Smoke Abatement and Electrification of Railway Terminals in Chicago; Report of the Chicago Association of Commerce, Committee of Investigation on Smoke Abatement and Electrification of Railway Terminals (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1915 Excerpt: ... of transformer units 750 kv-a. None. None. 205.16 Class IV--Tunnel Operation--Baltimore & Ohio Railroad: The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad was the first road in America to employ electric power for hauling heavy passenger and freight trains. It was a bold experiment at the time (1895), involving as it did the building of traction motors of unprecedented power and the handling of heavy electric currents on the contact line. The electrified section, 3.7 miles in length, passes through the city of Baltimore, Md., and forms the link between the old terminus of the Washington-Baltimore line of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad at Camden Station and the Mt. Royal Station of its new line from Philadelphia. A portion of the line, about 1.5 miles in length, is located in a tunnel and a long grade of 1.5 per cent is encountered northbound from Mt. Royal Station. Electrification has not been extended beyond the limits required to handle traffic through the tunnel and to provide a convenient point at which interchange of motive power can be made. The object of the installation was the elimination of the smoke and gases emitted by steam locomotives in a long tunnel. Electric locomotives handle complete trains, including steam locomotives, from Camden Station, in the southern part of the city, through the tunnel to Mt. Royal Station and thence to the northern section of the city. As the ruling grade through the tunnel is in but one direction the trains are assisted only on the up-grade, the electric locomotives returning light. Trains running in the opposite direction are allowed to coast through the tunnel. All trains, both passenger and freight, are handled in this manner. Direct current at 625 volts was originally supplied to the electric locomotives from a power...