A SUPERSEDED TRAMWAY SYSTEM.
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Keighley's Plans for Substituting Tramcars by Railless Vehicles now Well Under Way.
TEIE WORK of replacing the whole of the tramway system at Keighley with a system of railless traction has -been commenced', an it is hoped to have the new passenger transport facilities in operation in the course of a few months. The necessity for this step arose in conse
quence of the bad condition of the rails throughout the whole of the three routes radiating from the centre of the town. With prices at their present-day level it was found impossible to reconstruct the whole of the tramway tracks with any hope whatever of the venture proving a financial success, and after careful consideration of local conditions it was decided that the tramway organization should be abolished. The operations in connection with the process of. changing over from one method to the other have been commenced first on the Utley route, and on this section the tramway service haS been confined to a single line. The rails have been dug out and cut up by means of oxy-acetylene flames in order to facilitate their removal in convenient lengths. The paving and macadam surface has been removed on extensive sections.
The railless service which linked up with the tramcars at the Utley terminus has been closed down and a through motorbus service from the centre of the town to Steeton, Cross Hills and Sutton has been commenced with three !meta roatic-tyrecl Guy saloon buses and a Leyland vehicle of larger capacity. The decision to run petrol buses was apparently arrived at somewhat soddenly, as the municipally owned vehicles commenced to run on the same day that a private undertaking commenced to run from private property in the borough, and there have been some sarcastic innuendoes named at the meetings of some of the outside authorities anent the consideration which the out-districts now receive at the hands of the Keighley Corporation after the residents had endured an unsatisfaStory railless service for a number of years. The old makes service svas certainly open to criticism on the score of comfort, and reliability was not always a etrong point, but it is interesting to note that with the up-to-date bus service running into the centre of the town loads far in excesa of any ever previously carried are being obtained.