 tons per day on one-direction movement. To meet this unusually heavy traffic by electric operation in which, of necessity, exceedingly heavy trains were to be transported with resulting large power requirements, in the conception of a workable system it was unquestioned that a high voltage system of power transmission would be the only feasible one. This condition necessitated the installation of an overhead contact system as the simplest and most stable character of construction. The single phase alternating current system admirably fulfills the conditions of delivering these enormous quantities of power, and this system, therefore, was selected and designed and installed. to operate at 11,000 volts pressure, 25 cycles. A 000 trolley wire suspended, by a secondary construction, is maintained at a uniform height of 24 feet above the rail. Very simple tubular steel poles with horizontal beam between poles make a very light bridge from which the overhead is suspended. It was realized that the difficulty of starting long heavy trains would be a serious problem for the ordinary type of electric locomotive, but European practices have demonstrated the great advantage of three phase for this class of work. This class of motor is devoid of commutating troubles, has good starting characteristics, and the further desirable feature of constant speed operation with its consequent fixed movement and features of safety for this class of work. The three phase induction motor was therefore selected, but instead of the necessity to use double contact wires as has been necessary on other installations, there was developed for this installation a phase converter which is installed as a part of the locomotive equipment, the function of which is to change the single phase 25-cycle power delivered on the single phase trolley wire to three phase 25 cycles, for utilization in the motor. This then permits of the simple single trolley wire for the overhead construction, and allows the use of the rugged three phase induction motor as the main motor equipment. The single phase trolley is electrically connected to the locomotive by a pantagraph, which in turn is connected to the primary winding of a main transformer. In the main transformer, the voltage is stepped down from 11,000 volts to 725 volts, and in connection with the phase |