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TRAMS AND TRAMWAYS.

(Contributed.) '^11111 As trams and tramways have of lat* cupied a large amount, of publio aUwajSllP" it may 'be of interest to sketch origin and development. To begin tie word tram is not, as swne <rf 4, taught at school, a contraction of the vm&Z' \ of Benjamin Outram. Pl'dologiste ' that it is identical with the Swediria fcj!v*3rmeaning a log. The latter derivational we fancy, be readily accepted by tho* who V have Jived in heavily wooded districts „* %' seen the rough, but useful, strueted for transport. As a nutter fif fact, the primitive tramway was not erfifc, '''1 th* present oush "track.'' It was a tunbw '*,* way laid on treacherous and uneven «oodJ ' V to facilitate the of oeU diedges—-» device particularly useful jT : quarries and collieries, where heavy weight* "i had to be drawn. Wood, however, vuiW.'l a. lasting pavement, and in 1738 iroa w*« substituted at Whiteliaven. Thirt.y wj, -^, later, at Ooalbrookdile, the first metal nS. "& were laid. John Carr, of Sheffield, thai *. came on. the scene, a-nd helped the tne-ft" another step forward by attaching tie r»juVV to wooden sleepers. His invention, ever, shared tue fate of many others de- ** signed for the rvuwtfun of" labour oaf « wages. The workmen of the district such a violent protest that the line was i«. ** ciuoed to debris, and Carr was obliged t»*4 fl«s for his life. Perhaps he did not wStr- ' \ in vain. The disturbance- may nave di«bt»"~" ed the attention of employers to the coo. J nomic value of tthe tramway. At all *~* 4 events, in 1801 his plans were carried out * in the ironworks of South Wales, and i* % the same year an unsuccessful attempt wm ' made to establish a iine between Waad*"'< worth and Croydon. >\> It was a' long time before t&» '-/ tram .began its career as a stmt conveyance. The diigh flangea of the ~~ old-fashioned rails proved troubleeamt r and dangerous to the other wheeW ?*' traffic. By way of experiment a line vu 'V laid in New York in 1852, but it wea tooft '-fl found necessary to remove it. After thi( "'- ---little progress was made for a space of "t twenty years, when some genius hit upen ,'§t. the plan of transferring tlie flange the rail to the wheel, and making a t " step "in the latter to receive it. New M life at once entered the tramway ment. A French engineer named' laid several "tracks" in New York ani.«s other American cities. Paris followed Wifcyf in 1853 with a short line. The year 1858-W found George Francis Train, the Yerkeg ofC-M. that period, endeavouring to obtain tht "fi outhority of the British Parliament to in-"§r troduce the new means of locomotion ttk W London. Failing in this attempt, b* § prevailed upon the road authoritke dtm Birkenhead to countenance his enterpriit,'® and so successful he that LondoaS' shortly aftenvards gifted him the d«*S sired permission. But the traffic of great city would brook no his line was iu> eooner down than it talfil to be taken up again. The Tramways Act, empowering tl*||lv Boan4 of Trade* to authorise the tion of tramways in Great Britain w«l|fP passed in 1870. Its principal were for a gauge of 4ft Bin, and space for wheeled vehicles between mils and footpaths. The. trams of po'jl, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and several f@£ the large provincial towns sprang being slxertly after the passing of thk Blltl * Tlie ofld! system developed to | point, other ideas began to appear. Iβ?! | the early eeventies, an American I Hallidio elaborated the cable train, J»»J| k seen to such advantage in | in 1884 a number of liis cotintrymeß ;S the first cable line in England at Highgil*-^ Our readers may be surprised to that electricity ac a motive power f<9 tnM§||j|l is as old as, if not older than, eteaat. 1837, before the latter, despite the of the venerable "Puffing Billy," had'alSl tablMied its supremacy, Robert drove a oar from Edinburgh, to ■ with electricity, generated from P^ <n batteries. But the cost of producing ficient power by thie primitive rneun too great to encourage further upon the same lines. J .^H^b So much for the pact of tram*. many other things, they seem to reached perfection in these days of but it is not for us to Ray when jrafjfflßH bounds of science lie. In' a city Christchurch, witlr ite extensive *Wa|||ja and outlying watering places, m realise the immense benefits they haw {erred on mankind, and, -while looking M||i|fl word with impatience to the in*Uflw*||iß of our up-to-date systera, we ought mm come feelings of gratitude to wos* brains and enterprise have made SH what it iB. ■

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19030131.2.41

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11496, 31 January 1903, Page 8

Word count
Tapeke kupu
774

TRAMS AND TRAMWAYS. Press, Volume LX, Issue 11496, 31 January 1903, Page 8

TRAMS AND TRAMWAYS. Press, Volume LX, Issue 11496, 31 January 1903, Page 8

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