Damon, dragging off his
gauntlets as he spoke. "I don't get you at all, Tom! What do you
mean?"
"I mean to say that the first experiments in the use of
electricity as a motive power were along the electrification of
the steam locomotive. Everybody realized that if a motor could be
built powerful enough and speedy enough to drag a heavy freight
or passenger train over the ordinary railroad right of way, the
cost of railroad operation would be enormously decreased.
"Coal costs money--heaps of money now. Oil costs even more. But
even with a third-rail patent, a locomotive successfully built to
do the work of the great Moguls and mountain climbers of the last
two decades, and electrically driven, will make a great
difference on the credit side of any rails road's books."
"Right-o!" exclaimed Ned. "I can see that."
"That was the object of the first experiments in electric
motive power," repeated Tom. "And it continues to be the big
problem in electricity. The Jandel locomotive is undoubtedly the
last word so far as the construction of an electric locomotive is
concerned. But it falls down in speed and power. I thought so
myself when I saw that locomotive and looked over the results of
its work. And this Mr. Bartholomew has assured father and me this
evening that it is a fact.
"It has a record of a mile a minute on a level or easy grade;
but it can't show goods when climbing a real hill.
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