Vol. X. MEW YORK CHICAGO, DECEMBER. Mo, 12. ' a ** v\ J? v THE STREET RAILWAYS OF WASHINGTON, D. CV7 r 1894 All the principal street railway lines operating in the car house and station will be erected, thro i?|jhFw^ipto^ro city of Washington are at present undergoing important the right of the street, the track will make a loop, by changes. Some are extending their present limits, while means of which the cable trains will be turned. This others are being rebuilt, one for cable traction and another will be a gravity loop, and the cable will not follow the for an underground electric system. In studying the line of the track, but will encircle a terminal sheave street railway situation of Washington, it must be remem- located in the street. The present car house in George- bered that all the street railway lines of the District of town will be abandoned and devoted to other purposes. Columbia are under the direct supervision of Con- The present length of rope, which operates the George- gress, and none of them can effect a change of motive town division from the central power station, is 2,350 ft., but power without a special act, and this has been secured in it will be correspondingly increased to operate the exten- FlG. 1.—CABLE CURVE AT PEACE MONUMENT, FOOT OF PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE—WASHINGTON, D. C. the case of the Columbia Railroad Company and other sion. The length of the rope which operates the Navy roads, which will be noted below. It should also be borne Yard end of the line is 31,500 ft., that on 14th Street in mind that an act of Congress, passed some years since, division is 27,700 ft., and on 7th Street division 33,250 ft. prohibits the use of overhead wires for the operation of All the ropes now employed on this line are one any of the street railway lines within the city limits. andj a quarter inches in diameter, are of the Lang lay type, and were manufactured by Roebling and Broderick Washington & Georgetown Railroad Company. & Bascom. The lay of these ropes is eight and a half All the lines controlled by this company are now op- inches, somewhat shorter than the lay usually employed erated by cable, and are run in three divisions known as by foreign manufacturers. the Pennsylvania Avenue or Georgetown division, 7th On the Georgetown line the average life of the cable and 14th Streets divisions. The Georgetown terminal of is about 120 days or about 20,000 miles, while the 7th the Pennsylvania Avenue section is to be extended a dis- Street line being nearly straight, the rope in that division tance of 1,500 ft. to the Aqueduct Bridge, where a new has an unusually long life. The rope which is now run- 758 THE STREET RAILWAY JOURNAL. [Vol. X. No. 12. ning was put in on July 2, 1893, and is still in fair condi- the ground floor, and this is equipped with a number of tion. first class iron working tools. To this shop the grips of the During the early history of the Pennsylvania Avenue entire system are brought every day for inspection, when line, the traffic was interrupted quite frequently by the they are cleaned and nuts and bolts tightened up. A raised breaking or stranding of the ropes, but since Peter Moar iron platform* in the middle of the shop is piovided, on was engaged as splicer and rope superintendent in Feb- which the grips are overhauled, so that the oil and dirt ruary, 1893, there have been very few delays and only one are prevented from being scattered about the floor. We serious one during the present year. Such a record is noted at the time of our visit that one of the five foot ele- vating sheaves was being repaired by lining the groove with cast steel segments which are held in place by steel bolts inserted on the inner side of the rim, thus prolong- ing the life of the sheave indefinitely. In the splicing room adjoining the tension runs, extra ropes are mounted in position on their spools ready to be run in when it be- 48 WATER MAul CONDUIT „ comes necessary to renew the rope. ROAD 12 WATER MAIN 36 WATER MA station is also - The machinery in the 7th Street power 30"WATER MaTn standing up exceedingly well under the long service, the line having been in operation nearly five years. This ' ' Street Railway, Journal station is operated by compound engines, and the drums FIG. 2.— LOOP AT 35TH STREET—WASHINGTON. are operated by means of gear wheels, the main gears having wooden teeth which mesh with iron teeth on the evidence of the skill of the rope splicer and the care which pinion. After these wooden gears had been running about is given to the ropes. Mr. Moar employs a rope dressing two years, they showed some sign of failing, and a new which he has originated, the material in which is known set was made, but the original teeth, with one or two ex- only to himself and to the officials of the company, and ceptions, are still running, and seem to be in fair condi- this is giving most excellent satisfaction, being very tion. The wooden keys, however, have all been renewed. cheap and not liable to drop out in cold or wet weather. It is proposed, in case it is found possible to change to We do not know of a cable railway where the expense for rope dressing is maintained at so low a figure as on this system, as the following data will show: CENTRAL POWER STATION. 3 cables=82,5oo ft. of rope. Material for coating and dressing, cost for nine months ending Sep- tember 30, 1894, $151 ,86. During this six new cables were put in and filled. SEVENTH STREET POWER HOUSE. I cable = 33,250 ft. Material used for dressing, cost for nine months ending September 30, i8g4, $11.88. It will be noted that the expense on one of the ropes is less than five cents a day, and of all the ropes only Street Railway Journal about sixty cents per day. We are told of roads where a FIG. 4.—CROSS SECTION OF AUTOMATIC PICK-UP—WASHINGTON. less number of miles of cable are operated, on which the average expense for rope dressing is nearly a day. $15 the rope drive without interfering with the traffic, to re- The proportion of ingredients employed in the dress- rope place the gear with a system of rope drive modeled after ing is varied to suit the conditions of the weather, and that in the central station. great care is exercised in applying it so that it is not too oily or too dry; in other words, a little "brain oil" is CAR SERVICE. employed as one of the ingredients. All the trains on this entire system consist of an open As we have before described in detail the equipment grip car and one or more trailers, open trailers being run of the power stations of this system, it will not be neces- in summer and closed cars in winter. The grips are oper- sary to repeat it in this connection, except to say that the ated by levers, and the gripmanis stationed in the middle of the grip car. This method of operating the grip in the center of the car has been criticized somewhat in Washington, but, in our opinion, where the streets are as wide as they are here, and where the conditions are all favor- able, there can be no more liabili- ty to accident with the gripman in the center of the car than when he is stationed on the front plat- form. In crowded streets like Broadway and Third Avenue, New York, the conditions are dif- grip cars and FIG. 3.—SIDE ELEVATION OF AUTOMATIC PICK-UP- WASHINGTON &. GEORGETOWN ferent. With open RAILROAD. the gripman in the center, acci- dents to people getting on or off method of rope drive employed in the central power sta- are often prevented by the ability of the gripman to over- tion, in which both winding drums are driven from the look the entire car. It is also claimed for the lever grip same pinion, is giving most excellent satisfaction. The that it is more quickly operated, consequently the rope machinery is noiseless in operation, and the manilla can be released and the car stopped quicker, with less dan- ropes are making an excellent record, as well as the en- ger of the gripman falling to release the rope in time at let- gines and boilers. The station, it will be remembered, is goes, than with the wheel grip. Should the grip be damaged a large six story brick building, and the various floors are en route, and require to be taken up out of the conduit, rented for offices and manufacturing purposes where it can be done without disturbing the passengers where power is employed, the shafting of the different floors an open car is employed, while with a wheel grip operated being operated by an independent engine. All the apart- from the front platform of a closed car, it is necessary to ments have not yet been leased, but the scheme is prov- have the passengers leave the car in order to remove the ing a paying one. The principal grip repair shop is on grip. In this connection it may be stated that the prac- December, 1894.] THE STREET RAILWAY JOURNAL.