Re: 25 Hz power

In NYC up into the 70's at least, power for two of the subway
> divisions (BMT and IRT) was generated at 25Hz but converted to DC in > the field.

Some electrified intercity railroads in the Northeast used 25 Hz power. There are, or at least were in the past, some advantages to 25 Hz power for running locomotives. (Some railroads in other parts of the world use or used 16-2/3 HZ power.

However, I very distinctly remember the flicker of the > incandescent lamps in some of the BMT stations in the 60's, as these > were operated from the unrectified 25Hz source. I do remember that > some people claimed they could not see this flicker, but it was very > obvious, to me, anyway.

This same flicker was apparent when I stayed with my parents at the Fred Harvey Hotel at the Santa Fe Railroad stati> Note that for many years DC power was provided by commercial

utilities. Originally, Edison's power plants supplied DC. There was > a big fight between Edison and Westinghouse over DC vs AC. AC won > out.

Most of today's power companies descended from Edison's companies and are still reluctant to give any credit to Nikola Tesla, who conceived of the far more practical (for most commercial purposes) multiphase alternating current now universally used. (Westinghouse bought the Tesla patents.)

Wes Leatherock snipped-for-privacy@aol.com snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com