TRAMWAY ROLLING STOCK

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 71, 22 September 1919, Page 8

TRAMWAY ROLLING STOCK

During the year ended 31st March, 1919, practically the whole of the skilled workers at the Newtown carsheds were employed on maintenance and repair work, bo as to enable a maximum number of cars being available for coping with the heavy volume of traffic at rush hours daily (says the general manager, Mr. Morton, in his annual report). This, and the fact that very little'car equipment came to hand during the past 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 cars, there were 117 passenger cars, two freight cars, three general service cars, and one sprinkler car, or a total of 123 vehicles in stock at 31st March, 1919. In addition to the completion of the two cars referred to above, work was commenced on the construction of bodies for twelve cars, and orders placed for the necessary tracks and electrical equipments. The completion of this building programme will depend upon the amount of skilled labour available, and on the delivery of tho material ordered from abroad. These new cars will be of the standard double, saloon type with an overall length of 39' feet and seating accommodation for 37 passengers. When the plans were prepared for the carshed at Kilbirnie, which was completed in 1916, provision was made for the construction of extensive car building and repair workshops adjacent to the shed, to take the place of the existing works at Newtown, which-for some years back have been inadequate for the amount of work being carried out there. Owing to the difficulty, however, of obtaining the steel work required for the structure of the repair works, the latter were omitted when the contract was placed for the car sheds. The construction of these works and the procuring of the necessary equipment to enable the under trucks and the car bodies to be expeditiously overhauled, will require to be undertaken immediately material is procurable.