The original electric railway laid down by Messrs. Siemens and Halske
at Berlin seems likely to be the parent of many others. One of the most
recent is the underground electric line laid down by the firm in the
mines of Zankerodain Saxony. An account of this railway has appeared in
_Glaser's Annalen_, together with drawings of the engine, which we are
able to reproduce. They are derived from a paper by Herr Fischer, read
on the 19th December, 1882, before the Electro-Technical Union of
Germany. The line in question is 700 meters long--770 yards--and has two
lines of way. It lies 270 meters--300 yards--below the surface of the
ground. It is worked by an electric locomotive, hauling ten wagons at a
speed of 12 kilometers, or 7½ miles per hour. The total weight drawn is
eight tons. The gauge is a narrow one, so that the locomotive can be
made of small dimensions. Its total length between the buffer heads is
2.43 meters; its height 1.04 meters; breadth 0.8 meter; diameter of
wheels, 0.34 meter. From the rail head to the center of the buffers is a
height of 0.675 meter; and the total weight is only 1550 kilogrammes, or
say 3,400 lb. We give a longitudinal section through the locomotive. It
will be seen that there is a seat at each end for the driver, so that he
can always look forwards, whichever way the engine may be running. The
arrangements for connection with the electric current are very simple.
The current is generated by a dynamo machine fixed outside the mine, and
run by a small rotary steam engine, shown in section and elevation, at a
speed of 900 revolutions per minute. The current passes through a cable
down the shaft to a T-iron fixed to the side of the heading. On this
T-iron slide contact pieces which are connected with the electric engine
by leading wires. The driver by turning a handle can move his engine
backward or forward at will. The whole arrangement has worked extremely
well, and it is stated that the locomotive, if so arranged, could easily
do double its present work; in other words, could haul 15 to 16 tons of
train load at a speed of seven miles an hour. The arrangements for the
dynamo machine on the engine, and its connection with the wheels, are
much the same as those used in Sir William Siemens' electric railway now
working near the Giant's Causeway.--_The Engineer_.
[Illustration: THE SIEMENS ELECTRIC RAILWAY AT ZANKERODA MINES.]
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