Other editions of book Tom Swift and His Electric Locomotive, Or, Two Miles a Minute on the Rails

"An electric locomotive that can make two miles a minute over a properly ballasted roadbed might not be an impossibility," said Mr. Barton Swift ruminatively. "It is one of those things that are coming," and he flashed his son, Tom Swift, a knowing smile. It had been a topic of conversation between them before the visitor from the West had been seated before the library fire and had sampled one of the elder Swift's good cigars. "It is not only a future possibility," said the latter gentleman, shrugging his shoulders. "As far as the Hendrickton and Pas Alos Railroad Company goes, a two mile a minute gait—not alone on a level track but through the Pas Alos Range—is an immediate necessity. It's got to be done now, or our stock will be selling on the curb for about two cents a share." "You do not mean just that, do you, Mr. Bartholomew?" asked Tom Swift earnestly, and staring at the big-little man before the fire.

Webster's edition of this classic is organized to expose the reader to a maximum number of synonyms and antonyms for difficult and often ambiguous English words that are encountered in other works of literature, conversation, or academic examinations. Extremely rare or idiosyncratic words and expressions are given lower priority in the notes compared to words which are ¿difficult, and often encountered¿ in examinations. Rather than supply a single synonym, many are provided for a variety of meanings, allowing readers to better grasp the ambiguity of the English language, and avoid using the notes as a pure crutch. Having the reader decipher a word's meaning within context serves to improve vocabulary retention and understanding. Each page covers words not already highlighted on previous pages. If a difficult word is not noted on a page, chances are that it has been highlighted on a previous page. A more complete thesaurus is supplied at the end of the book; synonyms and antonyms are extracted from Webster's Online Dictionary. PSAT¿ is a registered trademark of the College Entrance Examination Board and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation neither of which sponsors or endorses this book; SAT¿ is a registered trademark of the College Board which neither sponsors nor endorses this book; GRE¿, AP¿ and Advanced Placement¿ are registered trademarks of the Educational Testing Service which neither sponsors nor endorses this book, GMAT¿ is a registered trademark of the Graduate Management Admissions Council which is neither affiliated with this book nor endorses this book, LSAT¿ is a registered trademark of the Law School Admissions Council which neither sponsors nor endorses this product. All rights reserved.

Richard Bartholomew, president of the Hendrickton and Pas Alos Railroad Company (H&PA) is under pressure to save his company from bankruptcy. If Mr. Bartholomew cannot come up with a means to compete with the Hendrickton & Western railroad, the H&PA will be doomed to failure. Mr. Bartholomew has contracted The Swift Construction Company to build a new electric locomotive which can travel at 2 miles per minute (120 miles per hour (190 km/h) ). The catch is that the owner of the competing H&W railway, Montagne Lewis, is dishonest and will stop at nothing to prevent Mr. Bartholomew from succeeding. Hired thugs are under orders to destroy Tom's developments. Tom, and his friends Ned Newton and Mr. Damon, have several life-threatening encounters with these hired gunmen.

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An electric locomotive that can make two miles a minute over a properly ballasted roadbed might not be an impossibility ¿ said Mr. Barton Swift ruminatively. ¿It is one of those things that are coming ¿ and he flashed his son Tom Swift a knowing smile. It had been a topic of conversation between them before the visitor from the West had been seated before the library fire and had sampled one of the elder Swift¿s good cigars. (Excerpt)

This classic children's story featuring Tom Swift places the clever popular character in the rapidly advancing world of trains. Tom joins Richard Bartholomew, an experienced train technician, who explains to him many of the details of building and riding a locomotive. The concept of a train which ran on electricity rather than steam was, when this story first appeared in 1922, a tantalizing promise of soon-to-arrive technology. While electrification of rails began in the early years of the 20th century, its potential was only just being unleashed by newer, better trains. All of this favored the general Tom Swift concept of promoting science, innovation and new technology through exciting stories. The introduction of trains that can travel faster than the earlier, steam-driven models becomes an exciting narrative, as the inventive and curious Swift devotes his mind to trialing and prototyping the new electric train. Although swift has little by way of formal education, he has a natural knack for seeing how things work. From the start of this story, Tom's curiosity encourages his mind to brim with ideas for innovating and improving on his train design. It's his achievement of making a locomotive that is both reliable and speedy that forms most of the narrative. Victor Appleton was the pseudonym which several authors used when writing Tom Swift books. The writing process often entailed much research into technical matters, that the progress in a given field be presented to young readers accurately.

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