NEW TRAMCARS

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 6, 8 January 1925, Page 7

NEW TRAMCARS

DEPARTURE IN SHIELD * DESIGN

SEVERAL MORE BUILDING

INADEQUATE WORKSHOP '■

FACnjTrES;

Asa rule the appearance.of new tram-. cars upon the city lines excites little comment, for, apart from their new .varnish and paint, they go past generally unnoticed; not so the latest cars turned out from the Newtown workshops, for they have a very different appearance. Actually the body design is practically-that of the standard large combination car, and the greatly-altered appearance follows solely upon a: new "shield" design, the shield being the motorman s small compartment at either . end of the;car. In the new car, destination signs and. destination lights are brought down from their usual position ma box of their . own above - the roof of-the shield to within the shielditself, and consequently the- roof has been earned straight ahead, with no downward curve. The difference is not really great, but the.new tramcars look at first sight .to be a new' type altogether. . •.-■.. . ■■• •'.... Under the old destination sign and lighting system the boxes are awkwardiv placed and as a matter of fact are th°roughlj : ugly, but loiig.acquaintancs •with tneni has discounted that uusieht--■Uness. The route number, box-, one at either end of the car, has been retained above the roof of the ahield, as this is the only position from which the numbers are visible 'from almost any- an^le" - A much better arrangement' lias ' been mr^de for the display of special si-nis. such as minimum fare notice^ on the n. e, w ,c, avss 'V^y. to°. carried inside the shield and are lighted in^qiv"ously from above, thus obvtttin<*°.tli« - necessity of carrying, a specniiy rig^d Ji S ht outside the car to shine-upon Ihii signs, without which they a*e oMittluse during the late afternoons 61' thwinter or evenings all the year round." Weaning- operations and replacements ot light globes, etc., can be carried putvery mucn more quickly insido the new type of shield than could ever have been hoped for when motonnen. had to, clamber on top of their cars to see to-a destination sign or light wliic.li 1 refused to go for one reasonoofr f another. . -.:! _ One or two other improvements havn been made elsewhere on the new car* but generally the body-work' in- according to the. standard combination' pattern. Blinds run right to the floor level (but even so do they keep 'out all the weather?), and on the new ears now building the vertical handgrips pn the mam roof stays will run almost- t6 thei _ floor level for ihe -benefit.' of children and folk of rather short reach. , CARS BUILDING. , ■".. . The two news cars upon the lines this week do not represent the building .programme by a long way, for four more are well on towards completion— possibly a couple more will be given their trials in a fortnight's "time ami as soon : as .they areTun'off from the " construction docks more will take their places,, the preliminary work for this following batch being already in hand. " The need for more cars in Wellington is urgent enough, but if it'^were three timea as urgent it is just doubtful whether the rate of building could be speeded up in any marked degree, for the JNewtown workshops are undeniably too small to cope with all the demands made upon them. \ NEW WORKSHOP "IN THE AIR." Quite a few years ago a- move was made towards : the- building of more adequate and more • up-to-date workshops .for the tramways department : ■a» Lyall-Bay, but up to the present very -little has been done to" furtherthis important' city work. The land is there, the general plans are, no'doubt, agreed upon, but the actual'- buildinis still quite a few months iihead. .' '■A. great, deal more work than the mere building of new cars goes on in, a : tramways workshop, for cars will break" down and a certain number is always jacked up- over the repair docks with faulty wheel tires, axles which «ive trouble, ■ motor armatures turrit out • brakes-in need of attention, collision cases, minor repairs, something ahvavs to keep the repair men fully -A_ motor-car will not run "indeHniMv' without some atteutipn from the -"s-an-o • man;, neither will a tramcar, no" iuatt tJ honestly and staunchly cpnEACH CAR. SEPARATELY BUILT..Many peoplo are under the imprr-s-Pion that tramcars aro bought by the Corporation very much as it. may buy a fleet of motor-lorries, by acceotin- a tender and taking delivery when -the machines coma to hand rkdv for (he road. That is certainly not so in" the case of tramcars, for, apart fern: the electrical equipment (and not all of that) every detail of the car is worukl lip and built.up at the s |,o])e, ..hv- Q;lVthe final fihgress and fmisliin-s Tram in rNew 70tr° ? 6 }°Usht h * &c doz"n, ?nift **}?**-«* any rate,:they :u -; JuilJ one at a time, a, iob in whith a^ry^deT"* S mo^Sro^h^^t^b^buli^:: ditioifT 1161'? \ fP' cou: dit,on ite gram ls straight, ahU mar be 11^^ SSJ>.th. unifom qunlity J%