The electric railways already described are run on continuous current,
but there are also railways run on alternating current. A section of
the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway is electrically operated
by alternating current, the kind of current used being that known as
single-phase. The overhead system is used, and the current is led to
the wire at a pressure of about 6000 volts. This current is collected
by sliding bows and conveyed to transformers carried on the trains,
from which it emerges at a pressure of about 300 volts, and is then
sent through the motors. The overhead wires are not fixed directly to
the supports as in the case of overhead tramway wires, but instead two
steel cables are carried by the supports, and the live wires are hung
from these. The effect of this arrangement is to make the sliding bows
run steadily and evenly along the wires without jumping or jolting. If
ever electricity takes the place of steam for long distance railway
traffic, this system, or some modification of it, probably will be
employed.
Mention must be made also of the Kearney high speed electric
mono-railway. In this system the cars, which are electrically driven,
are fitted above and below with grooved wheels. The lower wheels run on
a single central rail fixed to sleepers resting on the ground, and the
upper wheels run on an overhead guide rail. It is claimed that speeds
of 150 miles an hour are attainable with safety and economy in working.
This system is yet only just out of the experimental stage, but its
working appears to be exceedingly satisfactory.
A self-contained electric locomotive has been constructed by the North
British Locomotive Company. It is fitted with a steam turbine which
drives a dynamo generating continuous current, and the current is used
to drive four electric motors. This locomotive has undergone extensive
trials, but its practical value as compared with the ordinary type of
electric locomotive supplied with current from an outside source is not
yet definitely established.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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