And now for something completely different.....

E

Engineer

Western Thunderer
Just a footnote on en-route Conduit change points/'pits' in London
Can't find a map or list that's on-line or free from copyright, and the list I made at the start of my tramway interests, age 10 or so, isn't to be found. Here's my re-created list of the 21:

Archway Road/Archway Tavern
Manor House/Seven Sisters Road
Manor House/Green Lanes
Stamford Hill/Amhurst Park
Stamford Hill/High Road
Clapton Lea Bridge Road
Hackney Well Street
Mile End Road/Burdett Road
Limehouse/Burdett Road
East India Dock Road/Abbott Road
Woolwich High Street
Lee Green Eltham Road
Downham Way
Camberwell Coldharbour Lane
Brixon Gresham Road
Brixton Effra Road
Streatham High Road/Gleneagle Road
Tooting Junction Mitcham Road
Tooting High Street/Longley Road
Summerstown Plough Lane
Wandsworth Putney Bridge Road

Very small number of others on the system at depots or yards.
Some asides:

1 Both Blackpool and Bournemouth used conduit supply, neither to the London specification, nor for very long.

2 In the Canning Town/Iron Bridge area, thanks to a road diversion in 1932, a change pit was moved laterally to a new alignment, but the old layout survived for many years after trams disappeared:
https://flic.kr/p/2kzevEK

3 Famous film from early 1950s "The Elephant will never forget"
Very brief glimpses of change pit operation 1:35-2:05 [probably Woolwich].
Good film, but not to everyone's taste, some may prefer to watch without sound.

4 Amateur film of the last of London trams, plus trolleybus scenes
Trams and Trolley buses
 
C

chigley

Western Thunderer
brilliant film:) i remember the old scrap yard up the road from me breaking up the old Brighton trolley buses and the smoke drifting across the village

Ken
 
simond

simond

Western Thunderer
I’m not sure about the twin pans, that sounds like a recipe for getting dewired…

there was a study by Ford some 30 odd years back where the crash barrier was modified to provide power, and steering. Effectively, the driver would drive alongside the barrier, and then engage the guide shoe with it, and then it’s hands-free. Batteries & motor control were pretty crude, and there was no adaptive cruise control in those days…
 
Jordan

Jordan

Mid-Western Thunderer
MoatLane said:
Join a few together and hey presto: you have a freight train!
Click to expand...
Yeah, "but"..... very very few trucks (around zero, in fact) on the motorway start & end their journeys at exactly the same time, from the same place, going to the same destination. :rolleyes: ;)
 
simond

simond

Western Thunderer
Lots to be gained by impromptu convoys, control systems of adjacent vehicles talking to one another (and Google maps or whatever) and they then move together as a block, savings in road space because the trucks can travel at speed far closer than they usually do, and savings in fuel from the drag reduction.

Vehicles can join and leave the convoy as required.

Possibly the driver of vehicles 2 to n can catch up on their rest time too, though that might have (un) predictable consequences
 
Dog Star

Dog Star

Western Thunderer
simond said:
Lots to be gained by impromptu convoys, control systems of adjacent vehicles talking to one another
Click to expand...
"Prometheus", proposed in mid 1980s. Seemed a good idea then and probably lacking the technology to implement at that time.
 
Jordan

Jordan

Mid-Western Thunderer
simond said:
Lots to be gained by impromptu convoys, control systems of adjacent vehicles talking to one another (and Google maps or whatever) and they then move together as a block, savings in road space because the trucks can travel at speed far closer than they usually do, and savings in fuel from the drag reduction.

Vehicles can join and leave the convoy as required.

Possibly the driver of vehicles 2 to n can catch up on their rest time too, though that might have (un) predictable consequences
Click to expand...
It all sounds great in theory, and might work well on endless, level blacktop somewhere like the American Mid-west, but in the UK there are numerous practical difficulties that make it a far less attractive proposition.
 
Joe's Garage

Joe's Garage

Western Thunderer
Fascinating thread on a subject close to my heart....trams.
As a note to the conduit system I thought the plough energised the the system feed when the tram picked up the plough...I am sure I understood it from the Tramway Information website you guys mention above? Or am I confusing the stud pickup used by some early networks?
Julian
 
Yorkshire Dave

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
The stud contact system energised as the tram was passing over but was deemed unreliable mainly due to friction, the number of moving parts and electromagnet technology of the time.

It was tried by these operators: Hastings and District Electric Tramways, Lincoln Corporation Tramway, Mexborough & Swinton Tramway, Torquay Tramways and Wolverhampton Corporation Tramways.

There's a bit more here Stud contact system - Wikipedia
 
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Nick C

Nick C

Western Thunderer
simond said:
Trouble is that it’s been recently published that the particulate pollution from tyres may be worse than that from the exhaust.
Click to expand...
It is - larger particles (PM10) cause more of a problem when inhaled than smaller ones (PM2.5). Wear of the road surface is also a problem, and of course friction material from brakes. I saw a report from several years ago that stated that only half the particulate pollution from cars came from the tailpipe - so even going to totally electric wouldn't eliminate the problem.

Trams are therefore a good solution for city transit - especially as most these days use regenerative braking, so there's much less braking emissions. They're also available as battery-electric, so you can avoid overhead wires in sensitive areas (Nice in France uses them through the old town, they drop the pantograph at one stop, and put it back up when the wires return a few stops later).

To keep on topic, Tram tunnels are a thing in some cities on the continent too, with Krakow having one much like a modern version of the Kingsway Subway, complete with a station in the middle - although their platforms are all on the outside, as the trams are single-ended and only have doors on the pavement side.
 
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