AUCKLAND ELECTRIC TRAMS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIII, Issue XIX, 4 November 1899, Page 826

AUCKLAND ELECTRIC TRAMS.

WHAT THEY WILL LOOK LIKE. In this issue there appear some pictures of the style of electric tramways which are shortly to be started in Auckland. Two of our pictures show the trams as they are now running in Milan, in Italy, and the other representing the ears in use, was taken in Newcastle, N.S.W.

The pictures show exactly what Aucklanders may expect, as the installation will be exactly similar. The system adopted is known as the “overhead system." In this system the distribution of electric energy is by means of a wire (called the trolley wire), supported by insulated brackets, at a height of about 20 feet above the ground, over the track for its whole length. Each ear has attached to its roof a long slender arm (the trolley pole, hinged ait the base, so that its outer end may move in any direction. At the outer end, a small deeply-grooved wheel is fixed, which, by means of springs at the base of the trolley pole, is pressed against the under side of the itrolley wire, and so runs along as the car proceeds. The current from the wire passes through the wheel and down the pole to the motor, from which it is returned to the source of supply by the ordinarytramway rails, which have special connections (bonds) at the joints to facilitate this. For simplicity operation, cheapness of construction, flexibility in adaptation, and reliability in service, this system is superior to any other. Quite 95 per cent, of the world’s electric 'tramway mileage of to-day is worked on this system. It has been in continuous service in the United States for the past twelve years, and during the last fewyears no radical change has been made in its design. These facts point clearly to its satisfactory character. American and Continental companies have carried the system through its experimental stages, and it is now ripe for general adoption. Practically the only objection to this system is an aesthetic one. With the earlier examples of clumsy wooden poles, and the indiscriminate festooning of wires overhead, there was good reason for this objection; but this is no longer the case with the present perfected methods of construction. We were supplied with the photos by the courtesy of Mr Hansen, representative of the Electric Traction Company. Limited.