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Dawn of the Electric Traction Era 91 he had devised. The track ran round the grounds surrounding his laboratory, which at that time was at Menlo Park, New Jersey, and was about 600 yards in length—about the same as the line at the Berlin Exhibition. The locomotive was about as unlike our modern conception of such a machine as could be conceived, comprising a deck car 6 feet in length, on which was placed the 12 horse-power dynamo acting as a motor, together with gearing and other devices for control and the transmission of power to the pair of driving wheels, which, somewhat larger than the trailer wheels, were connected to the latter by side rods. The first test was not exhilarating, because the friction pulley and belting transmission system which Edison had incorporated failed to act up to its work. Improvements were made without delay, and as events proved, scarcely a day passed when some modification or other was not found to be imperative. Still, the electric locomotive achieved its designer’s ends. It hauled three cars over the undulating zigzagging length of line, which formed probably the craziest railway that ever was built, but which was laid out in this manner for the express purpose of submitting the idea to the most exacting tests. Strange to relate, the Americans, with very few exceptions, did not regard this latest illustration of Edison’s fertility with enthusiasm. To the aver- age person who had the privilege of making a trip, it appealed in the nature of a sideshow at a popular exhibition, comparable with “ shooting the chutes,” or “ looping the loop.” Only one man appeared to have any faith in it, and he was one of the foremost