View showing conduit tram track reconstruction at King's Cross station, London, c1912
An interesting photograph reproduced in an article in "Concrete" magazine just prior to the First World War and showing the reconstruction of the bridges over the Metropolitan Railway's line at Kings Cross station in London. The electrification of the bulk of the London tramway system was carried out by the London County Council after 1903. The Council were forced to chose, because of the concerns of other local authorities as to the visual impact of overhead wires as normally used on urban tramways, the highly complex and expensive conduit sysyem of electrification. This image clearly shows the huge cast iron 'yokes' that had to be sunk under the road to form the continuous conduit that carried the electrified rail. The current was collected by the tram through the use of a plough that hung under the tramcar and that passed through a slot in the road surface that sat at the apex of the yoke as seen here. This system lasted until the very end of London's tramways in 1952. Some other operators used a similar system, most notably Washington DC but care should be taken not to confuse this with the cable car tram system that is still in use in San Francisco and that famouslt was also use din Edinburgh until electrication on the overhead system in 1923/5. The scale of this construction can still be found today in some of London's streets in that these cast iron yokes were so massive a task to remove at abandonment they were frequently left in-situ and they do, occassionally, show up in modern roadwork excavations. The works here formed part of the reconstruction of one of the bridges over the Met and Widened Lines a little to the east of the main line station. On the left is one of the entrances to the Kings Cross tube station and this shows an early canopy as well as the use of the Maltese Cross for the 'Cross' in Kings Cross that was seen in early years.
View showing conduit tram track reconstruction at King's Cross station, London, c1912
An interesting photograph reproduced in an article in "Concrete" magazine just prior to the First World War and showing the reconstruction of the bridges over the Metropolitan Railway's line at Kings Cross station in London. The electrification of the bulk of the London tramway system was carried out by the London County Council after 1903. The Council were forced to chose, because of the concerns of other local authorities as to the visual impact of overhead wires as normally used on urban tramways, the highly complex and expensive conduit sysyem of electrification. This image clearly shows the huge cast iron 'yokes' that had to be sunk under the road to form the continuous conduit that carried the electrified rail. The current was collected by the tram through the use of a plough that hung under the tramcar and that passed through a slot in the road surface that sat at the apex of the yoke as seen here. This system lasted until the very end of London's tramways in 1952. Some other operators used a similar system, most notably Washington DC but care should be taken not to confuse this with the cable car tram system that is still in use in San Francisco and that famouslt was also use din Edinburgh until electrication on the overhead system in 1923/5. The scale of this construction can still be found today in some of London's streets in that these cast iron yokes were so massive a task to remove at abandonment they were frequently left in-situ and they do, occassionally, show up in modern roadwork excavations. The works here formed part of the reconstruction of one of the bridges over the Met and Widened Lines a little to the east of the main line station. On the left is one of the entrances to the Kings Cross tube station and this shows an early canopy as well as the use of the Maltese Cross for the 'Cross' in Kings Cross that was seen in early years.