Even Mary Nestor saw very little of him.

But Mary realized fully that at such a time as this Tom must
give all his thought and energy to the task in hand. She was
proud of Tom's ability and took a deep interest in his
inventions.

"I want to see the test when you try the locomotive, Tom," she
told him, when she came to the shops the first time to look at
the monster locomotive. "What a wonderful thing it is!"

"Its wonder is yet to be proved," rejoined the young inventor.
"I believe I've got the right idea; but nothing is sure as yet."

In addition to his mechanical contrivances inside the
locomotive, Tom had to arrange for an increased supply of
electric power to drive the huge machine around the track that
was being built inside the stockade.

A regular station had to be built for receiving the electricity
in a 100,000-volt alternating current and delivering it to the
locomotive in a 3,000-volt direct current. Therefore, this
station had two functions to perform--reducing the voltage and
changing the current from alternating to direct.

The reduction of the voltage was accomplished as follows: The
100,000-volt alternating current was received through an oil
switch and was conveyed to a high-tension current distributor
made up of three lines of copper tubing, thus forming the source
of power for this station.