RUNNING TRAINS FROM RIVER.

Hokitika Guardian, 11 October 1923, Page 3

RUNNING TRAINS FROM RIVER.

i j!v Montgomery Jii lginn in the l.oti- . I.’iii - l tail v Mail.") The In-l railway wa- built in Britain; (he faste-t trains are British train-; ,\ct it is not generally realised that in the mutter ol railway progress Britain is being left Ini behind. The ufii.-L important iraiiway develupineiit oi Ihe time i- ell-el l illeatjon. The -uhurhail lilies ot l In* Snllt h-M estorii and Brighton -eciioii- of the Southern Railway group have been electrified and il i- proposed to do the same with those of ihe Soulh-F.asli i u section. Furl her. prepai al ions are h-'ing ma-l" to run trains by elect in i 1 y between Kindi,n and Itrigliinli.

Compare ibis wiih what is being done in oilier cmintries. No iced to mention the I'nited Slates, wher.’, leiore the war. goods trains of incredible length were being drawn over high 1 non il la i n parses hv electric engines. Look nearer home, a; Fiance and Switzerland. In Frame. four rears hence, the journey from I’ari- to Toulouse will he done by electric train; and in Switzerland another two years should see all the railways eleel rilled. The I’aris-Dileans system in Fruir is convening I,olid miles of railwav for electric traction. Hill the i'eatn. • of this 1 1 anslcrmat ion is that the elec-

trieilv will not be produced expensively, a- il is for I lie London suburban lines but cheaply—-hy rivers. At the village of l.a Collette, in the very eeutro of I'rami . a dam g’!H) feet high is being bud; across the river Chav iittott, an elfluent of the Dnrgone. I’ehitul this dam will be a reservoir of 111.tidtl.tllMi,(lilt) gallons ~| water, extending fur a distance ol it miles'. The 'lie walcr will lie drawn not only from Ihe ! haunt,ill it sell hut also I I'Olil me of Its effluents, the C'hedavo. alld 'rem tic Dordogne. I.ower down the Chavatton. at its eonlhteii. e with the Dordogne, an art i - lea! waterfall of 7110 feel, is lieing I'niistriteti'd: below this, -till across the Donlrgiie, will he a second waterfall, of li.'IOIt; and a final dam, .''oo leef liigh. across tic -atno river. low'er down, will provide a reservoir of •J I ,dd().ut III,nil!) gallons. These river ban iers w ill give the I’aris-Orleans Company, ai very low cost, an electric power of lo.POll kilowatts. In Switzerland, flic second largest dam in the world, 8-0 feet across and g’ lti feel high, is in eoitrsc of const ruction across the valley .of the Trient. between Chamonix and Martigny. to provide in similar cheap fashion the power with which to propel all the trains of Switzerland.