From our Berlin Correspondent.
Page 18
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The first State motorbus line in Austria was formally opened a few days back in South Tyrol. It connects up Neurnarkt with Predazzo, both luggage and p,assengers being carried. By way .of a beginning, two Daimlers are used.
It has been arranged that the German omnibus and van trials shall take place from the 7th to 12th October inclusive. As previously announced, the stages are Berlin-Brandenburg, Brandenburg-Magdeburg, Magdeburg..
Quedlinburg-, Quedlinburg--Dessau, Dessau-Jilterbog„, jiiterbog-Berlin.
At a recent sitting of the Ortsverein of Wansee, near Potsdam, it was decided to form a limited liability company with a capital of .4.2,000 for the acquisition of two motorbuses, each carrying from 26 to 28 passengers. The Berliner Terraingesellschaft (Berlin Land Company), Wansee, is largely interested in the new concern, it being obvious that any improvement in traffic means increase in the value of the company's landed property. Motorbus Lighting.
The Berliner Afigemeine OmnibusGesellschaft's motorbuses are lighted by Osram lamps, placed on the market by the Deutsche Gasgluhlicht-Aktiengesellschaft. For an illumination of 4 candle-power, for instance, the Osram lamp requires but two accumulator cells, that is, 4 volts only, with a consumption of current equal to r watt per normal candle-power. Hence the consumption of the Osram is one-third that of the carbon lamp, and a battery two-thirds the size supplies the necessary current.
Seven thousand of the ro,000 kilometres which form the itinerary for the steam-driven and electric vehicles on trial by the Berlin Fire Brigade have already been covered, and Branddirektor Reichel is now in a position to decide, on the results of actual experience, that both systems are adapted for conditions prevailing in Berlin. Yet the electric vehicle, I understand, will play the foremost part, the steam-propelled engines constituting reserve forces for attacking fires in the city, as well as being possible auxiliaries for the outlying suburbs Singularly enough, the Berlin Corporation did not think it worth while to purchase a petrol-driven engine for purposes of experiment ; the claims of this class of vehicle to prac
ticability were utterly ignored. Anyhow, the horse will go and will be replaced by the modern method of haulage in the German capital.
Postal Motorbuses.
From their early experiences in motorbus traffic, the Bavarian traffic authorities, Excellence von Frauendorfer at the head, have learnt that a lighter type of vehicle than that originally put on is better suited for the work, arid, accordingly, the new Bavarian motor post single-deckers, twenty in number (with as many trailers), possess a carrying capacity of i tons only. This rolling stock works five lines, and our illustrations show the tractor and trailer coupled up and on the road between Garmisch and Mittenwald. In general, the chassis is identical with the 3-ton Marienfelde model. The engines are 4 cylinder motors of some 28h.p. Entrance to the tractor is effected from the side, at the rear-end, and there are seats, arranged crosswise and lengthwise, for T5 persons, and, in addition, there is standing room for an additional five. On the ether hand, the trailer is entered from the back, and it is fitted with longitudinal seats for 3 6 passengers. The windows of both vehicles can be let down, so that, in the heat of summer, sufficient ventilation can be obtained. The seats are covered with leather and are comfortably sprung. In order to avoid turning in narrow roads, the trailer has two, pivoted underframes, whereby it can be steered backwards or forwards. The stays of the steps, which can be folded, serve to lock the adjoining under-frame. Each under-frame is fitted with a brake, worked from a detachable seat at the back. One of our illustrations shows the conductor in the act of braking the vehicle.