>I have seen a tram broken down at Melbourne University and when the light
>rail/tram emergency came they tied the patograph down to the roof (the panto had
>broken) and untied the trolley and put this up the tram then letf under its own
>power running special. They only problem I can see with this is the tram can
>only go one direction. It could go backwards on the trolly but it would run
>into problems all the time and run the risk of bring down the wire down over
>crossovers.
>
>Chris Gordon
>
>cmgord@ecr.mu.oz.au
>
>http://www.ecr.mu.oz.au/~cmgord
>
>
>
>Bill Bolton wrote:
>
>> mccallum@melbpc.org.au (John McCallum) wrote:
>>
>> > I believe the reason for leaving one pole on the pantograph Z3s is to enable
>>
>> > the tram to be operated by the one remaining pole if the pantograph is
>> > damaged, otherwise it would necessary for the tram to be towed back to the
>> > depot.
>>
>> Form observations in Swantson Street a few weeks back, the "remaining"
>> trolley poles on pantograph equipped Zs that still had them did not
>> appear to be particularly usable. The trolley retrievers were gone
>> and the pole was lashed to the roof. It would have taken quite a
>> while to get the tram mobile using the trolley pole, if indeed it was
>> possible at all.
>>
>> > A secondary reason might be that it was cheaper to leave one pole there than
>>
>> > to remove it. :-)
>>
>> I suspect that this might be the real case.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Bill
>>
>> Bill Bolton billbolton@acslink.net.au
>> Sydney, Australia
>
>
>
If the poles are fitted normally, they can be rotated by a fussy use
of two ropes to run in the "wrong" direction without the problems
mentioned.