TRACKLESS TEAMS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1876, 9 October 1913, Page 3

TRACKLESS TEAMS.

THE TROLLY BUS.

PROGRESS IN BRITAIN.

Electric tramway undertakings, parti, cularly in London, are passing through trying times, owing principally to motoi omnibus competition. Judging by the rapidly-growing traffic returns of the London General Omnibus Company] and tho dwindling receipts of the London County Council tramway system, it would certainly seem that the public preler to travel by motor omnibus rather than by tram whenever they have the opportunity of making a selection, though how much longer they may be able to make a selection is opera to question, in view of the London traffic report issued recently. Thcro aro several reasons that have been advanced (writes the "Daily Telegraph") to account for this preference, but probably tho most potent is connected with the fact that tho motor omnibus can pick up or sot down its passengers actually on the footpath, whereas the traniear passenger has to negotiate one or more lines of traffic before and after his ride. Further, tho rail-bound tram is holplessyin the ease of obstruction of the roadway or power station failure. Though the latter possibility must always exist in tramway undertakings dependent upon a central station for the supply of electricity, thero pro ways of overcoming the two other important objections mentioned above, tho chief of wliich is tho system of transport known as railloss electric traction. In this wo have a unique combination of the motor omnibus and the electric tram. Tho vehicles are free to move anywhere about the road, just as is tho motor, but instead of deriving their motive power from a selfcontained power plant, they take electrical energy by means of trollys from jverhend wires, exactly as is done in the case of an overhead tramway system. This is the system authorised in tho Metropolitan Electric Tramways fl'ailless Traction) Bill, and which system should soon he seen in operandi in tho metropolis. Some Existing Systems, Though now to London, railless :lectric traction is no novelty elseivhere. As long ago as the year ISJUO the. writer inspected a system of this sind that was in nse"in the neighbourhood of Paris, and on tho Continent there aro now trackless installations .■overing some hundreds of miles. In jireat Britain the railless tram is now it work in several towns, notably Leeds, which has the pioneer service, tlating from 1911. Bradford, Dundee, Ltotherham, Ramsbottom, Stockport, ml Kcighicy. So great lias been the. success of tho trackless trolley that rnanj' towns and companies now have Kailless Traction Bills before Parliament, including the corporations of Chesterfield, Derby, Morlcy, Hudders[icld, West Broimv.ich, Southport, and Brighton; Mexborough and Swiutin tramways; Western Valleys, Moil. (Ltd.), and the Rhondda Tramway Co. Uther towns, some of/ which aro enumerated below, have not yet readied tho Parliamentary stage, but aro considering tho question of applying for the necessary powers to establish tho system within their borders, generally is feeders to tho ordinary tramway system. , cars aro now being builtvfor Shanghai and Boxinirgli (South Africa), v and isloemi'ontein has invited tenders for £ii cars, so the system is extending to tno colonies, where is should have a jroat vogue. Other railless traction installations iro projected, or aro under consideration by tho corporations and others in nany places in tho United Kingdom, ncluding Sheffield, Birmingham, Oldlam, Manchester, Hull, Middlesbrough, Glasgow, etc., and in the London elisirict by the L.C.C. at Hackney, Forest till, Sydenham, and by other councils n /Walthamstow, Leyton, llford, Ealng, and Chiswick. Kailless traction, or tho trolly bus, is it has been happily termed, would, tertainly seem now to have passed tho, )xperimental stage, and to meet tho :ver-growing demand for an economical md flexible me'ans of passenger and poods transport. Not only is it suiti bio for towns and for tho linking up of mtlying districts wit!} tramways and ailways, but for convoying agricultural iroduco from rural districts into towns md for hauling minerals and goods beiWeon factories, mines, t)t<!., and railvay stations and harbours. Tho trol--9V bus compares very favourably with ho ordinary electric tram, particularly u the matters of cost of installation, lexibility and rapidity of construction. Llie systems now in operation in this sountry have, on the average, been installed at a cost less than one-fifth as ;reat as would liavo been required for in eTjual tramway system, thero being ivoided the costly permanent way, relaving of the roadway, and road widenngs. As regards flexibility, tho railess car can be steered through other traffic with tho greatest east, a deviation of 15 feet from tho centre of tho •oad being possible. It is therefore ree from a handicap which, in the caso if tramways, is often serious, particuarly in narrow streets, where tho tram :ar is continually impeded by vehicles standing at tho roadside, or to whoso slow progress it is forced to nodato itself. Rapidity of construction s a ve;;y important point in favour of the system, the delay and inconveniince caused by tho laying and renewal )f rails and roadway being entirely ivoided, and the capital becomes remun;rativo at a much earlier dato. Cost of Operation. Though not quito so cheap to operitc from the point of view of current ;onsumption as the rail tram, tho troly bus is frequently cheaper when alowanco is made for fixed charges,' vliich, of course, are in proportion to the cost of construction. Tho experience if a construction company, whftse entirely British system of railess electric traction has mot with uicli great success wherever it lias J eon installed, is that the working oxidises of tho cars, having seating ac!ommodation for 2S to 4U persons, is Tom Jd. to s£d. per car mile, a figure ■vliich cannot ho approached by tho inest motor buses running. This is argely duo to the fact that tho electric notor is in every ivay ideal for interliittcnt traction. Tho cost of renewals s consequently far less than in tho caso if petrol engines, and tho absence of ,'ibration and severe stresses at startng, which aro inseparable from all. jetrol-driven vehicles, adds to tho life ind efficiency of both vehicle and equipnont. It is true that no overhead lino s necessary for motor omnibuses, which, therefore, escape that capital outlay, nit the fixed charges on tho overhead ine of a railless traction system aro icgligiblo compared with tho saving of'ected in working expenses. Not all railless traction systems are ;o constructed that tlioy can bo iperatcd' over existing tramway systems, yet this is often a r'crv important consideration, so that trollv buses can bo run from outlying listricts to tho centre of tho town or to tho tramway car sheds. This rejuirement necessitates that the overlead lino must, therefore, be practicilly the samo in tho tramway and railes's systems, and tho trollys must ravel on ..tho underside of tho wires. [\vo trolleys are, of course, required, as hero is no earth return on a trolley ins as on a tram car. In tho abovelientioned all-British system the trolley his can bo run over the ordinary tram ine, using tho rail as a return,, and miploying only one of tho ovorhead .rollys. For getting tho rail connec-

I tion a "skate," or metal connection hung under tl'io voJiicle, is used, this being dropped into the rail groove, and tho railless car can then be run over the tram lines. A standard type of trolly bus, fitted with a conplo of 20 horse-power electric motors, can bo run for ijd- per mile for electricity. In fact, the Leeds vehielcs are consuming current at the rato of only .87 of a unit per mile run, at Bradford .92 being tlio corresponding figure. From these figures and the facts adduced abovo it would' seem that there is a promising future for railless electric traction, particularly as the cost of elec•tricity is steadily falling, while that of petrol is on the up grade.