Petrol Tram Cars.

Progress, Volume I, Issue 8, 1 June 1906, Page 206

Petrol Tram Cars.

A few Continental towns have been testing the merits of petrol tram cars recently. English enterprise put the internal combustion engine to the test for tram-car propulsion some ten years ago, but the system was given no fair trial. Excessive capitalisation and weak financial control killed the chances of what might have, subject to careful management during the initial stages, rendered unnecessary the adoption of electric rraction for road passenger transport. Where tram cars are admissible, or where circumstances exist which render the continuance of a railed

system desirable, there will be openings for the self-contained and self-propelled vehicle. The small propulsive effort which is required where a metal wheel runs upon a metal rail is admitted by all engineers, and it is this feature which will, under favourable circumstances, enable the petrol tram car to hold its own with the petrol omnibus. In fact, we conceive circumstances under which electrically propelled tram cars may be held inferior to those which are fitted with an internal combustion engine, and we anticipate that this branch of passenger transport will receive increasing attention from municipalities and companies m different parts of the United Kingdom. The tram car which is independent of a central generating station provides a guarantee against general suspension of traffic through a mechanical or line failure, but it is still subject to the common disability of running on a fixed track. The petro! tram car must, therefore, be inferior to the motor omnibus in traffic capacity. — Commercial Motor.