CONVERTED "PALACE"

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 44, 20 August 1913, Page 10

CONVERTED "PALACE"

FIRST CAR ON THE ROAD. The first of the newly converted "palace" cars of the City Tramways rolling stock was out on the road yesterday. In appearance it is a vast improvement on the old high-step side entrance car, long ago condemned by experts, tramway men, and the travelling public. The old "pdace" car is now something like one of the old single-truck "box" cars, only it is much longer and runs on the doublebogie of the original "palace" tram. Entrance is at the rear and exit at the 'front, and the seats are lengthwise to accommodate about 38 passengers, departmental allowance. There is ample, space inside and ample standing room down the main gangway. The chief objection to the car, which is on its triaL is the lack of a smoking compartment, for which the exigencies of the design with its end exit and entrance could not provide. It would have been impossible to have a " smoker " in a partitioned off compartment through which the train of disembarking passengers would have to proceed. Apart from this fact and another— that fore-and-aft seating is not popular — the new converted car is attractive. It has steps which can be mounted without danger to life and limb, and it gives every facility for the conductor to get about his business. Also, it looks much smarter on the street ; in, fact, quite like the single-decker box cars, which are almost universal in American cities. The new combination cars are also ex» pected out shortly. They have two box compartments, one at each end, and an open space for smokers and fresh-air travellers in between, with exit and entrance at the centre. They are adapted to run coupled, and are fitted with air-brakes as well as the magnetic track brake. These, it is thought, will meet all requirements of the public better than any other type of car.