The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-09-21
CARS.

TRAcKLEss CARS.
 A contemporary calls attention to what we may we'll call a novelty in trolley cars, and which We are told has already been tried to some extent in France. The idea. in brief. is to run the electric cars without the ordinary rails for the wheels to run on. In other words. the cars are to be driven by electricity. but are to run on the dirt roads. They are to be driven from trolley leading from overhead wires something in the same way that our street cars were once driven. barring the use of rails.
 This may prove to be a practical and popular innovation, but it is plain that two important conditions must be pro- vided; one is that exceptionally good roads will be necessary and the other that the wheels of the cars must be of a kind that win not be destructive to the roadbeds. It will be evident to all who will reflect on the matter that the rough, uneven and otherwise faulty roads to be found in so many parts of the country will not do for this kind of travel. The rosdways must be care fully constructed and kept in good re- pair to make this kind of travel on them practicable. This, by the way. may lead to the construction and the now be generally found.
 Another point of importance to be considered is the cars themselves. If they are made anything like as heavy as the ordinary street cars now in use. and If they are to do a general passen- ger business. 1t Is plain that the wheels must be of such nature and shape that they will not at once destroy the road bed. These difficuities provided against. we can see no valid reason why such cars may not be safely and eeonomi- cally operated in many parts of the country, where 1t would not pay to build an ordinary road.
 We are told that it is proposed soon to construct and operate cars of this kind from Chattanooga to waldon's Ridge, a distance of fifteen miles, and some details of the plan will not be out of place. "In a superficial way" re- rL. S~1I,r,hta State ache track less trolley construction is the same as the present overhead construction. but the parallel fails. There are no tracks and the trolley wires are strung on poles along each side of the highway. A specially constructed wheel rides on the top of the trolley wires and con- veys the electric current to the motor of the vehicle by flexible wire The vehicle is steered and operated in all respects like an electric automobile, its scope in the matter of variation from a direct course being regulated by the length of the flexible metal cord and the character of the road. Ideally. the cords would be of sufficient length to admit of being swung to the oppo- site trolley wires, and enabling the ve- hicle to operate in the opposite di- rection. The cars or coaches to be used on the Tennessee line will carry thirty passengers each"
 Who can say what results may fol- low this experiment and how far 1t may be carried? If it works satisfactorily in all respects. it will supply travelling facilities in many places and sections of the country where 1t would not pay to build a railroad of the present kind, and we see no reason why such cars may not be used for light freight as we'll as passengers. AS to that mat
 ter, why may not the we'll to-do farmer have such a road to haul his farm prod | ucts to his barns? In short, 1t seems
 to us that there may be great possibili-
 ties involved in the project.