Second Trolley Bus Completes Long Tow

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27567, 8 December 1950, Page 8

Second Trolley Bus Completes Long Tow

A DRIVE through the main street of Dunedin was the final stage of the journey from Christchurch of Dunedin’s second trolley bus, which was towed from Oamaru yesterday and arrived at the tramsheds in Market street about 2.30 p.m. The tow was completed without incident, and the drivers of the towing vehicle said that better time than the average of 20 miles an hojjr which the units maintained would probably be made when the next bus was brought to Dunedin from Christchurch next week. The drivers of the tow unit, the bus, and escorting patrol cars of the Government Traffic Department were all in constant radio communication during the journey, and instructions were broadcast to traffic met on the way by the traffic officer in the car. The chairman of the Transport Commute of the' City Council, Cr E. J. Anderson, Cr Hayward, a member of the committee, the transport manager, Mr J. A. Todd, and the transport engineer, Mr E. E. Read, met the small procession at Brown House. Cr Anderson expressed pleasure at the safe arrival of the bus. The drivers of the bus and tow unit were Messrs R. Matthews and A. Thomson, and they were accompanied by Mr A. Blair, manager of the motor body supply firm, and Mr R. P. Lymburn, of the City Corporation’s Transport Department. All expressed themselves as well satisfied with the performance of the bus under tow. They said that it tracked like a motor car trailer, and they had no fault to find with the braking system, which operated between the vehicles. The bus weighs 8 tons 8 cwt, and the towing unit is a six-ton Diesel powered The tow from Christchurch, a distance of 236 miles, was made in two stages—the first to Oamaru—over two days.