<“&«\ -— —- MODERN ELECTRICS Vol. I. MAY, 1908. No. 2. Testing a Modern Electric Locomotive By J. Sruarr FREEMAN. { t In the eighty years of the develop- of locomotives for long-distance nsportation, only a dozen years ‘or so sed since the electric locomotive has en in the field. But fourteen years 0 no such thing had been heard of, d, while the steam locomotive of to- is the result of three-quarters of a tury of invention and improvement, Present perfection of the electric lo- Motive has been reached after only a cade of experimental and research For some of us who are more or familiar with them the novelty has to wear off, but there are hun- Feds of engineers who would place value upon a trip on one of them. those of my readers who are among less fortunate, T will attempt to de- a trip on one of these modern Eaters,” The Famous ‘6000.’ We board an electric car at Schenec- tady, N. Y., the home of the electric engine, and go west through the Mo- hawk Valley. We have to ride but three miles when our car, running parallel to the New York Central tracks, gets abreast of the eastern end of the well- known and much-feared third rail, with its familiar signs at short intervals, reading: DANGER, LIVE THIRD RAIL, Here we see one of those silent, mys- terious bulks of iron, standing quietly and with no puffing and blowing, as in the case of a steam engine, impatient to be off, but with a majestic silence, tell- ing us of vast power pent up within it and but temporarily subdued.