The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-02-09
TROLLEY COMPANY.
Reports a Constant Fight With Bad Weather Thts severe wintsr-whst nrannn.r pnndsr1ord snxa

Reports a Constant Flight with Bad
 Weather Thts severe wintsr-whst
 Manager Punderrotd Says
 As bearing upon the complaint against the trolley service during the past few weeks of disagreeabie weather. the of ficials of the Fair Haven & Westyille road were asked yesterday under what disadvantages they had been obliged to work. General Manager Punerford made the following statement:
 Since the second of January the conditions for the satisfactory running of trolley cars have been the worst since the road was equipped in 's4.
 Very few gutters have been opened and the tracks have been filled with water in many places to a depth vary ing from a few inches to in some cases over a foot The cars running through have thrown the water up upon the electrical equipment and caused short circuits, disabling cars temporarily.
 'In some cases the small lead wires running from the cables to the motors have burned out, in other cases a re- sistance has been short circuited. These two troubles the repair gang are able to remedy in a short time after the car is run into the repair shop. When the motors are disabled, either from an armature Or field burning out, the trouble is more serious, both from a monetary point of view as well as in the time necessary to make the repair.
 ITO replace a field it is necessary to open the motor frame. take out the bolts, securing the field to the frame and bolt in the new field.
 If the armature is burned out it is a more serious condition, taking con- siderable time, though we carry extra ones in stock, costing say $50 to $150 for the repairs.
 s9The repair gang at the shops has been worked day and night, as well as Sundays, and not going home for their meals, the company furnishing same to save time.
 Owing to the slippery condition of the rails many of the cars, especially { the double truck ones, have gotten fiat wheels from having the air applied and the wheels sliding. This is a slow con- dition to remedy, as it necessitates the l lacking up of the car and the replac- ing os new wheels after the motor, gears, etc, have been removed. A gang of from 50 to 100 men has been kept constantly at work letting off water | "A ;e, possible. Extra crews have been held at the barns all night under pay to be ready for snow storm, sleet or other need of running blows, cars with sleet wheels, etc.
 Ion Saturday morning an unusual condition existed, inasmuch that at 3 a. m. it began to hail, thus covering the wire with coating of ice. Cars with sleet wheels were immediately started out and this difficulty overcome with success, only to find that the hail had changed to rain, and the tempera- ture being only 25 degrees above zero, the rain froze on the rails, and as it is impossible to put any ice cutting de- vice on the rails the only method was to run the cars up on the ice, thus cracking it off, and then back up and buck it again, which is a very slow procedure.
 l "We admit that the service over the whole system has been poor during the Ipast five weeks especially and regret same deeply.
 We can only say we are doing the best we can under the circumstances, and trust our patrons will consider the difficulties under which we are oper- ating the road.
 "We have learned that other roads are experiencing the same difficulties, l though no two towns meet the same conditions in the same storm owing to l the difference in wind and temperature. | ''We have recently contracted for $75,0o0 worth of new large open cars for next summer, and trust we shall be able to give our patrons satisfactory service.
 we can assure the public we shall do everything in our power to accom- modate them."