POTENTIALITIES OF A TRAM SERVICE.

Evening Star, Issue 11892, 21 May 1903, Page 5

POTENTIALITIES OF A TRAM SERVICE.

fhe, trara service of Sydney, which is almost monthly being extended to some neglected suburb, has grown to bo such a prime necessity of daily life that the sudden stoppage of this means oi transportation, from any cause whatever, would mean the practical disorganisation of tho City's badness. On the evening of April 21 the citizens experienced u slight, illustration of what the conditions would be like if Sydney suddenly hecame a tramless city. The cars all stopped running for two brief periods—the longer only twenty minutes—and this occurred at the close of the day_ when business was practically at au end.' Yet thousands of people \vtr,e compelled to walk home, while thousands of others missed railway, traing, and were compelled to. wait-Jong periods for later ones. There have been, for some .littlo time past, disquieting rumors in the air. aa to the possibility of troubles occurring of the kind just referred to. And even now it js stated, not officially, of course, but. privately and by men in the service who have just the game opportunities of seeing things aa have the heads of departments" that there is grave danger that within the next few months the power generated at the Ultimo Power-house will uot be sufficient to supply the demands made upon it by the constantly-growing tramway system of Sydney. Our enormous power-produc-ing plant, which is capable under present conditions of working up to 17,000 horsepower, is modelled .on the lines of the largest establishments of the kind in New York and other large towns of the United States, and includes machinery similar to that in use in London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Dublin. Including the additions made last year, it is now the largest plant of its kind south of the Equator. There are included all the latest developments of elctrical science and power transmission, yet the rimors mentioned prompt the inquiry Is it large enough? The additions to the power-house were completed about August last, and since then the eastern suburbs tramway systems (including the Waverley, Bondi, Rundwick, Bishopscourt, and Coogee li.nes) have been converted from steam to electric traction. A portion of the : Botany line, too, has been converted, and a new line of electric tiams has been opened to the Zetland Estate, at Waterloo. These. hUve eausod an enormous increase in the demand for the. electric power, but it was anticipated that they would do so, and arrangements were planned accordingly. • But the general ■volume of traffic over all lines, Since the introduction of the penny sections and the conversion to electric traction,- has been of such magnitude, it is stated, as to cause a development the rapidity of which was apparently quite unforeseen. And as a result .the power-plant, big- aa it is, is now stated to be working with aa' exceedingly narrow rajram in reserve—so narrow, indeed, that uaJess the plant be increased at a veiv 8 j y * a i e tbe mr S in °e over-reached, Wd Sydney may one. morning 'find itself wondering what has gone wrong with all tho trams. . When the additions to the power-house were completed, and the newplant installed, there were three huge vertical engines and generators, each machine being capable, of transmitting, about 5,500 hone-power:. The foundations were laid at the same time for three others, but for some reason these have not yet arrived Those who should be able to speak with some inner knowledge of-affairs nay -that they will be Ladly wanted before many months have elapsed. The boiler-plant, it mav be mentioned, includes twenty-four high-pressure boilers, • each nominally of 250 horse-power capacity, but really capible of producing 700 horse-ppwer if repaired.— * Evening News,' .