IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - July/August 2016 - 91

Rainbow Bridge
1941-

Site of
Schoellkopf
powerplant

Upper Steel Arch Bridge
1898-1938

Nia
g

Ontario
Power

Niagara Falls
New York

American
Falls

ara

rge

Niagara Falls
Ontario

Niagara Falls Power Co.
Powerhouse

Goat Island
NFP and RRy
Powerhouse
Horseshoe
Falls

Nia

Canadian
Niagara Power

gar

ive

Toronto
Power
(EDC)
0

1/4
Mile

figure 2. A map showing the location of the hydroelectric powerhouses at
Niagara Falls. (Image courtesy of Craig Woodworth.)

figure 3. The P&RRy powerhouse located near the brink of the Horseshoe Falls
at Niagara Falls, Ontario, circa 1900. (Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

(15.2-cm) diameter driveshaft supported in the center of the penstock
passed through a packing gland. Guide
and thrust bearings were lignum vitae.
The 600-ft (183-m)-long, 8-ft (2.4-m)
by 10-ft (3.05-m) tailrace exited the
Niagara Gorge wall just downstream
from Horseshoe Falls (see Figure 6).
A weir at the entrance to the tailrace
92

ieee power & energy magazine

maintained the water level in the wheel
pit. The initial installation consisted
of three 200-kW, four pole, 475-r/min
GE direct current (dc) railway generators compounded to give 500 V at
no load and 600 V at full load (see
Fig ure 7). Each generator was beltconnected to a pulley on a horizontal
7.125-in (18.1-cm) diameter line shaft.

A 66.5-in (168.9-cm) diameter bevelgeared pinion on the line shaft meshed
with a 75-in (190.5-cm) diameter bevel-gear at the top of the turbine drive
shaft (see Figure 8). The two line shafts
could be coupled together. The trolley
wire was divided into seven sections,
with each fed by a separate feeder. The
powerhouse operated 15 hours a day.
The load on the generators varied as the trolley cars started and
stopped. The varying load initially
required manual adjustment of the
turbine wicket gates to maintain a
constant speed as a reliable form of
gate control that could accommodate the wild fluctuations of trolley
load was not available in 1892. The
manual system of speed regulation
was soon replaced by a system of automatically connecting shunt resistors
as the voltage rose or disconnecting
the resistors as the voltage fell to keep
an almost constant load (and thus
speed) on the generator (see Figure 9). Although wasteful of energy,
water supply was not a problem. Trolleys southbound from Queenston had
to ascend 346 ft (105.5 m) in elevation
up a 1.5-mi (2.41-km), 3-5.5% grade
to Queenston Heights. Concerned
about voltage problems, the P&RRy
constructed a steam-generating station near the Queenston dock. Two
steam boilers rated 150-hp supplied
two condensing-steam engines, with
each belt-connected to a 100-kW generator. Only one was normally used
1 June-10 September during maximum trolley use. This plant was retired from service in 1903.

Canadian Niagara
Power Company
This company was the second organization to be issued a franchise by the
park commissioners. The Canadian
Niagara Power Company (Canadian
Niagara) was incorporated on 14 April
1892 by special act of the Legislative
Assembly of the Province of Ontario.
The act approved and confirmed the
7 April 1892 agreement between the
park commissioners and one Canadian and two American investors.
july/august 2016

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