AUCKLAND MUNICIPAL HANDBOOK
working. A number of ingenious machines for making use of old material and saving manual labour have been installed and found to be of great service.
Stores.
In close proximity to the repair shops are the stores where over 5,000 different material items used in the upkeep and running of the tramways are stocked. Oil is kept in a small building isolated from all the others. Tram rails are stacked in the open. Wood, bitumen, and other stores are kept underneath the paint and wood-working shops.
OVERHEAD CONSTRUCTION.
There are three types of construction:—Centre pole, side pole, and span. The poles are made of steel or of wood (totara and Australian iron bark). The trolley wires are mostly 3/0 S.W.G. hard drawn copper, but experiments have recently been carried out with Phono electric wire.
FEEDERS.
The trolley wire is divided into a number of sections, each of which is fed from the Power Station or Substation. The feeders comprise vulcanised bitumen and lead-covered cables, some laid solid in bitumen-filled earthenware troughs, and others drawn into conduits, and also of 4/0 B and S bare copper wires fixed on the poles which support the trolley wires.
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