TROLLEY BUSES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26841, 4 August 1948, Page 4

TROLLEY BUSES

DESIGN FOR DUNEDIN PROTOTYPE RUN ON TEST The prototype of a number of trolley buses which will shortly be built' by British United Traction. Ltd., for the Dunedin City Corporation, as well as for municipal bodies in Launceston, Hobart, and Copenhagen, has been given its initial road tests, according to a report in the May issue of Passenger Transport, which is published in England. The magazine states that the trolley bus is 33ft long and of 130 h.p., and is designed specifically for the export market. The prototype has a sturdy four-wheeled chassis, with a low level straight frame except where it is swept up over the axles, with an overhang at each end. The chassis will accommodate front, central, rear, or double entrance bodies up to 33ft in length and either Bft or Bft 6in wide. The driver's seat and controls of the trolley bus are mounted on the front overhang of the ghassis, and the motor is placed amidships. The journal says that a wide margin of strength has been built into the transmission line to provide for heavy service conditions, whether they are caused by route conditions or by the need for high passenger accommodation. Ordinarily the motor fitted is of 130 h.p;. but special heavy duty couplings and a wormdriven rear axle with 9in centres enable more powerful motors to be installed if required. With powerful air braking, these features make the chassis suitable for the most arduous of services. On its tests on a level run, the chassis had an average balancing speed of 37 to 38 miles an hour, with a maximum speed of 40 m.p.h. On a gradient of 1 in 19, with a flying start, the bus averaged 30 m.p.h. Observers seated just forward of the control tower gave excellent reports on the riding characteristics, in spite of the high rate of acceleration and deceleration. The journal reports that the chassis turns in a circle of 62ft. The Albert street route, over which trolley buses will run in Dunedin, has a gradient of about 1 in 8. The slope of Princes street outside the Bank of New Zealand is steeper than 1 in 16.