Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume III

THE ELECTRIC POWER STATIONS/fi OF LONDON BY E. LANCASTER BURNE, A.M.Inst.C.E. VIEWED collectively, the arrangements for supplying our greatest city with electricity are almost overwhelming in their magnitude. Contained within some forty power-stations are nearly 1,000 boilers and over 500 engines and dynamos, to say nothing of the various pumps, Figures coal-handling appliances, and other accessories. The total horse-power of the engines is, in round num- bers, two-thirds of a million, so that each inhabitant is represented by about one-tenth of a horse-power, which is the equivalent of his own best muscular effort. To distribute the electric current, each station has a net- work of from 100 to 200 miles of cable ; with a few the length is even greater. After giving these preliminary figures, we will consider shortly the electrical require- ments of London, before examining the methods by which they are fulfilled. Although electricity is now used in many processes, illumination and transmission of power are its chief applications. Electric lighting, both public and pri- Uses of yate is now so universal that Electricity. every one is familiar with its extent. Electrical transmission of power has, in a comparatively few years, almost revolu- tionized travelling in London ; but we so soon grow accustomed to improvements that they are usually accepted as a matter of course. Who of us, however, would welcome a re- adoption of steam locomotives on the Dis- trict and Metropolitan Railways, or a return to the times when “ tube ” railways were not ? Again, compare the modern electric tramcar with the horse-drawn variety. The route length of electric railways in and around London is now 157 miles, and there are approximately 160 miles of electrified tramway track ; also a large number of electric road vehicles. Add to these the innumerable electric motors operating all kinds of machin- ery—such as lifts, printing-presses, etc., many of them in places where a steam engine and boiler, or even a gas engine, would be inad- missible. The enormous current required for the myriad lights, the constant and heavy traffic, the multitude of motors and various other appliances, is derived almost entirely from the public supply. Three general systems for the distribution of electrical energy obtain in London ; these are the low-ten- Systems °1 , ,,7 7 7. Distribution. sion direct current, the high-ten- sion alternating current, and a system combin- ing the two. In the simplest form of the direct