In winter all that is necessary is
to provide each motor car with a suitable brush for cleaning the track
rails sufficiently to enable the wheels to make good contact
therewith, and any tendency to slipping or skidding may be effectually
checked. By this means it is easily possible to increase the tractive
adhesion of an ordinary railway motor from 50 to 100 per cent.,
without any increase in the load or weight upon the track; for it must
be remembered that even that portion of the increased friction due to
direct attraction does not increase the weight upon the roadbed, as
this attraction is mutual between the wheels and track rails; and if
this car and track were placed upon a scale and the circuit closed, it
would not weigh a single ounce more than with the circuit open.
It is obvious that this increase in friction between two moving
surfaces can also be applied to _check_, as well as augment, the
tractive power of a car or train of cars, and I have shown in
connection with this model a system of braking that is intended to be
used in conjunction with the electro-magnetic traction system just
described. You will have noticed that in the experiments with the
traction circuit the brake shoes here have remained idle; that is to
say, they have not been attracted to the magnetized wheels.
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