TRACTION OF TRAINS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 268, 27 October 1932, Page 10

TRACTION OF TRAINS

STEAM NOT OBSOLETE. AUTHORITATIVE VIEWS. Sir Josiah Stamp, president of the L.M.S., spoke to the engineering section of the British Association. Were they going to continue to produce machinery, he asked, which was intended to last thirty or forty years as present locomotives were, but which, so to speak, would be out of fashion within ten or -twelve years. Speaking of the electrification of railways, he said that a few years ago when they were experimenting with suburban lines in a practical way, it seemed that ultimately it would lead to the electrification of the main lines. The demand for smokeless cities made it appear almost a necessity. “To-day it was not so easy. During his last two visits to the United States he found that American engineers were turning away from the possibilities of main-line electrification toward the greater possibility of steam. In a number of directions the efficiency of steam locomotives had now been greatly increased. They were decreasing costs 'and increasing rapid acceleration. “It seems that the old steam locomotive is not so down and out as some people imagine. Over the whole range of our system we have leaped into fine speeds not merely on a few erack trains, but on the whole stock of new trains. We do not know where all this will lead. The speed-up will give rise to economies to offset any increase in the cost of maintaining these speeds.” Already many of the basic points of the Weir Report ( which favoured the electrification of railways) were being questioned. On the one hand, they were getting maintenance costs diminished, while on the other electrification maintenance costs were largely guesswork and entirely problematical. If they were not right the whole thing would fail. The report had not taken into account the human element —the wage costs. No one knew whether the men would perform the tasks they were called upon to do. Colonel Kitson Clarke, of Leeds, also expressed the opinion that the old steam engine was by no means down and out. He admitted that electricity was cheap and admirable, but made bold to say that it was extremely expensive to get that cheapness. Referring to possible improvements in railway locomotives, he suggested that the engines should be enclosed in a box with streamlines. Engines would lose their noble proportions, but there would be a great saving of heat, bocauft at present there was considerable loss in radiation.