TRAINS WITHOUT ENGINES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVII, Issue 11227, 26 March 1897, Page 7

TRAINS WITHOUT ENGINES.

(Tit-Bits.) The Glasgow District Railway, winch has just been opened for public traffic, is the most unique railway in the country, excepting, perhaps, the novel little line along the sea-shore at Brightqn. The new Glasgow enterprise, while presenting many of the usual features of a railway, is at once something more and something less. It is, in fact, a sort of compromise between an underground railway and a cable tramway.

Instead of the smoky abomination which every underground railway is bound to be, when ordinary locomotives are the means of traction, the promoters of the Glasgow Subway determined to' give the public a now system which would make travelling beneath the ground a pleasure and not a necessary evil. So, in lieu of the locomotive engine, the cable system was adopted as being the most convenient and economical, and the cleanliest. Wo can best give an idea of the line by first describing the main features of the system. The line is about six and a half.miles in length, and runs in a circuit round the north and south-west of the city, passing twice beneath the Clyde. Instead of there being only one large tunnel, there are two tunnels, each eleven feet in diameter, running side by side and connected with each other at every twenty-five yards by means of manholes, and, of course, there is only a single line of rails in each. In the. course of the six and a half miles there are no fewer than fifteen stations, all placed as near as possible at equal distances, this being an important feature of the system. The cable for hauling the ears runs on bearing wheels in the middle of the rails, and is kept in motion by means of some very complicated machinery at the power station. There are thirteen miles of steel cable —for the outer and inner circles — weighing about 100 tons, and the two single-cylinder engines that drive it can each develop from 1000 to 1500 horsepower. N The fly-wheels of these engines each weigh 50 tons, and they work from 25fb diameter -rope-drums, which drive the smaller steel wire-drums for keeping the cable in motion. In all, it is calculated that there is a total weight of 1500 tons in the machinery used at the powerstation. The cars are built after the familiar Pullman model, each being seated for fortyfour passengers, and having a passage of 3ft Gin between the seats. They are lighted ■ with electricity, the current tor which is obtained by a trolley system of two pulleys running on rods attached to the side of the tunnel. Each car is fitted with a gripper, which can bo made to catch the running cable or release it at the will of the driver. Immediately the gripper is applied the car takes on the full motion of the cable, and is hauled round at precisely the same rate as every other car which may be attached to the cable. But on releasing , the cable from the gripper the brakes are able testop a car within its own length. And now wo see the importance of the equal distances between the stations. It is the object of to have a car at every station on the line at almost the game moment. Of course, it would not be possible to maintain absolute regularity; but, providing that no more than a specified time is spent at each station, it will ho seen that every car running at precisely the same rate of speed, and having as nearly as possible the same distance to travel from one station to another as the car in advance or that next in succession, there should be no difficulty in maintaining a regular service. Under no circumstances do passengers require to wait above five or six minutes for a ear, and it must be a comforting reflection when you arrive just in time to miss one to think that another is on the road from the station less than half a mile off, and must atrive to, pick you up in the course of five minutes. Nine of the fifteen stations are open to daylight; they are all lighted by electricity, and connected with each other by telephone, while the signals are automatically worked, the block system being adopted. The complete absence of smoke and the frequent ■ open stations in the course of the subway make travelling a real delight. Although the line has, properly speaking, only been open for traffic this month, it was completed and open to the public on Monday, Dec. 1-1,159 G, and so great a rush of passengers was then experienced that the system was, for a time, disorganised. On paying a penny at the turnstiles one could' enter a car and travel round and round as long as one liked. In this way thousands of young people actually spent hours in the cars on the day in question, one youthful idiot having started going round at seven in the morning, and winding up in an alarming - accident which occurred about eleven at night. One car had slipped the cable, the gripper not holding properly, and so stood still in the tunnel, while the car behind came up and smashed into it.

Several people wore injured, but no one seriously; and the occurrence was understood to be one of the reasons why the management postponed the proper opening till January. Tickets are now issued, a penny one carrying you four stations from where you enter, and a twopenny one taking you right round the circle. The cars are also being run in couples now,, and, altogether, a career of success and public usefulness seiems to lie before the new enterprise.