A Noisy Night Worker

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18015, 27 November 1926, Page 17

A Noisy Night Worker

i Keeping the P.ails Smooth (By A.H.C.) LIKE “The Mills of God’ the Tramway Board's grinder grinds extremely slow and sure, but very noisily. Every night this queer looking plant is towed out to some part of Christchurch to remove corrugation from the tram rails, in order that the passengers I may have a more comfortable ride bt> j tween their suburban homes and their , places of business. Ail night long the machine works its noisy way along, while steel shoes holding block of car- ; borundum stone, move rapidly backwards and forwards, leaving a fine polished surface behind and taking off every little excrescence that might tend to jolt a fast moving tram car. I By means of a long rod which cari ries a a insulated cable, power u o;»tained from the overhead wires, and every now and agaiu the watchful attendant who is always around his strange charge, oiling the healings or adjusting the pressure of the brushes on the rails, moves the rod along to keep up with the automatic movement. One set of gears driven by aa electric nv tor keeps tnc brushes moving and another set keeps the whole machine quietly moving along at the rate of' abottt a chain an hour where the going is not too rough. But this is certainly not ouc of the .silent workers of the night, and lia glad I don’t live on a tram route, t