File:Official proceedings (1931) (14574162737).jpg

Identifier: officialproceedi31rail (find matches)
Title: Official proceedings
Year: 1901 (1900s)
Authors: Railway Club of Pittsburgh
Subjects: Railway Club of Pittsburgh Railroads
Publisher: Pittsburgh, Pa. : The Club
Contributing Library: Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
Digitizing Sponsor: Lyrasis Members and Sloan Foundation

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t and frequentserxice must be cajialjle of operating at low costs. The automol)ilc highway Inis has been cited as an import-ant competitor in the short haul railway field—and justly so.However, it is a competitor which the railroad need not fearif it can meet the competition with better serAice at a lowercost or even at an ecjual cost. To appreciate the opportunitythat exists it is only necessary to remember that the a\eragespeed of buses in passenger service is 25.T m.p.h. between ter-minals. The a^■erage passenger rate for this service is 2.Sic.))er mile. The short haul ser^■ice of railroads offers a speed of27.56 m.)).h. and a cost to the passenger of 3.6c. per mile (al-though round trip rates and excursion rates are now beingoffered by the railroads at lower prices). The above compari-son is based on railroad service from which has been eliminatedthe longer express runs between larger centers of population.A study of the figures with reference to this longer service stil! 93
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94 shows a l)right opportunity for an auxiliary service at highspeeds and at low rates for daylight runs only. It is to benoted that the average speed of the fast express trains betweenterminals is only 3H.2 ni.p.h. The preliminary work carried on by our engineers in thedesign and construction of the Autotram was ibased upon thedata referred to a^bove and upon much other data along thesame line. The Autotram is essentially a railroad vehicle tothe design and construction of which has been applied many ofthe )jrinciples which have been found applicable in automotiveconstruction. The fact that it is to run on rails makes it nec-essary that the vehicle shall be constructed along railroad lines.For instance, no steering mechanism need be provided but, onthe other hand, the chassis of a highway automobile is notsuitable for railway purposes. The Autotram has a specially designed car body mountedon trucks as is usual for railnjad vehicles and is self-propelling,with a gasoline engine as the

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