37

H.— 24.

J. H. BBENNAND.]

originally fitted with the Standard air brake, and this was-changed by one designed by the department. I have had experience with the air brake in Auckland. lam satisfied that the National air brake is as good as the Christensen. 1 have no doubt about it that I should prefer to have the air brake on the Auckland cars. Of course, I mean with the assistance of the track brake. We can make very satisfactory stops on the Auckland hills with the air brake. We have made tests of the working of the air brake apart from the ordinary work. If the air brake were worked without the track brake I consider that the leverages would require to be lengthened. We have made tests with the air brake on the cars coming down hills here with lengthened leverages. We have records of those tests that were made, and of the condition, and adjustment, and so on. Those tests were taken by the Public Works Department when the air brake was first installed. We altered the leverages in various ways, so as to. give an increased leverage, to compensate for the extra weight of the car, and speed. The rail at the time; of the tests being made was very bad. Some of the tests were taken with the air brake in conjunction with the track brake, but the majority of the tests were taken with the air brake alone. 1 consider the tests were satisfactory when made by the air brake alone, when the ksverages were lengthened—that is, as far as the tests went. I consider the tests were not fair tests, seeing the state of the rail and the overloaded car. The car was loaded 50 per cent, overload —that is, over its carrying-capacity. The car was travelling at the rate of seventeen, miles an hour on n l-in-14 grade, with the air brake alone operated for the purpose of making stops. The track brake here is a good one, but it took some considerable time to get the men to find out the efficiency of it. My personal opinion is that it is a, good track brake, slightly bettor than the one we had at North Sydney. It would be scarcely possible for me to fit the Auckland cars with the magnetic brake at the- present time. There are sixty bogie cars here, and I do not consider we could get the magnetic brake applied to them very well. There would be ninety-five cars in all fitted with that brake, and they would require new cross-bundles, the wiring of the car, new rheostats, and also to be equipped with a new controller, in addition to ninety-five sets of magnetic brakes. I have estimated the cost of that to be about £40,000, apart from anything being done to the motors. I should say the total cost would be about ,£50,000 approximately. The fitting of the cars with the National air brake would cost between £10,000 and .£12,000. 1 think 1 could fit about five cars per week with the air brake — that is, after the arrival of the materials. The company made preliminary arrangements for the purchase and installation of these brakes if they were approved, and I estimated the quantity of material required. I cannot state definitely that provisional orders were given ; that would be a head office matter, and I am hardly conversant with that. The installation of the air brake could be completed, I think, by about next February. If the magnetic brake were to be installed it means pretty well the rebuilding of the cars. The body remains the same, but the whole of the rest, as to cutting off the wiring and controllers, &c, would mean a reconstruction. lam afraid that I could not do more than one or two cars each week at the most. It would be a pretty slow process, and would take over two years. It would not disorganize the traffic, but we only lay up a few cars at a time. From my knowledge of electric tramways, there would be practically no advantage in the magnetic brake to justify the increased cost. My contention for the air brake is that to all intents and purposes it is a sure brake. The man has the gauge in front of him, and can see that he can apply same, whereas you are rather in the dark as to_ whether the magnetic brake is going to apply. If the man's air has ceased pumping, or anything of that kind, the man has time to stop his car, but with the magnetic brake he has none whatever. Assuming the position of two cars coming down the Parnell Rise, one fitted with the air brake and the other with the magnetic brake, assuming the necessity for a fairly good stop, and assuming that something goes wrong with the magnetic brake on the one car and something wrong with the air brake on the other car, you would be in a safer position on the car fitted with the air brake—that is, if it had installed upon it the braking equipment which the company propose to put in. The two cars upon which we have fitted the air brake and track brake have worked entirely satisfactorily. Car No 75 has been running one year and four days, and No. 48 a slightly shorter time. Since the installation of the compressor on No. 75 car, I opened it to see the effect of the wear, and the way the compressors have behaved, and have found nothing wrong. These cars have never been into the barn in consequence of complaint. There has been no trouble with skidding of the wheels, but the wheels were flattened once by the application of the electric brake. It was to prevent a collision at Mount Eden, and the collision was prevented. That is the only occasion on which these cars have been into the barn. Gar No. 48 was fitted with the air brake on the loth May last. No 75 was fitted on the 15th April. Up to date No. 75 has approximately run 35,000 miles, and No' 48 3 500 miles I made this up a few days ago. In 1907 I went on an extended trip to America and Canada, to study the" latest developments, working and treatment oi tramways, under credentials of the New South Wales Government. I visited New York Chicago Toledo, Detroit, Buffalo-in fact, had a general cruise all round. I spent pretty well the whole of my time and took a keen interest in the tram-works. The brakes were air brakes almost entirely. I came across many places where the conditions were similar to those here. From Buffalo to Niagara they hid steep grade ; in Toronto and in Vancouver also. They had the air brakes in those places, but not inTonfunction with the track brake. In those places the leverage would be lengthened to a greater exten than under service conditions in Auckland, as they had very big brakes in most of them but that is a mechanical detail. The speed averages about ten miles an hour, but m the San service from town to town-say, from Toledo to Detroit, or from Buffalo to Niagarathe urban seivioe iio air-brake equipment has been satisfactory Sr y tfo°se iP syst mf f ~ed "tJ the officers controlling the the Christensen brake on those i entirely in.favour of the air brake as against the magnetic r IU k Pin& The a ri oIS Id" « because at that time Sydney was having trouble with the ma^etfc it was one of the points to which I particularly directed my