NEW TRAMGARS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 146, 17 December 1937, Page 10

NEW TRAMGARS

IMPROVEDFIDUCIAS

EXHIBITION TRAFFIC

DISCUSSION WITH MEN

During the . next two . years th« tramways department proposes to.add substantially to its' rolling , stock,;.', bl' both trams and buses, to be ready tohandle the increased volume of trafficduring the Exhibition period, and' some" time ago a start was made with the construction. of a first batch of six : new tramcars. These are patterned upon the Fiducia type* only one of which was built, but they are. a big advance in several details.

Of the six one has been completed and the other five are in. various stages, from tka bare bones upwards, for the proposed amendment of the. tramway regulations,.which have been in force for many years and in soma respects are outmoded ; (either ia mechanical fact or in public opinion), left, the position uncertain. ' A further delay resulted from the' objection of the motormen and conductors to ce^>' tain features of the closed Fiducja. type of car, one of the, main ;points being the difference .of opinion whether the motorman should be screened off from the boarding plat form by a full-width partition. Ventilation and its opposite, too much ventilation, were other points in ;dis> pute. . " . '■.'•'

Several amendments in. design wera accordingly made, both before, the new car, No. 233, was commenced and during construction, and today the Mayor, Mr. T. C. A. Hislop, several memberi of the City Council, Mr. M. Cable, General Manager of the department, and other officers met representatives of the union at the Kilbirnie workshops to talk over the details of tha car and the proposals made for, further amendments. A-further discussion .will be held between members of' tha tramways committee- and union repro* sehtatives early next week. ■ • ' • ■

Particular attention was paid in tha' design to the avoidance of resonance arid to insulation between truck .and motors and the body, and on a road' trial this morning the car certainly proved, much quieter than .any. standf ard car. The window system is' improved, for whereas the Fiducia. windows were fixed, with louvres' abqvi each, the new car may be closed com-' pletely on one side or the. other. Tha same type .of double mechanicallyoperated doors is fitted, so that the car may be made fully weather-proof or operated with any amount of air in good weather. The old slat floors hava gone for good, and the cabin has 'a:, good housekeeping touch in a rubber compound flooring, for better appearance and for very much better cleans liness. The interior has been planned for easier and more thorough cleaning, with semi-sunken lights,: ceiling and walls and upholstered seats given, lines that can be wiped down in mucli less time than could the interior of tha. old cars, with their ledges and hollows and angles. The finish is in' a dull polished varnish, without (preferably permanently) a- glare of advertisements 'to lend a variety -that no- 6h« wants. :■•.■'■_. NEARER BUS COMFORT. , Generally the idea behind"the design, has been to bring the tram car; nearer...: the modern motor bus .in comfort ■ arjd' in interior appearance, arid,' for that matter, tram-car designers have adopted car and bus practice, in exterior, design and fittings also, witti streamline suggestions, the bus typ« window' fittings,, sloping windscreens, windscreen wipers, rear vision mirrors, and so on, but these are not all ne^. in this. car. ■'.''' "''■.'.'.".'

There, are still some points of difference between the ' management and the men over details, but there isnd question at all about the great advanca made on the old style car and:detailed improvements on the first - closed-ih car. The building programme during; the next two years may. .be for at many as twenty of these-new trams..