WHY THE S.N.C.F. CONVERTED TO ELECTRICITY

foreign [Music] by 1938 steam engines had attained the high degree of perfection at that time the french national railways boasted 15 000 engines most of them whether designed for speedy runs or for hauling heavy loads were equipped with super heaters feed water heaters improved steam circuits and a highly efficient steam draft system as a result these are 1100 tons depending on the grades of the line [Music] on the hilly routes that link the coal mining district of northwestern france to the steel producing region of lorraine these 900 ton trains crawling along slowly were a familiar sight they carried eastward the coke needed by the steel mills and they brought back westward the iron ore needed by the blast furnaces of northern france these trains were so heavy and slow that they often required the help of a second locomotive pushing from behind to manage the stiffest grades along the way two engines going full steam spewing clouds of smoke devouring coal for the steam engine is a ravenous consumer of coal without coal tons and tons of it the steam locomotive is useless down in the mine where it is extracted at the cost of endless effort coal already travels by railroad [Music] in 1938 the french national railways consumed 9 million tons of coal more than half of that amount came from french mines the rest was imported from belgium germany and great britain after it had been extracted from french mines or had reached france's harbors and border stations these nine million tons had to be distributed among 25 main stocking centers the centers in turn supplied the coal to some 250 engine depots this system when setting up gigantic coal yards it required a series of slow complex and costly manipulations the process was so elaborate that inevitably large quantities of coal were wasted [Music] long coal trains left the stocking centers and distributed it among the 250 solid fuel stations of the french national railways before the war one train out of 12 was used for this cold transport but let us see what service the engine itself requires two hours before the train leaves the driver and the firemen arrive at the engine shed [Music] they start repairing the engine at once the engine driver checks all the mechanical parts and carefully oils them [Music] meanwhile the fireman sees to his fire and stacks up near the firebox the coal he will need as soon as the train gets underway [Music] the engine is now ready to leave the shed but first it must be taken to the turntable [Music] [Music] it is pointed in the right direction its smokestack facing forward [Music] as it speeds along the track hauling its train the engine will demand constant attention while the engine driver watches the track the fireman feeds coal into the firebox at the rate of one shovelful every 20 seconds [Music] on steam engines of a more modern type driver and fireman can sit down their cabin provides better protection and the painful labor of shoveling coal has been simplified an endless screw now feeds the fire automatically the result is more comfort and less effort but how many demanding duties still remain [Music] when the run is completed an average of 120 miles for express trains the engine is taken into the local roundhouse without losing a minute the engine driver checks the wheels and pistons to see if any abnormal heating has occurred [Music] the water tank in the tender must be refilled but first a special product called tia compound is poured in this mixture prevents tata from settling on the walls of the boiler and also prevents corrosion due to poor quality water in most cases the water is purified before use by means of a relatively simple chemical process [Music] the tender is then filled with purified water nine thousand gallons of it next coal several tons of coal some in pieces and some in briquettes are dumped into the tender a team of mechanics now takes over and proceeds with routine maintenance operations first they clean out the smoke box by removing the ashes and the small particles have been completely burned coal [Music] next the fire tubes are cleaned with a steam jet [Music] me [Music] asbestos gloves protect the mechanics hands against burns [Music] the boiler tubes are cleaned one by one in this fashion [Music] meanwhile other maintenance men are cleaning the fire raking out the slag that would hinder combustion on the engine's next run these fragments of red-hot slag are dropped into a pit filled with water [Music] many valuable calories are lost in this way before leaving his locomotive the engine driver notes in his logbook any defects he may have noted in the course of his run he also indicates any repairs he believes necessary some of these repairs are simple and will be carried out during the locomotive stay at the running shed such as the case of this steam leak for instance or this rod which needs relining [Music] every forty thousand miles the engine undergoes a quick checkup this is the occasion for minor repairs such as this regulator valve [Music] every ninety thousand miles at the most the engine is checked more thoroughly this is the proper time for such repairs as those needed by the super heating equipment [Music] finally every 240 000 miles the locomotive is completely overhauled the boiler is entirely renovated and damaged tubes replaced these tubes are put back into place one by one they are then attached to the tube plates some are small in diameter others are lighter [Music] the tubes you see here are more complex they form the engine superheating equipment these various check and overhauling operations necessitate a great deal of work it is difficult to completely rationalize them they must be added to all the tasks eliminated by electric traction [Music] here we have it in the shape of engine 2d 29132 ready to bound into action at the lyon station the comparison with the steam engine it replaces speaks for itself an electric engine needs no preparation prior to a run the driver simply picks it up on the track where it has been waiting and hooks it to the front of the mistral the cracked paris denise express this very same engine left paris at 1 10 pm arrived in lyon at 5 15 pm and will be off again to paris at 6 48 pm without making a single stop at the shed the driver is in his cabin ready to start with its controls its dials its spacious windows swept by windshield wiper this cabin looks every bit as neat as a laboratory [Music] it's time for the misdial to start [Music] we're off with electric traction the getaway is smooth and fast and yet the mistral with its 12 coaches two dining cars and its luggage fans weighs over 735 tons better still it's going to cover the 318 miles between lyon and paris at an average speed of 78 miles an hour notice how quickly the needle climbs on the speedometer [Music] the needle indicates 140 kilometers an hour that's 87 miles and the driver will maintain this speed for most of the journey slowing down only on rare occasions the stability of electric engines is truly amazing the supports carrying the canteenery flashed by every 66 yards spinning a delicate spider's web over the track every to seven to nine miles a power substation transforms the high tension alternating current into 1500 volt direct current used by locomotives not only on the paris lyon but also on all the electrified lines in the southern half of france [Music] here is one of these high tension lines it carries 60 000 volt current to the substations [Music] as the map shows this cable zigzagging from one of the 49 sub-stations to the next follows the line from start to finish [Music] let's go back to the track for a look at the cantenary it's made of copper its cross section measures more than one inch square to cope with the high tension current running through it very sturdy steel or cement supporting structures carry the cable here is a map showing the french railways network the thickness of the lines representing the various routes is proportional to the amount of traffic they handle let us see how the french railway system has gradually been converted from steam to 1500 volt direct current accepting a few lines in the suburbs of paris in the alps and in the pyrenees electrification really began in 1920 progressively the following lines were electrified from 1920 to 1926 paris orleans virgo toulouse dax and from 1926 to 1936 bordeaux bayonne the remaining lines in bayan and in the pyrenees kulos modan bezier nassar holy on two from 1936 to 1945 paris le monde from 1945 to 1952 set since 1952 the lines branching out from the paris lyon route to geneva to dole to center yen to neem electrification is also scheduled in the future for telescope masai all these lines were equipped with 1500 volt direct current as early as 1949 however a new method of electrification was tested what was it all about a newsreel dating back to 1951 tells the story ansi said the commentator a pretty town in the savoir has become the capital of 50 cycle currents this starting innovation was ushered in on an experimental line that had grown out of the research carried on by french engineers since 1945 [Music] the problem of electrification by means of ordinary alternating current had at last been solved but let's go back to our map the first electrified line using ordinary 50 cycle single phase alternating current from the outset the results were so remarkable that the french national railways decided to use this new system to equip the great east west line we showed you at the beginning [Music] it connects as you recall the coal mines of northern france and the iron mines of logan [Music] hmm [Music] that's the line where a second locomotive was needed to help the trains loaded with ore over long gradients the line where slow convoys shuttle shuttled continually between the iron country and the coal country [Music] the new technique was now applied to the following lines in nineteen fifty four valencian charleville in 1955 charleville tianville in 1956 the mets area mets strasbourg gone are the days of smoke-filled tunnels a type cc 14100 locomotive designed specially for hauling heavy freight trains comes out of the dark tunnel as and span as when it entered it along this line the catenary is much lighter than on the paris leon route it has been reduced to a wire no bigger than your finger and is carried by light metal poles no heavier than those used on poly bass lines [Music] these heavy trains now move smoothly and swiftly two full hours are saved between tianville and valencia [Music] again we meet the crew that used to operate the heaviest team locomotives they are now traveling in comfort in a clean spacious cabin for them electric traction means a welcome change their work once strenuous and complicated has become pleasant and simple the interval between the power substations has grown to 30 miles these stations themselves have been reduced to their simplest form two transformers and their safety devices the new electrification technique has done away with the high tension lines which as on the paris lyon route run alongside the track feeding power to the substations and now let's take a look at the types of locomotives designed for running on alternating current this type of engine is called bb 13000 it is the simplest kind of locomotive in that his motors consume the 50 cycle current directly after the voltage has been lowered let's take a look inside first we see the usual organs the driver's cabin with its graduator the circuit breaker the compressor ventilators to keep the temperature of the motors down to a reasonable level and the standard electrical equipment the essential organs are the transformer which lowers the 25 000 volts of the current fed into the engine down to a few hundred volts [Music] and the four motors fitted directly onto the bogeys which set the driving axles in motion by means of gears [Music] here is a second type of engine called bb 12000 equipped with rectifiers like the bb 13000 it has four driving axles and a transformer which lowers the voltage of the incoming current to a few hundred volts and sends it into single anode ignition rectifiers here they are the rectified current powers the four traction motors at a voltage which may vary from 150 to 750 volts [Music] and here is the third type of locomotive the heavy six driving axle engine specially designed for hauling trains loaded with ore and coal this engine is equipped with a motor generator set [Music] the voltage of alternating current from the catenary is lowered by a transformer and then fed into a generating set which produces direct current at a varying voltage in this form the current is consumed by the six traction motors shown here with their speed reducers [Music] in this workshop the locomotives we have just examined are assembled here the current transformer has been fitted to the chassis of an engine [Music] now the generating set is about to be installed it comprises an alternating current motor flanked by two direct current generators [Music] and here is one of the six traction motors complete with its gears [Music] it is fitted onto one of the three axles of a bogey and now comes the most spectacular phase of the assembling operations the lowering into place of the body fully equipped 70 tons of steel are placed gently on the bogeys by a travelling crane [Music] [Music] uh [Music] with electric locomotives repairs are child's play one piece of standard equipment simply replaces another this means considerable gains in time and manpower the introduction of the 50 cycle technique has made it possible to simplify the stationary equipment greatly the catenaries and supports have become lighter the high tension lines along the track have been eliminated the result has been a great and drastic saving on raw materials 30 less steel cement and copper is now necessary the raw materials thus saved will enable french industry to build bridges dams and high tension lines in this way the french national railway's new look is a boost for the french economy as a whole [Music] last but not least electric traction means a tremendous saving in maintenance costs with the old steam traction costs were as follows maintenance 32 percent operating 20 percent and power 48 electrification has brought savings off 75 percent on maintenance sixty percent on operating and fifty percent on power combined these cuts will spell a total saving of sixty percent [Music] let's go back to our map electrification is proceeding and will soon be completed on a number of additional lines in 1957 strasbourg baal dol vallabh in 1958 valencian to aris and to emiyan lil deway and the launch area amien perry and in 1959 paris de verberry further projects are under consideration they will be completed by the end of 1961. all noir including the business summer branch line paris to nazi medicine strasbourg including the branch lines to france san diego chateau de jean de nachato to complete this picture of success here are some pictures that need no explanation this is the suit express every day around noon it leaves paris for the spanish border the locomotive returns on the following morning picks up a new train that same day and is off to all day again between may the first in december the first 1955 a standard engine cc7147 used for hauling express trains covered a distance greater than that from the earth to the moon that is more than 260 000 miles electric engines as you see can stand heavy use but above all they're top in efficiency in fact the job done by three steam locomotives can be done by a single electric locomotive [Music] on the current which a power station produces by burning 500 grams of low-grade coal an electric engine does the same work as a steam engine on 10 times that amount of high grade coal [Music] remember too that it takes no more power to haul 23 tonnes over 1 000 yards on an electrified line than is needed to keep six 40 watt lamps burning for one hour this is why the french railroads are responsible for only three percent of france's total electricity consumption and there's yet another advantage whereas the greater part of the general consumption of electricity takes place in daytime the railways use most of their power at night when rail traffic is heaviest compare the curve of the general french power consumption shown in yellow with the red line showing the consumption of an electrified line say velocity if we reduce them to the same scale we find that they are practically complementary when the one reaches its peak the other is invariably at its lowest point in other words the french national railroads use the hydroelectric power produced during off hours if it weren't for them this power would simply be some water flowing down to the sea [Music] similarly electric traction also contributes to the rational utilization of gas produced by blast furnaces this gas used in the steam power stations of the steel industry cannot be stopped electrification also means higher quality service the engine starts without jolts and can hold without effort trains of up to 20 wagons it is clean smoke and soot are things of the past the electric engine is powerful and fast these are the reasons why more and more trains are powered by electricity in december 1938 only 13 of the total traffic used electricity by july 1957 this figure has risen tonight to 45 in january 1960 it will reach 56 percent in december 1961 70 and in 1970 80 in 20 years time from 1950 to 1970 the french national railways will have completed the electrification of their main lines over the same span of time diesel traction will gradually take over the rest of the network by 1970 the last of the old steam engines will have disappeared with its exit the conversion of the network to modern traction will be accomplished and the french national railways may look forward to the future with confidence [Music] you