THE SHORTAGE OF TRAMCARS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1037, 28 January 1911, Page 5

THE SHORTAGE OF TRAMCARS.

Construction work delayed;

■'■. Tho City Corporation: is faced by a somewhat -serious shortage of - rolling • stock on .the : tramways, and the difficulty of the position seems likely to increase, in the immediate, future. -Already the resources of the Tramway Department are taxed in meeting the demand for cars during the rush hours of the .day, and it will probably be some little-timo before, the demand can be satisfactorily met. The position, has been aggravated by an unforeseen accident. It will be remembered that six 1 sets of car-trucks destined for Wellington were lost aboard the steamer Paris-.una,.-recently abandoned at sea. In tho Workshops ol tho Tramway Department there are six. oar-bodies., .which have been converted'from the box-car typo to the combination typo. It' was for t-heso.that tho trtioks lost on' the Parisiana were intended. The trucks being.lost, these cars, instead of being mado available.almost immediately, will necossarily bo'held out of. usountil a new set of trucks can be obtained from New York. The order has been forwarded,, but tho trucks will hot arrive for about four months. With a view to increasing the number of available cars as rapidly as possible, thV department is putting in. Hand the-construction of single-truckpalice cars, which will be fitted to the trucks removed from the box cars prior to their conversion. Thcsb small palaco cars will be used on the Brooklyn lino, and on the Wadestown lino when it is completed. Probably the department will lie-further embarrassed in its endeavours to meet the demand for cars when suburban lines, now approaching completion, are opened. The Karon extension line, it is anticipated,will be completed in about two months. Tho poles along tho rbuto aro nearly all .up. and the permanent way is well in hand. The Wadestown lino will be finished, unless any unforeseen delay occurs, about tho middle of noxt yea'r,