Re: [Melb] Tait

["Peter Hinckley" <58emc1.nospam@concentric.dot.net>]

On Thu, 25 May 2000 23:23:39 +1000, HXP1 wrote:

>Brian Dunn <bdunn@pcug.org.au> wrote in message
>01bfc646$55aa55a0$534c0acb@dunners">news:01bfc646$55aa55a0$534c0acb@dunners...
>
>> Dear Iskra historians
>
>Iskra?
>
>> Forgive my iiggorance, but were not the dog box sparks hauled by steam
>> locos around the suburban system prior to electrification?
>
>Yes.  IIRC the swingdoor cars were canverted from loco hauled suburban cars,
>electrification of these cars meant a new underframe & an extention by one
>compartment.  Again IIRC the old underframes were then used for the PL's.
>
>> The swing door Taits, I always believed, were built in the 1920s, after
>> electrification had been, for all intents and purposes, completed.
>
>See CG's post.
>
>--
>HXP1
>(now with v6.08 software)
>
>

According to a specially compiled parts catalogue supplied by GE, which I
have in my collection, 100 sets of trailer car equpiment set up for one
control cab were sold to the Victoria Railways Commission some time around
August 13, 1920.  There is also a page describing the motor car equipments (4
GE 237-A motors, C-35 master controller, etc.) which also speaks about only
one control station per car.  A third page lists electrical aparatus for
trailers which didn't have any control cab equipment.  The Motor car page has
a notation of "400", but I doubt seriously that there were 400 Tait motor
cars.  If there were only 100, then this is a refrence to the total number of
traction motors; the meaning of the number isn't very clear.  There are no
notations about the number of non-control trailers.

As I understand it, the Southern Pacific copied the West Jersey and Seashore
electrification for its suburban lines in Oakland, California, in 1911 -- 
many years ago I read over the pencil notes made by those who the SP sent to
study the WJ&S (the SP was owned by the UP at the time, by the way).  These
guys made notes right down to the number and power consumption of the carbon
filament car lamps.  The WJ&S had "GE automatic type M control" and round end
windows, which I think was a Pennsylvania RR influence.  The SP installed the
same type of control and adopted round end windows soon after starting the
Oakland operation (they also used round windows in the Portland
electrification).  Working for the SP at the time was an Australian
electrical engineer from Melbourne, and he returned to Melbourne after the
completetion of the installation in Oakland, sometime around 1913 or 1914 and
worked on the VRys electrification.  Unfortunately I don't have his name nor
the exact date available.

The Tait cars used virtually the same electrical equipment as the SP cars
did: GE automatic advance type M with C-35 master controllers (the switch
group was a relay-controlled set of contactors).  The acceleration relay in
the cab is also virtually the same as the ones on the SP cars, and the use of
this type of acceleration relay was discontinued soon after 1920 in favor of
a more refined (and less expensive) type.  All three companies, the WJ&S, SP
(both in Oakland, 1911, and Portland Oregon, 1912) , and VRys, used virtually
the same C-35 master controller, which is unique in that it requires a small
"house key" rather than a standard reverser key to unlock the main operating
handle.  Turn the handle clockwise to go forward, and there are four points:
switching, series, switching, parallel; counter-clockwise to go in reverse,
and there are only two points: switching and series.  Take your hand off the
button on the handle and go into emergency unless the "house key" has been
removed, locking the handle.  Not very many electrifications used this type
of C-35 controller.  The ones used on the Tait cars have a small knob on the
top of the operating cylinder, and I believe this is a lock to prevent going
into reverse accdentally.  The SP used a slightly earlier version of this
controller which didn't have the lock, and when the cars went to the PE at
the start of WWII, the PE installed a home made version.  The reason the SP
in Oakland never had any problems of accidentally going into reverse is that
if you did it, you got fired (for a while); so I was told by an old-timer.

This is all I know about the Tait cars, other than to say they had CP-29
compressors, CDM-18-A 750/1500 V dynamotors, and very large [driving] wheels
by US standards.  How fast could these cars go??  It's possible they were
electrified earlier, but normally when GE issues a specially compiled part
catalogue like this, the date on it pretty much coincides with the actual
installation.  It also could be that this catalogue is a re-issue with
updates, but there are no notations to this effect, which would also usually
be inserted.  With the electrical engineer's return to Melbourne just in time
for the start of WWI, and all its subsequent disruptions, 1920 seems a very
reasonable date.

Peter Hinckley
Berkeley, Calif, USA