Leyland Railcars at their Destination.
Page 4
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An Interesting Account of Difficulties Attending the Inauguration of a Service in the Heart of Brazil.
By the Engineer-in-Charge.
Upon my arrival at Pernambuco, I found the steamer containing the first motor tram in dock, but, owing to the limited accommodation and the usual Brazilian Custom-house antipathy to getting the goods dispatched quickly, it remained there another ten days. At Parahyba, I waited another fortnight before getting the 14 cases of machinery through the Customs. The next difficulty I had to contend with was the unloading of the cases from the railway wagons, and the tiansport of them to the train station—which e, as about two miles away. As there was no crane or lifting tackle of any kind on the railway, I had to get two old railway lines and to slide the cases off the wagons on to the ground ; as two of them were 22 ft. long and 7 ft. wide, it was no easy task. However, with the aid of 25 niggers, this was safely accomplished. The only means of transporting them was to put the cases on a bullock-cart, or else on a luggage tram drawn by mules. The bullock-cart was found to be too small, and not strong enough, so it had to be the luggage tram. When this arrived, it was not long enough to allow the two big cases to go on, so I took away one end of the tram, having to cut the bolts off, as they had completely rusted up. With the aid of about six mules and a crowd of niggers, we took the cases up one at a time to the tram station. They had practically no tools at all, and, as I had brought a good supply of spanners, jacks and pulley lblocks, I was able to commence
the work of erection immediately.
The first public appearance of the motor tram was last week [Our correspondent's covering letter is dated the 22nd February.—ED.] when I took the Governor of the State, Dr. Maxhards, and about 15 of the Government officials round the town on the tram. The whole of the population appeared to be lining the streets, and many mouths and eyes were opened wide. The soldiers outside the barracks came to attention and saluted, and the bugles were sounded. Messages kept coming to me from the passengers to drive very slowly ; whether it was because they were nervous, or because they wished the populace to have a good look at them, I cannot say. Everything went off without a hitch. She climbed a verylong hill of about 1 in 16, with 25 passengers, quite easily, though, of course, not on the top speed. The people here are very keen on riding on the motor tram, just for the sake of the ride. It is full almost invariably, and, fortunately, they will not permit more than the seating capacity of the train allows.
The service (with mules) was formerly used, before the advent cf the motor, once every half-hour ; it 15 now every quarter of an hour, using the same number of mules and one motor. The motor is used simply to run up from the town to the top of a hill about a mile away ; there it meets two mule trams, which run in opposite directions at right angles to the route the motor tram follows. The engine is a fourcylinder, 30 h.p. Leyland. The tram
lines were exceedingly bad at the switches and points, and the curves exceedingly sharp. I have had the points repaired, and the outer rail of the curve considerably superelevated, and it has improved the line enormously. The second tram I shall start on public service on Sunday. The only other commercial motor
know, is a 30-cwt. Panhard lorry, which carries cloth from a mill about nine miles away along the only road worth calling a road out here. Even this would be called an apology for a road in England. There are stretches of very-soft sand upon it, and the only way to get through is to rush at it whilst on solid ground, and to .get as far as one can without stopping the engine. Next, one gets into the reverse and goes back a little way along the wheel tracks, gets up more speed and goes forward on the bottom gear as far as one can ; one then repeats this process until once more the solid road is reached. The remainder of the road is exceedingly lumpy, and it is a wonder that more mishaps do not happen to the wagon.
There are only two pleasure cars here : one a little two-seated car of 7 h.p. made in Germany ; one a Ford car. The roads in the town itself are not very good ; the tram lines are the best part to drive on. In Pernambuco city, there are about 25 commercial motors in various stages of decrepitude, and they are all foreign except one or two Thornycrofts, and they appear to be running very well. The fact of the matter is that the roads are in a disgraceful state of disrepair, and they do not seem to know how to repair the machines properly. A commercial motor for this country should be built exceedingly well, have steel wheels, and the brakes protected from sand and dust. It should also be gear driven, unless the chains are well encased, but a gear drive is preferable. It should be as simple to understand as possible. The wheelbase must be short, owing to the sharp turns and narrow roads, and there should be an ample supply of cooling water for the engine. A canopy over the driver's seat to protect him from the sun is essential. At the present moment, I cannot say that there is a very-great demand for commercial motors in this part of Brazil, owing to the state of the— or, rather, the absence of—roads.