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CITY OF TORONTO

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REPORT OX riTE SYSTHM OF ELEOI'RIC STREET CARS FOR THE

CITY OF rOHONTO.

To the Maiioi' ntid Cwindl of the City of Toronto:

Gkntmomkx, — In compliance with the instructions conveyed tome by resolu-
tion of the Committee appointed to doa! with street railway matters, I recently
visited various cities and electricial manufacturing establishments in the United
States, witii a view to determining from actual observation what was the best
system of street car propulsion at present in use, so thwt, from the experience
of other places, we in Toi-onto might be enabled to choose anil adopt that vvliich
is the best. The places which I visited were : BiiiFalo, M. Y. ; I'leveland, 0.;
Pittsburg and Allegheny, Pe n. ; Wasliington, D. V,. : New York; Newark, N. J.;
Albany, N. Y. ; and Boston, Springfield and Mdford, Mass I also visited and
examined the electrical manufacturing establishments of the Short and the
Brush Company's, at (/ieveland ; the Wer^tinghouse Company, at Pittsburg; the
Edison ('ompany, at Sclmectaily, N. Y. ; the Thompson-Houston Company, at
Lyn, Mass., and the laboratory and experimental works of Mr. Edison, at
Orange, N. .J. m the fortnight that 1 had at my disposal I have endeavored to
make myself acquamted with all the latest improvements that have taken place
in street car traction or propulsion.

Of the systems other than horse traction that present themselves for
adoption in the street car service of Poroiito, there are cable tractioti and
electrical propidsion, fnr we mny put .iside, at once, steam motors as being
unsuitable to our streets.

''able traction in laige and thickly populated cities is undoubtedly a great
improvement over horse traction, and its introduction conferred a vast benetit
on those cities requiring rapid transit foi' large numbers of passengers. It is,
however, in many respects inferior to electrical propulsion, and is unsuitable for
the thinly peopleil districts surrournliiig a birge city, where the numbers to be
carried are small, and the cars run at considerable time intervals. I may,
perhaps, briefly imlicate to the Council some of the points in which cable
traction is inferior to electricity as a motive power. At the outset there is a
much heavier cost of construction in preparing the streets for cable traction
than foi' electricity. Then, in working the system, a very large proportion (about
thirty per cent.) ot the power ge.ierated in the power house is absoroed in
simply movinc the dead weight of cable ; and this dead weight must be moved
whether one or one hundred cars are attached to the cable ; with electricity the
power absorbed is directly in proportion lo the numb<r of cars running.

Curves, switclns ;ind tm-nouts are difficult to m;inage with the cable; with
electricity they are no more trouble than with any surface system.

For extensions to the suburbs, where traffic is light, the cable is unsuited.
The large, dead weight of cable has to be moved constantly to provide for the
conveyance of only a few cars, though it would be adequate for the conveyance
ol' a large number, and the same heavy construction works have to be under-
taken for these few as for the many. With electricity, the cars running in the

suburbs absorb only the amount of power re()uireil for their propulsion, and this
power cim be furnished from the power house by the addition of the requisite
generators.

With the cal)le system the oirs oan move no faster than the cable; they can
run slower only at the expense ot fireut wear to the cable, and they cannot
reverse tiieir motion at all. With electricity the curs can run fast or slow, as
desired; they can he stopped or run back hv simply turning a handle, and are
much more controllable and matiajzeable in this I'espect than even are cars drawn
by liorses. The speeil of the cable cars is limited by the rate at which the cable
moves; the speed of electric cars, up to 15 or IS miles an hour, is limited l)y the
conditions of ihe roadbed on wiiich tiiey are travellinij and the exijieiicies of the
traffic amongst which they are moving. Phere are few cities that need and
demand rapiil transit in the sjiibinbs more than does 'Toronto, and there are few
cities to which an electrical system is better suited.

Passing by the cable system as being undesirable for adoption here, I go on
to consider the electrical systems at present before the public.

They are three : the storage battery, the underground or surface conduit,
and the overhead wire.

There is soau'thing very attractive about the idea of the storage battery

system : that each car should carry with it the store of electricity required for

the performiince of its worlc, and that this store shouhl be drawn upon nt will,

to rim fast or slow as occasion required, without the intervention of any

accessories in the shape of conduits or poles or wires. This would be the jier-

faction of electrical locomotion, and the advent of such a perfect electrical

system would be hiiiled with delight by all street car companies and electrical

engineers. But this day has not yet dawned. The great difficulty that has to

be contended with is the enormous weight of battery that has to be carried in

order to supply even a moderate amount of power to the car. This weight of

battery aggregates two and three-quarter tons for a car sixteen feet long that is

capable of carrying, when some passengers are standing, about forty people.

And even with this weight of liattei'y the voltage obtained is little more than

one-half that conveyed to cars running by other systems. To increase the

voltage would mean adding more cells to, and increasing the weight of, the

battery, and this again would require a larger car for its conveyance, and more

power to propel it. Tlie Council will readily unilerstand that with a power so

limited, and so heavy a weight to be propelled, it is impossible to have anything

but a most moderate rate of speed, that is not superior to that obtained from

horses.

1 examined two storage battery systems, one at Washington, D.C., and the
other at Milford, Mass. At Washington four cars are running on a line that is
twc and one-third miles in length. The batteries are placed under the seats
of the car and occupy the whole length of each side. At Milford there are five
cars fitted vt'ith storage battery, but only two are running at any one time on the
track, which extends altogether about six miles. Tl.e cars are used to relieve
each other, and each car after making its trip is run into the power house to be
re-charged. At Washington the storage battery is used only in that part of the

city where (Jonj^ross liaa lorl-iddon the erection of poles and wires. Outside this
limit the Street Iliiilway Company run eieotrio cars on tlie overiiead wire system.
These are the only stoiajize hattery systems at work within tlic limits embraced
I'y my tour of e.xainmatiDn. There w la one formerly rimiiing in Brooklyn, N. Y.,
hut it has recently heen ahandone I. The Council will readily see tluit what is
lieiny done in storage battery work is small indeed as compared with that being
done with overhead wire ears, in almost every city and sma 1 town in the States.
Friirn one of the power houses alone oi the Boston West Knd Haihvay t'ompany
tlicre are at jiresent runiiinLT KU) cars everyday for nineteen hours a day, and
the Company is const I'uoting an immense power house at the present time that
will opei'iite (J(K) c^ars

None of the electrical companies that i visitetl are doing anything at all in
the line o!' developing the storage battery system. Mr. Edison himself, who is
the leader in elecrioal inv(mtion, has ap|)ar(Mitiy dropne 1 the matter. Tlie
system seems now to have reached a jioint at whicdiit re its until some further dis-
coveries in eh ctrical science shall be made. I'he improvement in the system that
is re(juired before it can be a practical success and generally adopied as a motive
jiower on a large scale, is the discovery oi some metal much lighter than lead tiiat
may take the place of the heavy lead plates now used in the battery, and a metal
tliat may at the s;inle time be capal)le of cuiying as much or more electrical current
than the lead plat<?s now hold; or, the iliscovery of some means by which the
lead plates now in use may be able to carry a mucli heavier charge of electricity
than they now liold, and thus enable the weight of battery to be laigely reduced,
while its powi-r shall be increased. On some such lines as these the improve-
ment ol the sloragv; battery s\stem nnisi- proceed before it can be applicable to
the running of the number of cars (at present abcit 1.50) required in this City at
the speed necessary to give satisfaction. .Vn electrical system would be of no
value to Toronto unless it couM afford rapid transit.

The underground or surface conduit system for > onveymg the current of
€lectricitv from the power house to the car lunning on the track, piesents itself
as a possible means of avoiding the use of poles. .The difBeulty that surrounds
this system is in properly insulating the conductor so that the electricity may
not be lost in continuous leaks) ae.-». For street railway work this conductor must
either be sunk below the ground or it must be on the surface ; it cannot be
raised above the surface as it would then form an obstruction to the vehicular
traffic. In either of the conditions- below ground or on the surface — the con-
ductor is subject to constant loss of electricity from imperfect insulation when
subject to the cl'.anges of our climate. It seems impossible to guard against the
losses that will take place from mud, rain and snow om-ing sliort circuits. In
all the places that I visited I saw no example of this system at work, or even
being attempted. 1 visited Mr. Edison's experimental works at Orange, N.tJ.,
and learned that he is at present working at a scheme by which the current
shall be transmitted on one rail of a street railway system, taken up by the
wheels of the car, passed through the motor, and returned by the other rail.
Mr. Edison is endeavoring to insulate the rail, which shall be used as the con-
ductor. But even if this insulation should be completely ett'ected, it seems to
me that the system would be open to strong objections for use in street traffic.

If a horse should happen to placid his fore lioof on ono rail wliih^ liis hind lioof
was on tlio othi'r, lio would form a •' short oirouit " which would draw throujih
his hody tic whole ciirront of eli'ctrioity, with very astoiiishitii» rtisnltn ; or if a
wagon should travel along the street with the wheels on hoth rails at thi> same
tinio, as wr> freqm'ntly si'o done, a "short circuit" wouM ho coniplotod and tlie
continuou-i curnMit ilestroyod. But whatever miy l)e the future of this system,
or however difiicultios that at pr^'sent seem insupernhle may be overcome, there
is not at pn-sent any system of undei'ground or surface conductor that is
practically successful for use in street railway work, or any such system whose
adoption I woiild recommend by the ('ouneil.

The thinl system that I have mentioned is that by which the electrical
current is conveyid hy an overhead wire, and drawn down to each car by a trolley
pole making contact with the wire by means of the tiolh-y wheel. This is the
system which is now so largely used throughout the United Stales. With the
exception of New York, wliero no electrical system is used, there is scarcely a
city or town in the United "States but now has its street cars propelled by
electricity supplied on this system. In two of the places that I visited — Albany,

N.Y., and SpringKeld, Mass the electric cars have already entirely displaced

horse traction, and the street car horse is no longer seen on the streets of those
cities The w)nderful rapidity with which elecitricity is esta 'lishing itself as the
motive power for street I'ailways may be learned from the follownig figures. At
the beginning of I'^SS there were throughout the United States about twenty
electrical roads in operation, having a total of eighty miles of track, and working
ninety motor cars. Early in 1890 this had grown to 1,670 miles of track anil
2.()0() motor cars. But, by the middle of September of the present yeai' — that is;
little more than three years from the practical application of the system — the
figures show 412 electrical companies in operation, on 3,009 miles of track, and
using 6,732 motor cars. The following concise statement of the present extent
of street railways in the United States ami Canada is taken from the ad^'ress of
Mr. If. M. Watson, President of the Street Railway Association, delivered at the
Pittsburg Convention, in October last :

Number of miles oi^erated by animal power 5,443

" " electricity .'],U09

** " steam motors 1,918

u It cable 660

11,030

Number of cars operated by animal power , 25,424

" , '• electricity 6,732

.«» " cable 3,317

•* " steam motors 1,044

\ : _ 36,517

Number of companies operating street railway lines by animal power. 537
" " " " electricity.... 412
« " « •< cable 54

This shows a reinarkalily ra[)id growtli of tho electrical system, and when
we know tlmt, witli Mi" <>xct>|)ti)ii of iihniit twenty inil<'s, all thi> ah-ivo olec^trical
milciijie is workc'l by ilv overhead wire system, we are jnstitieil in sayini; that
that is tho only pinctical system at present availahle for operating street railway
oars on an extend(»d scale. Tlio storage battery might be used on ainal! level
systems wli-re only very few cars are run, at very considerable time intervals,
and where no high speed is reqn.re(l,but it is unsuited to the large traincof-uch
a City us Toroiit'i; the only system that is at present suitable and available is
that ot the overhead trollev wire.

This trolley wiio is suspended at a height of eighteen or twenty feet above
the ground, over the centre of each line of railway. When the streets are not
too wide- that is where they do not exceed fifty or sixtv feet between the kerbs
— the trolley wire is carried by a suspending wire that is attached to jioles })laced
at tho kerb or either side and strelched across. Tliese poles are, in the central
parts of the City, most frequently made of iron ; three sections of iron gas pipe
are used, the lower section is usually about six inches in diameter anil the upper
sections somewhat smaller. The height of the poles is about twenty feet above
ground, and, when neitly made and painted, they aro no more unsightly or
injurious to the appearance of the streets than iire oi'dinary gas lamps They
ar<» placed about 12il feet apart and usually carry the leed wire for the trolley
wire. All the objectionable cross arms ami vast net work of wires with which we
are painfully familiar in connection with telephone and telegraph poles is absent
on these electric ralway poles. In streets that are too wide to place the poles
at the kerb — such as our Spadina .\ venue — they are placed in the centre of the
devil-strip, and a bracket -rojecting on either side carries the trolley wire over
the centre of each track. In those parts of the City where the trolley wire is
crossed by numerous telephone wu'es it is customary to erect light guard wires
about a foot above tho trolley wire, so that in case of a telephone wire breaking
it will be prevented from making <!ontact witli the trolley wire. This is a good
precaution, and siiould be observed where the telephone wires come in proximity
to the ti'olley wire. (Consider ible misapprehension exists in regard to the danger
arising from these trolley wires. They are much less dangerous than electric
light wires, as the voltage of the trolley wire is only 500, while that of the electric
light wire is more than four times as 'reat. A shock from a trolley wire, tliough
giving a smart blow, is by no means fatal, and has been received by many men work-
ing about acar system without serious results. In case of the trolley wire breaking
and falling to the ground, a simjde '■ cut out," that works automatically in the
power house, immediately renders it d'-ad and harmless. The electricity is
drawn from the wire to the motor car by the trolley pole in the manner that is
doubtless lamiliar to tiie Council, Cars running on this system are wonderfully
manageable and easily controlled. They can run fast or slow as desired; stop,
when running at high speed, in about two car lengths ; and can be reversed and
run back at will. They are more easily handled and controlled than are cars
drawn by horses.

III view of the facts which [ have hiiefly liiid holoro tho Council, and of th<»
experience which I havo ^iiinod on my rcceiit tour of ('xaiuiimtinn, iiinl from
Oiireliil HtiKJy of the (|iH'stioii, 1 hiivo to rccoiiiuuMnI If) the (-'oiiiuil that tho
motive power wiiicli simll he. foitliwitli ailopteil hy liie Toronto Railway Com-
pany anil ap|ilieii to tlie I'lumin;/ of all street ciirH tlii'niii.'h(>iit the ("ity oi' Toionto,
in accfiidaiiee \.itli tile terms and conrlitioiiH of the li'ase ol the Street liiiilway
franchise from tiio Corporation of the City of Toionto to tlio -tail Toronto [{ail-
way ','oni|.aiiy, stiall l)t> that conimoniy known an(l (lc.sii;ii,it(>il as tlie ov<Mh(>ad-
8ingle-tn)ll( y-wire e!ectiicHy."<tem, and tiiat tho (h'tailn ol' tiie erection, construc-
tion and mnintenaiico of this system HJiall l»e snhject at all times and in all
parncu ars to tlie iipprova! of the City Engineer ol the City of 'I'ornnto : Provided
(and this jiroviso is part of the leconiMiendation that I nrd<e) that if at any time
dnrinu tlie currency of tho aforesai<l lease or any extension or extensions thereof,
1 he development of electrical invention shall he Buoh, t'lat some other system
ol electrical i)ropti!sion better tlian that known as the overliead single trolley-
wire electric-system shidl he invented and made practically workable for street
railway tratfic (and the t ity Engineei shall be the judge of this), tliat it shall be
competent for the I'ouncil of the City of Toronto, on the reeommeiidation of the
City Engineer, to order and direct that this other system of electrical propulsion
shall be used in place of that above described as the overhead-single trolley-
wire-electi'icsysteiii, and this other system of electiicid j)ropulsioii shall then in
that case foithwitli be adojUed and used by the said I'oronio Railway Company,
for the pro])elling and working of street cars on their railway system throughout
tho City of Toronto, sulject to the terms and conditions of the said lease as
aforesaid.

Before closing this report it is necessary that I should say something in
legard to the width ol the strip between the double tracks, commonly called
tiie devil strip. In the various places that I visited 1 found that there was great
variation in regard to the gauge of the track and the width of the devil-strip.
'I'lie gauge varied from four feet eiglit anil a half inches to five feet two and a
half inchis, and the tlevil-strip from three feet to six 'eot. The usual width of
the strip is from four to lour an<l a half feet, in Plttsliurg and Alleghany, How-
ever, the strip is only tliree feet wide, and in these cities the streets are narrower
than in Toronto, and the vehicular traffic very much greater and more congested.
tJn a street in I'ittsburg (Smi'hHeld Street) there is only thirty-four feet between
the kerbs, a double line of tracks in the centre ol the street, with a three-foot
(Uvil strip, and on this street numerous electric cars travel backwards and for-
wai'ds, crossing cable systems and other electric systems, while there is a vehicular
traffic in excess of anything we have in Toronto, and yet accidents do not seem
to take place. There can be no doubt, however, that, tliough not absolutely
necessary, it would be exjicdient to widen this strij) to four feet when laying
down new lines or relaying existing lines in Toronto. The electric cars should
not be wider than seven feet six inches from out to out, and with this there
wouli be just nine inches clearance on a three-foot devil-strip when the cars
were passing each other. I think it would be expedient to increase this width
when relaying the tracks by widening the strip to four feet. But I am

of the opinion tlmt in tlio contrul imits of the City, on King, Queen und Yongn
StrootH, it woiilil be gioatly for th** ficnfral jiooil of fho comtn'itiity to lay otily
8in>»l(* trackn on tlipso 8|i«'<'Ih, usiiifj Ailfjiiicjo aiiii K'iclirnojid Strfpts botween
Slit'i'l'Oiii'iio S'ici t nrnl S|m(liiiu Avenue, iiml Victoria Street iih l«r north ii.s (icr.
r.iiil Street, lor ibc reUini trat^i(^ H»iviiij: l)efnre mo the example of Pittsl)urg,
I leel Very Ktinn;.'ly tiiat it would \'i- in the interests nf tlii.s City to avoid such iv
<'oiidiiion ot things here it' any reusonalile mean" can lie found for so doini:. In
future years the vehicular t raffle on our main streets may be expected largely
to inortNise. Tlus ex]»ens(> of wi(|eninji oui' streets would be enormous, but tlie
adoption of sin^xle tracks would be |)raetioally a widenuiji of the street liy ^riving
up so inuoh more of the sjiace to vehicles. I diseussed this quesiion with the
President of one of the electi'ic railways of Pittsburji, and he was clearly of the
opinion, from the exj>eiienco of his own city, that it would bo a fjreat benefit
both to the railway company and tho community to have single lines on the
crowded stieets when parallel streets can be had close at hand for the return
traffic. The ear traffic can be handled so much more exptnlitiously and safely
among a crowd of vehiides and j)e(iestrians wlien tliere is only only one track.
Ibis, liowever, is not a <piistion ot j)ure engineering: there are complicated
questions o' gein.'ral municipal policy that arise or suggest themselves on this
subject on which the (Joimcil is bettei' alile to express an opiidon than [ am. I
would therefore not make any definite recommendation on the subject of single
lines as indicated, only pointing out that from an Engineer's standpoint I would
consider it the best i)lan to adopt, and requesting that the Council will consiiler
the whole question and instruct me as to its opinion on the subject.

.■\s this part of my report may possibly not be adojjted until after some time
has been allowed for discussion, I would respectfully suggest that the Council
should as soon as possible adopt or reject thai part oi the rei>ort recommending
the electrical system to be used by the Railway Company, in order that the
Company may be able to proceed at once in making preparations for the intro-
duction of electricity.

.\11 of which is respectfully submitted.

GRANVILLE C. OUNINGHAM,

City Engineer,
Toronto, 23rd November, I89L