The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-01-29
IMPROVING ITS TRACK
WORK OF STREET RAILWAY ON
 DEXTka AVENUE.
Company Is Laying Copper "Bonds' so as to Better Facilitate its Car
 Service fin M0mta ornery.

N -
 Possibly not one person in thousand Knows the cause of the pavement being torn up in several places on the tracks of the Montgomery Street Railway along Dexter Avenue.
 The average man looking at the holes in the pavement concIudes mat merely some minor repairs are making in the tracks and dismisses the subject from his thoughts. On the contrary these holes in the pavement represent one of the most vital elements in the operation of g street rallway ana 10 any one interested in electricity these holes form the basis of a most in- teresting study.
 At intervals along trolley line tracks a copper wire sunk under the 5cross- ties extends from rail to rail. A hole is bored in each rail and one end of the wire Is fastened in it. The cause of the wire being sunk under the track is that the fish plates connecting the rails are of steel and besides the fact that they are not as good conductors as copper, they would be quickly corro- ded by the current passing through the wire. To obvtate this. copper bonds" are built between the rails and under the tracks In the manper described. The electric power from the strolley passes down into this bond and thence. into the two rails. The wheels of the car receive therefrom that much power in addition to the power from the over. head trolley. The power is. after be- ing used. returned to the power house by means of this bond. If there Is a defective or broken bond the wire being grounded of course the current Is des- troyed and the power is lost. '..s.
 As a precautionary measure double bond is now building. so that there will always be two chances instead of one chance of saving the power.
 At five different points in the city poles are erected with curious looking boxes at the top-onc on Court Square. one on the corner of Columbus and Lawrence Streets, one in front of the State capitol. one in front of the police station at the corner of Madison Ave- nue and Perry Street and one at the south end of the long trestle of the Riverside Park line. The current from these bonds passes through wires into the boxes on top of these poles and thence is returned through other wires direct to the power house in north Montgomery.
 The big power house at Tallassee de- flyers 30,000 volts to the power house in north Montgomery, this being dis tributed to the various commercial en- terprises throughout Montgomery. lights and street railways.
 About 2,500 volts arc used daily by the Montgomery Street Railway. The limit legally is 500 volts for motive or street railway purposes, only about half of this being required except in the case of an emergency.
 Another reason for tearing up the tracks is that the Montgomery Street Railway is endeavoring to put a stop to the noise being made by some of their cars. When the line was origi- nalIy butt in 1894 very light ties, six by seven, were placed on the founda- tion of the roadbed, and with the light cars in use then they answered very purpose. Now, however, conditions are different and the light ties placed five feet apart are unequal to the task of making a firm foundation for the heavy cars in use.
 Heavier ties. seven by nine. are being put down three feet apart, and the unpleasant jarring and shaking and no less unpleasant noises will soon be stopped almost entirely.