Electrification of Lumber Rail Line in Lassen County is Held Success. Westinghouse Locomotives are Put in Service

The Red River Lumber Company, After Exhaustive Tests, are Satisfied That New Method is More Economical Than Steam Locomotive Use.

Electrification of the logging railroad operations of the Red River Lumber Compiny, at Westwbod, California, rvith a mammoth plant here, is, in the opinion of officials of the company, a pronounced success. While great trunk lines and short lines have successfully converted steam por'r'ered railroads to electrical roads, the iogging operations of the Westwood Company are said to be unique

Over 25,000 cars of logs are transported per season to the mill at Westwood over seventeen miles of standard gauge road from Chester. In addition to the main line, there is also four passing tracks totalling approximately 6,000 feet in length. The electrification program includes the passing tracks in addition to the main line.

Market Slump Factor

A most comprehensive analysis of the rnany factors involved was made before this electrification was adopted. The poor condition of the lumber market for the past several years called for the production of lumber with the minimum cost of operation and to that end a very close comparison of the cost of steam and electric operation was made down to the minutest detail covering a period of nine months during which the railroad is operative and the resultant figures revealed a saving ot 62 per cent in favor of the electric system.

This saving alone will pay the cost of electrification in approximately three years.

Many Curves Encountered

Trains of loaded cars are to be made up and delivered to the electrified main line by steam and DiCsel-electric Westinghouse locomotives. The main line is laid with eightyp,ound rails, rock ballasted. Speeds of from thirty to thirty-five miles per hour can be maintained except on sharp curves. Numerous grades and curves are encountered. The maximum grade is 2.3 per cent with more than four miles compensated against load. The maximum curvature is ten degrees.

Power will be derived from the company's steam and hydro-electric plants supplemented by- thL three-phase, sixty-cycle, 33,000-volt porver line from Hat Creek which p_a::es the railroad at Almanor Junction. A thirty-three K.V. branch line has been run from this point to the single substation at the load center of electrifiiation.

JAMES L. HALL Lunber-Piling-Poler

Shingler - Poctr l02l Milb Building - San Frencirco

Poles Carry Two Lines

The transmission line is on the same poles as carry the trolley and feeder wires, every other pole being ten feet higher than the intervening ones to accommodate the thirty-three K.V. line.

The Westinghouse electric locomotives are of the steeple cab type of sixty tons each, on four driving axles. Each locomotive is equipped with four railway motors rated at 200 horsepower each, rvith forced ventilation. The motors are arranged field control and are direct geared and axle mounted, although each locomotive is a complete unit in every detail. The cabs are arranged for'multiple unit operation by means of sockets and jumpers for connecting together their control circuits as well as to provide a power bus line between the two units. Ifence the two cabs may be coupled and operated as a single locomotive with but one engineer. If desired, however, each locomotive may be operated separately. In which case half tonnage is hauled.

Dual Cab Control

Operation of the slider trolleys of both units may be controlled from either cab. The two cabs working in multiple will bring twenty loaded cars over the seventeenmiles in seventy-five minutes at an average speed of. 14.25 miles per hour. An offset trolley is used, with trolley wire at an elevation of nineteen feet three inches above track and offset nine feet from center of track.

Two parallel contact wires of copper are used, each of which is supported by alternate hangers. Six-foot T iron bracket arms with five-eighth-inch tension rods support the messenger wire from the wooden poles.

Alarm System Installed

These poles are spaced 150 feet apart on tangent and curves up to four degrees, and 100 feet apart on curves from five to ten degrees. An indicating voltmeter connected to poles 13 feet from center of track between trolley and ground is installed at the train dispatcher's office at Westwood to inform the dispatcher of the trolley voltage conditions at will. In addition, provision is made for sounding an alarm immediately should the trolley voltage drop to zero.

Remote Control Feature

The sub-station contains two 500-K.W. 750-V. synchronous converters permanently operated in series to supply 1,500 volts D.C. to the trolleys. With the exception of the feature of the remote starting and stopping of the unit from Westwood, the station is full automatic. A selector type train dispatching system is utilized to provide the remote control feature.

Troubles, which require the attention of the maintenance men before the station can be safely restarted, operate to lock the station out of service. This is accomplished through the medium of an annunciator relay. This device is equipped with a series of targets on important devices and shows at a glance the reason of the lockout.

Wade Shifflett Returns From Chicago

When Wade Shifflett, manager of the Napa Lumber Co., Napa, returned home after a recent trip to Chicago he told Mrs. Shifflett that he saw the Tunney-Dempsey fight from a $10.00 seat. However he had neglected to throw the ticket stub away and it was found by Mrs. Shifflett who noticed that it called for a $4O.00 seat. Wade's explanations rvere quite weak and the result was that Mrs. Shifflett made a shopping trip to San Francisco.

ORTON MACHINE CO. OPEN NEW PLANT

The Orton Machine Co. are now located in their new plant at 390 Fremont Street, San Francisco. The Orton Company has been manufacturing machinery since 1885, and for the past 25 years have specialized in making the "Orton Surfacer." The officers of the company are: C. K. Orton, president; W. G. Orton, secretary-treasurer, and Knapp Orton, sales manager.

E. L. BRUCE CO. COMPLETES NEW LOS ANGELES WAREHOUSE

The E. L. Bruce Company, Memphis, Tennessee, have completed their new Los Angeles warehouse and are now receiving shipments of their hardwood flooring from the east. The new warehouse is 24O feet long and 60 feet wide. One of the features of their new plant, is their own special device for conveying flooring from the cars to the warehouse. This conveyor will move 80,000 feet in eight hours. The new warehouse has a total capacity of three mjlliqn feet, but for the present they will^carry ab<iii-a mitlioh ait a half feet in stock. H. Lee Carlton, who has represented the company in the Los Angeles market for the past seven years, is manager of their Los Angeles operations, and is assisted bv G. C. Davis, who was formerly with the John Johnson Flooring Co.