British Trolleybuses Do Well in Cape Town
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THE largest fleet of trolleybuses in South Africa is operated -by the Cape Town Tramways companies. All the six-wheeled chassis in this fleet .are of Sunbeam manufacture and are equipped with B.T.H. electric-traction equipment, with the Ransornes system of regenerative rheostatic braking control.
The'first order for Sunbeam vehicles was placed in November, 1937, when a fleet of 60 vehicles was ordered. These vehicles, -fitted with 66-seater double-deck all-metal. bodies built by the Metropolitan-Cammell Weymann concern, were placed in service ,about 12 months later. In 1939 a further 11 Sunbeam vehicles were ordered with
• sirnilar bodies ancithese were in service the following year.
The Cape -Town trolleybus routes include long and severe gradients which ascend to the lower slopes of Table Mountain—on one route there is a rise of 352 ft. in a mile, with a maximum gradient of I in 8. We learn that the Sunbeam vehicles have stood up to the task admirably and have given reliable and efficient service.