Identifier: electricrailway551920newy (find matches)
Title: Electric railway journal
Year: 1908 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Electric railroads
Publisher: (New York) McGraw Hill Pub. Co
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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Method of Control Simplifies Distribution Problems and. Judicially Used, Saves Money and Improves Operating Conditions By R. J. Wensley Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, EastPittsburgli, Pa. IT IS very gratifying to those directly interested inthe automatic substation that the larger city streetrailway systems are eagerly taking up the question ofrebuilding their distribution systems by taking ad-vantage of the savings made possible by automatic oper-ation of converting equipment. The earlier street railway systems made little or noattempt to lay out the distribution lines with economyor efficiency. Any location available was seized on asa power-house site. Cables were run the shortest pos-sible distance to the trolley wire and from that pointthe trolley wire was usually the only means of carryingcurrent. As service demands increased the voltage •Abstract of paper read at Pittsburgh meeting of the A.I.E.E.,March 12, 1920. 520 Electric Railway Journal Vol. 55, No. 11
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FIG. 1. FEEDER COPPER NOW IN USE IN CITY OF 300,000 POPULATION drop became too great for satisfactory service, and toremedy this the voltage was increased and feeders wererun parallel with the trolley. As the demands still further increased, the factorof electrolytic destruction of underground pipe neces-sitated the use of heavy copper feeders in parallel withthe rail. The negative booster was also freely usedto compensate for the drop in these return feeders. When first the engine-driven alternator and later theturbo alternator came to the front as the most eco-nomical means of power generation, the railway substa-tion soon became popular. In some of the larger citiesthere were installed one or more central steam plantswith a number of large substations located in variousparts of the city. Owing to the cost of operatinglabor, the number of these was kept down to the min-imum even at the expense of considerable investmentin feeder copper. Not only were large amounts offeeder copper th

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