CITY TRAMWAYS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 10, 7 October 1919, Page 9

CITY TRAMWAYS

REPORT FOR THE YEAR. AN INTERESTING REVIEW, . The annual' report of the' Wellington Tramways terestins matter applicable to the city's biggest trading concern, Tho, report.onthis _ occasion, in the absence abroad of the Tramways Manager, .-. AS got out by' his deputy, Mr. M. Cable. Tho" following items are of interest:—

. Rolling Stock. "During tho year ended March 31, 191!), practically- tho whole of ths skilled worker's at. tho Nfcwtown carsheds. were employed on lAftintexiatido and' rejiair work, so as to enable a maximum number of' cars being available) for coping with 'tho. heavy .'volume.-of traffic: at rush; hours daily. This,, and; the fact that very little car equipment ciiiiie to 'hand during the<post year, limited the output of the car : building works to four cars, of the double saloon type* and the partial completion of' two others. Including the four -new. oars,..thoro.wfcro. 117. passenger cars,' two freight- cars, three General service car 3, arid one sprinkler car. or a total-of 123"vahicles in.stockat March 31, 1019. ' . ' "In addition to the completion of tho two cars referred to alx>vo, work was commenced on tlio construction-of bodies for twelve cars', and' orders placed for the necessary trucks aml-electricab'equip-ments. Tho completion of this building. programme-'irill' depend' -'iipon—thr amount of skilled labour available, and on the delivery of the material orde/ed from abroad.- These new rears' will' be of the standard double; fftlobh'.'tyjff'' with an overall longtli of §9 feot," aiid' seating' accommodation for thirty-seven, passengers. ' " '■

Power Station. "Tho wholo of the boiler, and general ing plant"in tlio power station waTworked continuously at its.maximum, output throughout" th'O year' ended' March" 31" last,. aiuL-Conaequentlj!_this-reiulered_.it.. impossible to give tho engines the.regu-lar-overhauling-so- essential in- thiti : class of high speed l machinery. Although there, were practically no breaks ,in the, continuity of the' shp'ply" due to plantderangement during thb period under review. it is hardly to be expected that this record will be maintained much longer when it-is;remembered'-that'the load on the, station continues-to increase. iWith'tli'e exception of a. large booster set' ordered in 1915 for, the' Constable Street connection, but not delivered .until, last year, no ne'w-pldnt-,w-[ts-installed- iir thostation. Work, however, was well in hand for tho. erection of a large induced draught fan at the foot of the stack to handle tho wholo .of.the gases from the' boilers. ...... "For tho year ended March 31, 1919, 10.883,503; units wcifC generated, compared with 6:41!!,598 • for. year endedMarch", 1915, On o.ri' ilicrcas©' of over 70 -per cent, in output .since-' the outbreakof tho, war. ■ . T-ho, cost-of generation lias advanceiTrapidly, consequent' on tlio large increases which have talccii place in the price of coal, oil, other materials, and labour.-. - .

New Plant for Power Station; "Although the New'-Zealand Munitions Department- tiHlea-voiirid-. to procure a high priority certificate from tlie perial authorities for the 1000 Iv.\V. seared turbine' set ordered'earijr.in: 19% their efforts were unavailing until the • signing of the' armistice,' when permission was. obtained to. proceed.-with'the-manufacture of the shaft and other forging which had held the worl: up. Owing to- the 'shortage: of< boiler _ plant, an order-iviw placed in England in August, 1918, for a large water tube boiler, and ia .consequence-of-a,,hip:h priority certificate.being, secured), a definite delivery for May, 1919, was promised. As the present: boiler Louse cannot be extended._ the. new bo'ilfr will,, be,, erected iif'S.separate- building to be constructedalongside the chimney, stack. With the installation of " the' nor turbine' and the now"-boiler. which if: "is anticipated will ,be available for service before -the end' of 1919, there will be no room available for. further extensions to the plant on the present site, and, additional power, when required, will have to be obtained from plant installed in the lighting department's station or on a fresh site.-

Direct Current Power Supply. "Although numerous applications were received for connections to the 500 volt, direct current supply system, very few connections were granted on account of the overloaded condition of the power bouse. The number :of consumers connected to this supply at March 31, 1919, wits 382, with motors having an jiggrc-. gate capacity of SGSS h.p. Since the price of current to consumers was advancoi by a halfpenny pc-r unit in Sep-, tember, 1917, the steady increase in tho cost, of generation has aU but eliminated tho email margin of profit on the cost of generation and distribution, and in order to avoid the supply being carried, out at a lofs.to the department,a further increase' of a halfpenny per unit lias now been made.

Overhead Feeder, System. "Apart from some minor alterations, no new overhead work of-any consequence was carried out during tna year under review, but a considerable amount of renewaE work was earned out, iiirhiding the replacement of -some miles of troEey wire m the city. On account t.f- lew, insulation, several of (he original feei'trs were raised' and'relaid in fresh troughs. With two or three exceptions tin' feeder system has remained unaltered for some years prior to the outbreak of the war. and consequently a large portion of Ihe s.vMein is now operating under heavy ovciloe.ds at times of hiMvy. tr,i!|ic. 1 To obviate: the necessity of laving down a number of additional feeders if lunvy. copper section from the' Power llim«iv it is proposed.to provide a sub-station at the. southern end of the system iri;n,cdiately a supply of, current suitable for operating converting plant is available.

Permanent Way. "The only new truck work carried out during the year was the duplication of the Cuba Street track, which was cimpleted in May, 1918. This duplication has greatly _ facilitated the working, of the cars using tho Cuba Sheet route, by eliminating the long delays vlvich occurred on tho singlo line. Before any extensions can be undertaken, the grater portion of the Lambton Quay and Wildds Street tracks will require tp bo roiaid, as pointed out in previous reports. The down tracks leading from both. ends of the Kilbirnic tunnel on account-of heavy wear arising from the use of. megnetic brakes are badly worn, and will'also require to be renewed when sufficient material is available.

Accidents. "Although there was no increase in the total number, of accidents compared with the previous years, it is to be. repetted that fivo were.of a fatal nature.. Two of the latter wore the result of persons attempting to cross tho track in front of approaching cars; tho third was the outcome of an attempt to board, a travelling car, whilst the fourth, in which an eldorl ygenfrmau was concerned, occurred through a car running past the compulsory stopping-pJace at the foot of tho Elizabeth Street grado and colliding with another car entering the intersection. Tho remaining fatal accident was that of a linesman who fell from an emergency, wa ; gon when in the act of. ascending the staging,

Borough Scrvicss. "In addition to tho milenKe of l!ip r-itv system, the cars rfin 109.135 miles on tte Karor; Borough line and G9.950 rules on the Miramar linra—a total of 1"0.115 miles. On account of the increased-n rlring expenses, the mileage rharge paid by tho borough? to the city, -vns .iiien.-aWd by M. on .Tune 1. 1918, bringing thp Karori rate up-to'is. 2!d. per car-mile and Mirnnwr Is. 13d. per car mile: tho higher rate in the former case being due to the more costly ope'itiHon on the I hea-'y grades and shorn piirvca on the lino running to the western suburb.

Frsight Service, "Although there has been a rtenly rxSansior in the business, of 1 ho i"-rij>l't epartment, the results of'the last year's working do not show an increase on tho. figures of tho preceding year, due largely to tho severo curtailment of the service

which occurred during tho epidemic, when-it : was-found necessary to requisition for somo weeks tho motor vehicles for tho conveyance of patients to and from emergency hospitals. The service has now readied a stage when additional and improved depot facilities will require to bo provided if further development is to take place. The provision of a depot: with a platform siding in a suitab.e position in tho city, and two or -threo eidin"s in tho outlying suburbs, would enable a large amount if goods, building-material, and, if necessary, coal, to bo handled at a lower rato than by motor or horso haulage.