The Indianapolis journal., 1899-02-27
WEAR AND COST OF TRoLLEYs.
The Underground System Less Expen-
siVe than the Overhead.

New York Times
"The underground trolley system YOU
have over in New York is illustrating some
points OF value TO u.s., said the Brooklyn
trolley magnate, waving a sheet of paper
covered with figures of costs for repairing
his roads. I'm bet they have no such items
of expense as these. We're just beginning
to realize the actual cost of running an
overhead trolley system. The wear and
tear on the rolling stock, wires. and tracks
are greater than we ever estimated. The
fact Is the life of the cars, rails, and over
head work Is not much greater than ten
years. The wires are not anything like as
durable the tracks. We find that the
cost of repairing them increases rapidly
every year. l believe all the Brooklyn troll
ley roads will be forced to adopt the un-
derground system in self-protecton. The
initial outlay is great, but in the end the
profits will be nearly doubled by virtue of
the reduced cost of operating the cars
Now, when we first started building
electric roads we used a small No trolley
wire. The electricians told us that this
small wire would practically last forever
The revolving wheel of the trolley was sup
posed to reduce the friction to an infinites-
imal factor; but it was not many years be-
fore the wires began to break. Especially
al curves. switches, and crossings the
breaks were numerous and bad. The wires
were wearing out all over, and then We
adopted the No. l size WIRE which is much
larger. This was soon superseded by No. 0
trolley wire, and to-day we use the big
that we were extravagant in adopting such
thick wire but considering the wear and
tear on even these thick wires we think it
was a wise step.
1--WE have to send a heavy current through
these wires, and they have to be of the
strongest and heaviest nature. When the
wires begin to give out the process advances
rapidly, and before you know 1t there is a
serious break somewhere. One reason why
we prevent breaks to-day is that we re-
place worn wires just as soon as they show
signs of serious friction. When we trusted
to the electricians we were dropping live
wires in the streets about every day, and
In xxyCt f1 hoe m lfln nGf lIC hfaF
and fast. The courts held that we were re-
sponsible for injuries caused by broken live
wires and this woke us up to a more con-
servative policy of action.
Another serious question with us is
caused by the erratic actions of that little
overhead trolley. You've watched 1t spin
around on the wires. Well, II goes all right
for a distance, and then, without any ap-
parent reason at all, 1t suddenly jumps the
porting side wires. Now, every time that
trolley Jumps the wire we estimate it costs
us several dollars. Not that It Injuries the
trolley wheel materially, but because it
work for a hundred yards in either direc-
uon. Sometimes the pole strikes the sup
porting wires half a dozen times before the
car is brought to stop or the conductor
succeeds in capturing the elusive trolley,
I'VE have devoted more attention TO that
trolley wheel than anything else on the sys-
tenn and we can't remedy the evil We have
tried dozens, yes scores of different pat
ents OF trolley wheels. but not one answers
the purpose. The swayng Of the car is
really the cause of the trolley jumping the
wire. and this adds greatly 10 the friction.
Some wheels cannot endure the strain inn
posed upon them and they give out i'm two
or three days Others last for months. The
only solution TO our troubles ia to adopt
the underground system, and that. / think
wa will come to before many years"