Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

222 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. and with improved locomotives by Siemens and Halske. In this case still more remarkable work was done, and the trials eventually con- cluded with the marvellous maximum speed records of 129 miles an hour for one locomotive, and of 131 miles an hour for the other. Since then nothing further appears to have been done in the way of extremely high-speed travelling by electric locomotives, but the actual results were most remarkable. There is, however, a great difference between such performances on a specially constructed test- railway—conducted, moreover, almost regard- less of expense—and the regular operation of a high-speed public railway. In fact, it is understood that the amount of current used by these record-breaking locomotives would have been nearly enough to operate an ordinary train service over the same length of track. At the present time a number of electric locomotives are being constructed for the Pennsylvania Railroad to work its trains through the New York tunnels sections of the system. They are the most powerful haulers ever built. Each consists of two 2,000 horse- power units, and is capable of running at a speed of 90 miles an hour. Fig. 8.—STRENGTHENED TRACK OF THE MAR1EN- FELDE-ZOSSEN RAILWAY USED FOR THE 1903 HIGH-SPEED TRIALS.