Freight train tests on an electric interurban railway

The following article is a brief discussion of a series of tests made upon electric locomotives pulling freight trains on the Fort Dodge, Des Moines & Southern Railway, and a tabulation of the results of those tests. The object of the tests was to obtain records under regular service conditions from which values could be calculated upon power consumption, train resistance, acceleration, and other fundamental data, which could be used to check the figures ordinarily assumed in making calculations and to show the amount of variation from standard-figures which could be anticipated in practice.