TAN: Blackpool (was Re: Melbourne, Christchurch)
dayoung007
Tuesday, August 28, 2001 4:43 AM
--- In TramsDownUnder@y..., groompg@e... wrote:
They're not a generic design, but they are mainly associated with the
Blackpool modernization of the mid-1930s as the vast majority of the
type was sold to Blackpool, 96 sets as far as I know, but there may
have been a few spares to provide a float as well, although don't
quote me on that. Some were 4' 9" wheelbase, some only 4' and I think
that split has to do with whether they went under the double-deck
Balloons or the other single-deck cars.
Not much has been written about these trucks, built by the English
Electric Co., successor to (among others) Dick, Kerr of Preston. They
were quite advanced for their time without being radical in that they
had the underslung laminated leaf spring under the substantial
roller-bearing axlebox, but were otherwise equipped with the usual
hornways etc. and one 57HP motor per truck on everything except the
boat cars, which got elderly controllers and one 40HP motor per
truck--IE they were all two-motor cars-Balloons, railcoaches, boats. A
couple of sets went elsewhere, including Sunderland nd Liverpool.
I believe Sunderland car 99 was 4-motor and so was Liverpool 819 which
also had this type of truck from 1937 to 1951. The Birkenhead group,
now running the Wirral Heritage Tramway and including among its
members many of the old Merseyside Tramway Preservation Society
(responsible for Liverpool 869 at Crich) has just resuscitated
Liverpool 762 of 1931 and has put it on a set of these trcuks
ex-Blackpool.
Whether it is 2 or 4 motor, I don't know--they were 4-motor when built
(758-769) and in their lives ran on a remarkable mono-motor type that
pre-dated the Duewag design by several decades, and later on EMB-built
lightweight bogies of the kind Glasgow, Leeds, Aberdeen and Auckland
also got. So putting it on the Blackpool trucks is a good idea-it
makes the car go, Liverpool might well have done so in 1951 under
diffrerent circumstances, and there aren't any spare EMB lighweights
around now.
I don't know how well these English electric trucks rode when new.
They rode badly when I first knew them in the late 1950s although some
were better than others. On good street track they were OK, but not on
the Promenade and sleeper tracks which have a more resilient
foundation. Someone talked about the Balloons havinbg recently been
remotored so they can do 35 mph. I haven't heard about that but it is
true that in the 40 years or more I've known Blackpool, they were all
quuite dreadfully slow cars, noisy and bouncy when needing overhaul
and hard-riding too when the track was bad.
Resilient-wheel cars on Maley & Taunton HS44 inside-frame trucks with
rubber blocks in the suspension and 4 motors (IE the long-gone but by
me lamented "Spivs" or "Roberts" or "Corontation" cars of 1952-4 cars
304-328) rode beautifully over the same bad track, and until geared
down a bit, quite a bit faster as well. 14 more railcoaches got these
trucks as well and took over the Marton (street running) route in
1952. They ran wonderfully, whereas English Electric bogied cars rode
fairly badly and heavily, wrecking the nice new track in the process
by corrugating it up.
Yet the surviving EE bogies remain in Blackpool service to this
day... They must be doing something right.
Andrew D. Young
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. . . No, no Phd, just been fascinated by tramcar trucks since I
were nobbuta lad. . . .
As a (British?) truck expert, what can you tell me about the trucks
under the Blackpool Boats, at least #228, now on SF MUNI. They
look so very British that I assumed that they were a generic
design, but . . .
They're not a generic design, but they are mainly associated with the
Blackpool modernization of the mid-1930s as the vast majority of the
type was sold to Blackpool, 96 sets as far as I know, but there may
have been a few spares to provide a float as well, although don't
quote me on that. Some were 4' 9" wheelbase, some only 4' and I think
that split has to do with whether they went under the double-deck
Balloons or the other single-deck cars.
Not much has been written about these trucks, built by the English
Electric Co., successor to (among others) Dick, Kerr of Preston. They
were quite advanced for their time without being radical in that they
had the underslung laminated leaf spring under the substantial
roller-bearing axlebox, but were otherwise equipped with the usual
hornways etc. and one 57HP motor per truck on everything except the
boat cars, which got elderly controllers and one 40HP motor per
truck--IE they were all two-motor cars-Balloons, railcoaches, boats. A
couple of sets went elsewhere, including Sunderland nd Liverpool.
I believe Sunderland car 99 was 4-motor and so was Liverpool 819 which
also had this type of truck from 1937 to 1951. The Birkenhead group,
now running the Wirral Heritage Tramway and including among its
members many of the old Merseyside Tramway Preservation Society
(responsible for Liverpool 869 at Crich) has just resuscitated
Liverpool 762 of 1931 and has put it on a set of these trcuks
ex-Blackpool.
Whether it is 2 or 4 motor, I don't know--they were 4-motor when built
(758-769) and in their lives ran on a remarkable mono-motor type that
pre-dated the Duewag design by several decades, and later on EMB-built
lightweight bogies of the kind Glasgow, Leeds, Aberdeen and Auckland
also got. So putting it on the Blackpool trucks is a good idea-it
makes the car go, Liverpool might well have done so in 1951 under
diffrerent circumstances, and there aren't any spare EMB lighweights
around now.
I don't know how well these English electric trucks rode when new.
They rode badly when I first knew them in the late 1950s although some
were better than others. On good street track they were OK, but not on
the Promenade and sleeper tracks which have a more resilient
foundation. Someone talked about the Balloons havinbg recently been
remotored so they can do 35 mph. I haven't heard about that but it is
true that in the 40 years or more I've known Blackpool, they were all
quuite dreadfully slow cars, noisy and bouncy when needing overhaul
and hard-riding too when the track was bad.
Resilient-wheel cars on Maley & Taunton HS44 inside-frame trucks with
rubber blocks in the suspension and 4 motors (IE the long-gone but by
me lamented "Spivs" or "Roberts" or "Corontation" cars of 1952-4 cars
304-328) rode beautifully over the same bad track, and until geared
down a bit, quite a bit faster as well. 14 more railcoaches got these
trucks as well and took over the Marton (street running) route in
1952. They ran wonderfully, whereas English Electric bogied cars rode
fairly badly and heavily, wrecking the nice new track in the process
by corrugating it up.
Yet the surviving EE bogies remain in Blackpool service to this
day... They must be doing something right.
Andrew D. Young
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http://us.click.yahoo.com/zoU8wD/4m7CAA/ySSFAA/DiTxlB/TM
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