MORE COMFORT

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 123, 20 November 1926, Page 10

MORE COMFORT

UPHOLSTERED TRAMCAR SEATS

NEW CABS NOW IN HAND,

Though the latest1 type of tramcar ou the rails presents a marked difference of appearance as to the motorman's cab and the hood above, and the destination signs are differently placed, there is little variation upon the former "combination", type as far as the passengers' quarters are concerned. Very soon, however, an improved combination car will be in commission, in which the cabin seats and backs will be upholstered in nioquette. Pour of these news cars are now in hand, and if all goes smoothly they may be in commission by Christmas or New Tear.

Later again an altogether new type may be evolved, but to design a new car for Wellington is not at all a simple business. In the first place the tram tracks cannot be widely spaced in narrow streets, and roomy, wide c,ar bodies are therefore ruled out, and, secondly, the sharp bends on many of the runs dictate certain definite types and placings of the bogeys. Had it not been for the necessarily narrow car body, Wellington would have had cars seating four passengers abreast in the open compartment long ago, but it is possible that this difficulty may now be overcome.

Whatever type of car is examined one feature stands out strongly, that Wellington's trams are admirably constructed and finished. The Rolling* Stock Superintendent, Mr. H. Leah, is a tremendous enthusiast in the matter of craftsmanship, and when a new car leaves the workshops it is spick and span outside and in, where the eye can see and where it cannot.

The same remark applies equally to bus bodies built in the Newtown workshops, and, indeed, these bodies compare more than favourably with some of the bodies which came out complete. That that is so was particularly emphasised wnen the residents of one suburb served by buses objected to their bus with its Wellington body being replaced Ey a bus imported complete with body.