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Dawn of the Electric Traction Era 89 hour. It was a single vehicle and completely self- contained. The smoothness of its running, the absence of smoke, and the simplicity of its control, impressed all those who made the trip. Naturally, there was decided curiosity as to how the inventor had induced the vehicle to move, seeing that neither steam nor gas was used. The riddle was solved when the engineer explained that the car was driven by electricity. But the engineer from Aberdeen, although he had hit upon a brilliant idea, was far before his time. He was compelled to rely upon batteries for his current. This was fatal. The batteries were crude, bulky, and weighty, while the amount of electric energy which they could store for a vehicle of given weight and dimensions was severely restricted. But the essence of the test was that electricity could be so harnessed as to be induced to propel a vehicle along a pair of rails, and that steam possessed no prerogative in this direction. Davidson’s achievement, although of little or no commercial value at the time, caused busy, fertile minds to ponder deeply. If the batteries could be improved, decreased in size and weight, and their capacity could be increased, under these altered conditions there was a possibility of the idea being turned to profitable account, even if its uses were somewhat limited. Davidson’s trials with this elec- trically driven car attracted the interest of engineers in all parts of the world, and of two men in particular. The one was the well-known German electrical scientist, Werner von Siemens, and the other was Thomas Alva Edison. Yet, at the time, neither could advance the idea to any pronounced or practicable degree.