ELECTRIC BUSES IN YORKSHIRE.
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Developments and Difficulties in the Use and Maintenance of this Type of Vehicle.
RECENTLY there has been a number of developments in connection with the various trolley-bus services rim in conjunction with municipal tramway services in the North of England. The tramway departments of Bradford and Leeds have both been very active in their
endeavours to improve this type of vehicle, and have, or will shortly have, experimental machines on thts road. At Leeds an attempt has been made to reduce the vibration and increase the comfort of the passengers, and the experimerit of taking the drive through the front wheels is being tried on one ve
hicle. At Bradford, powers have recently been applied for to. build another of the hybrid trolley bus Vehicles used for Parcel carrying baween Bradford and-Leeai:-hia..take'Curierit from the tramway wires 'S at the same time replenishing'itsstorage batteriCa'to. ' allow it to travel-ori-"rdads 'over Which there are no tramway wires. ° Permission has also been Obtained from , the JYrinistry of Transport for double-deck bodies to be fitted to the trolley-bus pas senger service vehicles.. At prescrit,-the•trolley-buses only accommodate 2g pas sengers, but the Ministry, of Transport has agreed to the construction of a special vehicle to accommodate 51 passengers on tsivo cle-ckS. Permisaidn has also been given for the new bus to exceed the limit of five tons when fully
loaded. .
At present there is, probably, only one double-deck trolley-bus in the country, this being one in the service of-theKeighley Corporation. A picture of the vehicle is reproduced on this page. This bus was brought from the Continent by a Viennese company, which was responsible for the construction of the service, but was wound up during the war. The
044 Keighley system was the only one of its kind erected here, and considerable difficulty is being experienced in keeping the cars on the road through inability to make good any repairs which are needed. The company introducing the system into the country undertook the repairs for a certain period, but., through lack of suitable equipment since the company's activities ceased, it has been almost impossible to get the work done. Partiedlarly difficult has been the rewinding of the motors, which are of peculiar struction. The motors are part of the driving wheels, the drive being as dire} as it possibly could be. The field magnets are bolted to a rigid bar, which forms part of the axle, and round the magnets the armature revolves, the armature being part of the hub of the wheel.
The accompanying photograph shows a driving wheel with the dust cover removed from over the motors and from this it will be seen the current is carried through the axle and thence to the brushes on the outside of the wheel. The surfaces of the brushes face inward and press against the side of the commutator, transmitting the power in ,14 novel way.
At the present time ‘the. 1(eighley,Corporation. is in dispute with the West Riding County Council with,iiegai:d'to`running poivers over a'section of the 4olleybus:. ront4: which is in the afea of -the county -authority. An extension. was 'completed irt..Linglist, 1916, arid the .ecjuipdient was certified as fit 'by the Board of Trade, after the usual inspection. The County -Council was represenfed at the inspection', and afterwards, in view of the difficulty in obtaining Material-toirepair the roads, the Corporation 'agreed to delay the opening of the extension' until after the Wars With the passing' Of the Transport Bill, Irowever, .the' County Council had power to prevent the, opening of the route, and they made full use of this power. Thelieighley corporation are endeavouring to get .permission to run trolley-buses on the route, however, but they have not Sufficient vehicles fully equipped to keep a. full service on the routes on which they have full powers to run.