From steam to electricity on a single track road

As bearing on the general problem of conversion from steam to electricity for railroad operation, attention may be drawn to the probable influence of the methods followed and results obtained in equipping single-track roads. Of the total mileage in this country, about 60% is single track. The conditions obtaining on such roads are necessarily widely different from those on the large trunk-line sections which have been recently electrically equipped. While the several notable papers which have recently appeared on this and kindred subjects have taken quick advantage of the data available from the short periods of operation of several large installations, it cannot be said that the conditions in those cases are typical of more than a part of the entire problem.