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Front-boarding only for BBs
On 16/01/2020 19:52, Bryan Morris wrote:
Problem with trams/trolley busses is they can't overtake each other and go at the speed of the one in front. With narrow streets they cause congestion. We used to have a trolley bus route outside our flat, there was a junction so the conductor had to get out to pull a chain switching the poles in a form of overhead points. Quite often then the poles became detached from the line and then they had to stop again whilst the conductor pulled a long pole from underneath the bus to fix the overhead poles to the wires again, with a build up of traffic behind. Then if the trolley bus broke down they could only travel a few yards on a battery so again great build up behind (and no room on a narrow road for other busses to pass without themselves getting detached from the wires. No trolley busses in Central London as the wires were unsightly. If roads were wider and straighter OK but London in particular was not built with trolley busses in mind. Wasn't a problem! Where routes 667 and 657(?) merged - at Busch Corner, Isleworth - the drivers used to hold back intentionally so that the other garage's trolleybus took the strain ALL the way along the Chiswick High Road! I guess that the same thing happened with trams - and the habit carried through to the age of Routemasters UNTIL - in 1971, I think - the bonus system switched from garage-based to crew-based. In an instant the drivers were suddenly Stirling Mosses when heading for Busch Corner! BTW - and this comment is only as good as 50 years memory allows - I seem to recall that the ex-trolley drivers at FW said that they switched wires by biasing the trolleys as they approached the bifurcation. PA |
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