Daily Kennebec journal., 1917-03-17

opening of the second days hearing
before the Public Utilities Commission
of the complaint by Gardiner. Halo
we'll and Augusta citizens that the SER
vice of the Lewiston. Augusta & Wat
eryille Street Railway was irregular.
insufficient and inadequate between
Hallowell and her neighboring cities
occasioned no little fun-it being the
fact that Commissioner Mullen was
about 20 minutes late. caused by the
steam cars being late. That put all
hands in good humor and the hearing
went through with dispatch and moth
ing but the most pleasant personal
feelings on both sides.
Attorney John E. Nelson of Augusta.
representing the Street Railway, re-
viewed the testimony presented on
Thursday by the petitioners or COM
plainants, summing up their case about
as follows: That they charged that
there had been and are delays in GER
tain scheduled cars and that some or
the cars were over-crowded and in in
stances insufficient cars had been pro-
vided.
He said the company admitted the
delays, but not the Over-croWdfng or
cars. The service for the last three
months had not been what was wished
, and he was surprised that more COM
plainants had not appeared. He did be-
.is6fe the people thought the road was
doing its best 1t had been hard WIN
ter, with storms and increased trafnc
and inability to get new cars from any
source. He outlined the troubles and
problems which have been confronting
the road and the plans under consid-
Grafton for improvement in the entire
service, all of which is covered in the
testimony of the following: -.
G. w. Bowie. general superintendent
of the Lewiston, Augusta d Water
vile Street Railway, said the recent
trouble in delay of cars began on Jan.
3. when one of the machines at the
Hallowell power house was short cir
cuited. The. plan there has three 200
kilowatt converters, two of which are
connected with the Central Maine
Power Cos. lines and the other with
the steam plant. 1t was found that the
damaged machine could not be repair
ed with dispatch and new parts could
not be secured, but the General Eiec-
trio Co. of Lynn finally said: send
tneIn TO us anu we "ii LA tiiSiA ~ 'AAN
best We can."
The machine was returned TO US on
Jan. 90, and in the meantime we had TO
depend on the one converter ana the
auxiliary other trouble had develop
ed / nthe plant and the voltage was
very low. we not getting more than
half or two-thiIds of our regular pow
er This resulted in injury to the mo-
tors of the cars and when the usual
current was again supplied and service
resumed, the motors went to pieces,
so that at one time we had p cars dis
abled. That has taken time. to repair
and get back il to the work
We. had on hand a good stock of
electrical supplies. more than the US
ual amount. probably enough to last
we'll into the spring or early summer
and had placed extra orders as anoth-
er safeguard, but it has been ana is
almost impossible to get supplies from
the dealers. We tried to borrow from
other roads and found most of them in
even worse shape than ourselves. we
lad q considerable amoutn Of wire on
hand. so put on men and made our own
field and armature coils for the disa-
hled cars, sent pare of them to out
of-town firms and put the cars back
in service at the earliest possible day.
The present winter has been the most
severe for the road since the lewiston
Gardner line was put in operation. We
added new plCws. The old plows were
used from Augusta to Waterville; 4
new 5000 plow ycrked on the lewiston
Gardiner run, releasing the big rotary
for work on other lines and we are
planning the purchase of another new
plOW.
He stated that high winds on fair |
days following snow storms often |
more disastrous to operating the road /
than the first storm. as it would blow |
in and keep blowing in. as fast as it |
could be removed. He read from rec i
ord kept in the Augusta office of the |
weather conditions betwene Jan and |
Feb. T.. in which snow storms and |
heavy winds predominated This rec
ord was not disputed
Traffic all over the system had in !