Vol. X No. 3. The Trolley Cars in Bremen. The length of the line is 6.21 miles, of which 4 miles is laid with single track, and 2.21 miles with double track. Among the progressive communities of Northern The entire system consists of two lines, one running from Germany, the flourishing city of Bremen, with its white the Burgerpark to Freihafen, and the other from Horn to houses and well kept streets, was one of the earliest to the Hohen Thor, the lines from the railroad station to the adopt electric traction. The steady horse car had for corner of the Langen and Kaisers Strassen being common many years carried the staid burgers of the old Hanse to both systems. City by the Weser, along its narrow, picturesque streets, The power station for the generation and supply of crowded with historical memories, when to be a city of the current is located on the Schlachthof, near to the line to principal Hanseatic League meant almost to be a repub- the Burgerpark. It is a brick building constructed in lic. But the expansion of the town by the growing trade three parts, one containing the engine and generator of the world, a goodly part of which has chosen Bremen room, the second the boilers, and the third and smallest FIG. 1. — ELECTRIC CARS PASSING THE MARKET PLACE—BREMEN, GERMANY. as its inlet to the vast markets of the North German ter- the coal bins. It covers 4,777 square feet of ground ritories, determined a beneficial change in transportation space. The roof of the engine room is of iron, wood and methods, and electricity has been chosen to replace the waterproof material; that of the boiler room and coal horse on its street railway system. house is of corrugated iron. A 118 foot smokestack The noble Rathhaus of Bremen, with its statues overtops the whole. of seven electors and one emperor of the Holy The steam plant consists of two Babcock & Wilcox Roman Empire, and the Rolandsaule, erected in 1412, water tube boilers, furnishing steam through jacketed probably look down with surprise from their position on pipes brought through the wall of the engine room to the Marktplatz, upon the swift moving trolley cars, the three Mcintosh & Seymour high speed engines. To these most modern method of transportation. It was in 1891 are directly belted three standard 100 k. w. Thomson- that the Bremen Strassenbahn Gesellschaft began seri- Houston multipolar generators. In addition, there are ously to consider the question of changing its system of two smaller engines driving two Thomson-Houston arc traction. After considerable discussion, the Bremen Com- light dynamos, and furnishing current to the lamps in the pany finally decided to adopt the Thomson-Houston sys- Burgerpark 500 yds. away. tem as the most practical, and the contract was accord- The track is substantial and solid, laid down with ingly awarded to the Union Electricitats Gesellschaft, of that thoroughness which characterizes continental street Berlin. In May, 1892, the road was completed, and the management. It is laid in channeled girder rails resting electric cars were doing business. upon longitudinal stringers and cross ties, the whole upon i5° THE STREET RAILWAY JOURNAL. [Vol. X. No. 3. a solid concrete foundation. The rails are brought flush Along these passages between houses — for they seem with the surface of the street, and are carefully bonded nothing more— the current is carried on trolley wires sus- for the return. pended by the usual insulating appliances from galvanized On account of the many narrow streets through iron span wires, which are, on account of circumstances of location, stretched between ornamental suspension devices fastened to the sides of the houses. In the broader streets, the span wires stretch between tall steel poles set on both sides of the road. These, as in that part of the line farther from the Borse, are almost hidden by the trees, and only the slender over- head wires above the track can be seen. The outermost portion of the line, that running into Horn, is carried on ornamental side brackets, which are also to a great extent concealed by the foliage of the trees. At the Marktplatz all the lines converge. Here the over- head and track construction be- comes full of turnouts and switches, and is a fine example of perfect work in that direc- tion. FIG. 2.—STREET SCENE—BREMEN, GERMANY At the present time the Bre- mer Strassenbahn Gesellschaft which the cars have to pass, and the numerous curves and has twenty-five motor cars, eighteen of which are turnouts, the construction of the line is peculiarly striking, operated on week days and twenty-two on Sundays and and none the less effective on account of its novelty, the holidays. The car bodies of the motor cars are to some electrical cars running, starting and stopping with no extent the same as were used originally in the horse car FIG. 3.— INTERIOR OF RAILWAY POWER STATION—BREMEN, GERMANY. more difficulty than the discarded horse cars. The service, but they have been properly altered and strength- Langenstrasse and the Geeren are, perhaps, the narrow- ened to meet the modern requirements. Each car is est streets on record along which electric cars have ever equipped with one of the well known W. P. 30 type of traveled. Another remarkable part of the line is that Thomson-Houston motors, motion being communicated to running from the Logestrasse into the Schiisselkorb, the axle through a single reduction gear, enclosed in a where a curve and a turnout are found together at the casing and running in oil. Control is secured through corner of two extremely narrow streets. rheostatic controllers. The maximum speed in the city March, 1894. J THE STREET RAILWAY JOURNAL. limits has been fixed at from nine to twelve kilometres The Hepair Shops and Car House of the Albany (5.6 to 7.5 miles) per hour, and on the line nearer Horn, Railway, Albany, N. Y. at from twelve to sixteen kilometres (7.5 to 10 miles) per hour. At this speed each motor car is able to draw after The repair shops of the Albany Railway, and the car it one of the old tin horse cars, as a trailer. The motor- house for the Troy and Albany division, are located at men and the conductors are dressed in a semi-military North Albany, near the corner of Broadway and Erie uniform. Street. The buildings were originally the car house and A few figures will suffice to show that the public is stables of the Watervliet Turnpike & Railroad Company, appreciative of the change. In 1891 the road to Horn was but since the latter company has come under the man- operated by six horse cars, while it is now operated by five agement of the Albany Railway, they have been enlarged electrical cars, the time occupied in the journey remain- and adapted to the requirements of the electric system. ing the same; yet taking 1891 and 1892 and comparing Fig. 4 shows the exterior of the two buildings, the one at the incomes, we find that only 71,1 19.70 marks, were taken the left being the repair shop. The car house, the front in the former year, while in the latter the fares reached of which is also shown, is 70 X 200 ft. It has seven FIG. 1—INTERIOR OF CAR HOUSE, ALBANY RAILWAY—ALBANY, N. Y. 86,950.30 marks, exclusive of extra cars and commutation tracks. Between the rails of four of these tracks steam tickets. This shows an increase in the business of 15,- pipes are arranged, as shown in the interior view, Fig. r. 830.60, marks, or 22.2 per cent, by the abandonment of The repair shop, a plan of which is given in Fig. 3, horse traction. The entire expense for the past eight is 80 X 160 ft., and is fitted with tools and appliances for months amounted to 32,284.97 marks, or 36 per cent, of doing all the heavier repairs of both the Albany and the the income. This result was, of course, vastly modified in Troy divisions. Two brick walls running from front to 1893, as aH the lines have since been equipped with elec- rear separate the building into three sections. On one tricity, and the station expenses are now distributed side are the carpenter and paint shops; on the other the over a larger number of cars. armature room, machine and blacksmith shops. The In conclusion, the Bremen road is now an example to middle section is used for the repairing of cars and continental cities, and, should they follow it, they will find trucks. It is provided with pits beneath the track, and is it probably as productive of as excellent results as shown accessible either from the front or rear of the building. in the foregoing. Tracks are secured to the walls by brackets; on these run two traveling cranes of 6,000 lbs. ultimate capacity; each The Cleveland Electric Railway Company intends to with two self-sustaining 3,000 lb. hoists to each crane. carry out the promises made by the East Cleveland Rail- The cranes were furnished by T. Shriver & Company, road Company, one of the old lines recently consolidated, New York. Fig. 2 shows a car raised from its truck; with regard to the distribution of money prizes to the also the means for taking hold of the body with the men working on that line. The amount was $3,000, one- hoists.