CHRONOLOGY  OF  MODERN  ELECTRIC  TRAIN  OPERATION  FROM

                                        1880  TO   1899
 

          tric locomotive, and subsequently designed

          some others.

1883.—Daft at Mt. McGregor ran the Ampêre, pull-

          ing  one car, and  Field,  at Chicago, the

          Judge, also pulling one car.

1884-5.—Vandepoele  at Toronto, and later in  1885 or

          1886, at Minneapolis pulled trains of cars

          with an electric locomotive.

1885— Daft, at  Baltimore, operated a locomotive and

          trail  car,   subscquently   increasing  the

          equipment,  and on  the  Elevated Road

          pulled  a train  with an electric locomotive

          for experimental work.

December, 1885.—At Society  of Arts, Sprague stated

          some ol the possibilities on the elevated

          railroad, and pointed out  the advisability

          of putting motors  under each.

1886.—Sprague built the  first locomolive car.  This

          was intcnded for expcrimental work on the

          Elevated Road, but was abandoned beíore

          thc motors were completed.

1886.—About this period  the Rhode Island Locomo-

          tive Works, under direction of Knight &

          Bentley, designed  a  locomoîive for rapid

          transit traín operaĩiou, but Ít was not built.

          About  this same time Stephcn J. Field de-

          signed an  electric locomotive for the same

          purpose.

1886-87.—Sprague operatcd a standard elevated  raíl-

          road car with two single reduction motors,

          axle ccntcred,and with one end spring sup-

          ported from the tmck body, on the 34th

          Street branch of the Elevated Railroad and

          also  pulled a trail car, and prior to this, a

          platform car with the same motors in the

          Durant Sugar Refinery  011 2.4th  Street,

          New  York.  This was  followed by  the

          Richmond equipment, the bcginning of the

          modern development.

Novcmber 4,  1890.—City &  South London  road

          opencd.  Originally  designed  for cable.

          Light trains operated by electric locomo-

          tives having two gearless motors with the

          armatures  rigidly mounted 011 the axles of

          drivers.
 

1892.—Sprague, Duncan & Hutchinson designcri, af-

          terwards building it, a sixty-ton electric lo-

          comotivc for exporimental work in connce-

          tion with  the North  American Company.

          It was not put  to use.

February  4,   1893.-—Liverpool  Overhead  Railway.

          Operates  two-car traíns, each car having

          one motor disposed at  the leading  and

          back ends of the couple, the two cars being

          kept together as a unit.  Hand control  at

          each end.

Spring of 1893.—Under the general  supervision  of

          Mr. W. E. Baker, assisted by Mr. B.  J.

          Arnold in charge o£  the steam plant, and

          Mr. Charles H.  Maeloskie in charge of the

          car  cquipment, the  Intramural  Railway

          was constructed at the World's Fair.  Tlie

          General Electric Company wcre largely in-

          terested in this cnterprise.  Four-motor

          cars, with hand control, were nsed to  pull

          three trail cars,  this plan  of distributed

          motors under the passenger  car having

          bcen advocated by Mr. Baker  iu opposi-

          tion to the general opinion tlicn in favor  of

          electric locomotives.  The tlrird rail supply

          with the  flexible sliding  contact shoe,

          was here  used for thc first time, and the

          road   may  be said  to be  the  first  real

          practical  train opcration  on any serious

          scale in this country.

November 3, 1893.—The Gencral Eĩectric Company's

          engineers  in a communication to Colonel

          Hain, general manager of  the Manhattan

          "L," recommendecl eight-car trains to be

          pulled by a single forty-ton four-motor car,

          guarantced an increase of  14 per cent.  in

          schedule,  and statcd that  the  motor car

          could pull thirtecn-car trains as easily as

          present steam locomotive could  pull  five

          cars.

              Proposed potcntial of about 600 volts,

          direct supply, unspocified number of  sta-

          tions, anri did not suggest alternating cur-

          rents, boosters or  storage batteries.

May, 1895.—Metropolĩtan  Wcst Sĩde  Elcvated Rail-

          road equipped  under the  supervisĩon of