The data
obtained in these experiments shows that 29,940 h.p. is required
to operate the Ninth avenue railroad for the 16 hours' service,
or an average of 1,871 h.p. per hour, or 2,181 h.p., adding
station friction. The varying requirements of the traffic during
the day shows that the service could be advantageously divided
up between four stationary engines of 800 h.p. each, there being
but five hours of the day when all of them would be required.
The fuel consumption per day, allowing 22 lb. of coal per h.p.
per hour at $2.25 per ton, would make a total of $92.25 per diem
for fuel, the coal being a mixture deliverable at the dock for
about $1.80 per ton. The weight of coal used for the present
locomotives is about the same, viz., 40 tons per day, but
practice has shown it to be most economical to use coal of the
best quality, costing $5 per ton, making the cost of fuel about
double that required for the electric system. Without entering
into other economies which the speaker claimed were in favor of
electricity, and ignoring the plan suggested by Sir William
Siemens of braking the train by converting the motor into a
dynamo and thus utilizing the energy of momentum, he believed
that the economy in fuel alone was sufficient to prove that the
application of power by electricity was preferable to direct
steam propulsion for the elevated railroad service.
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