Foxton96
Trolleybus overhead rebuild at Ferrymead Heritage Park, Christchurch, 16/11/2019
In the closing days of 2019, and courtesy of Alan Roi, a view of the recent trolleybus overhead reconfiguration that has been in progress for some two months now and which will also meet with the new Health & Safety requirements.
WELLINGTON ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT ARRIVES
The Tramway Historical Society has been able to obtain a matched Transformer and solid state Rectifier set from the former Wellington trolleybus system. This has recently arrived on site. And in the same container, there were nine boxes of trolleybus overhead parts purchased from the Wellington Tramway Museum – many of which will be needed for the new trolleybus bracket arms that are intended to be installed.
The next step for the new transformer/rectifier set is to determine how this equipment will be stored in the short-term, pending subsequent installation. We intend to consult a panel of “experts” to determine the next step/s – and how soon these next steps should occur. This panel of experts would likely involve Society members such as Steve Lea, Dave Sanders, Murray Sanders, Greg Harris, Brian Lester and Alex Hunter should be involved, their brief being to help determine:
- Do we leave the items in the container, or move them to “better” covered storage, and if so, where – Traction Substation if there is space, Tram Barn 3 or possibly elsewhere, and how soon?
- What do we need to do to commission the transformer/rectifier – and likely costs, and how soon? We may have to fund raise for this.
- Will it be “instead of”, or “as well as” the current Mercury Arc transformer installation in the Traction substation?
TROLLEYBUS NEWS
Alan Roi informs that all of the trolleybus wiring has been moved over to new poles and work has now moved down to the depot area. Here the focus is on realigning and simplifying the overhead to give a better result operationally, as well as reducing both the weight of the overhead and the possibility of de-wiring or stopping in a dead section when trolley bus services resume.
As of 7 December, the overhead had been transferred to temporary hooks at the new height; future work parties will focus on properly installing the overhead and bring the network one step closer to being operational again.
Here is the latest from Alan Roi. ... We have managed to connect all the existing spans to the replacement poles and we now have the old ones ready for our line contractor, Independent Line Services to remove. There are still a couple of poles we would like to replace in the area beside the Trolleybus Shed.
As part of the preparations for a cycleway running along the perimeter of the Ferrymead Park, a contractor to the City Council has been through and undergrounded the 66kv. power supply that feeds through to the port of Lyttelton. As part of this exercise the domestic wiring on Truscotts Rd and the relevant section of Ferrymead Park Drive has also been undergrounded and removal of the domestic wiring is underway. The requirements for overhead power lines in Christchurch specify new poles, not second hand, so all those in this work area are being removed and presented to us. It is more economical than the line contractors taking them away. We are sharing these with our good friends in the Ferrymead Railway but will get a number of good treated poles for further use on the trolleybus system.
Work is now concentrating on the area around the trolleybus shed. We had a complicated arrangement of wiring out the front of the shed that needed simplifying and repositioning. At one stage our trolleybus folk had plans to go from the shed into the Ferrymead township with a 3 different routes having been suggested. However we did not have the contact wire or the poles to do this job so it is currently just a possible future plan. Facing points had been installed at the start of this but were a problem with buses dewiring and as a consequence the overhead is being realigned through this area and the points are about to be removed. With this happening and the overhead being simplified at the front of the shed there should be considerably less chances of a dewirement or stalling on a dead section of overhead. As part of this realignment process a good portion of the overhead in the shed area has been removed from its hangers giving the impression it is catenary style railway wire but this is only temporary to keep the wiring clear of vehicles travelling through the site.
A number of new span wires have been installed to raise the overhead.
The Tramway Historical Society Inc. is located at the Ferrymead Heritage Park in the Christchurch, New Zealand suburb of Ferrymead and operates the standard gauge Ferrymead Tramway. Trams have operated at Ferrymead since 1968, with progressive extensions built between 1970 and 1984 allowing trams to operate within the boundaries of the Heritage Park. The Society also operates and own a collection of historic trolleybuses and diesel buses.
Trolleybus overhead rebuild at Ferrymead Heritage Park, Christchurch, 16/11/2019
In the closing days of 2019, and courtesy of Alan Roi, a view of the recent trolleybus overhead reconfiguration that has been in progress for some two months now and which will also meet with the new Health & Safety requirements.
WELLINGTON ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT ARRIVES
The Tramway Historical Society has been able to obtain a matched Transformer and solid state Rectifier set from the former Wellington trolleybus system. This has recently arrived on site. And in the same container, there were nine boxes of trolleybus overhead parts purchased from the Wellington Tramway Museum – many of which will be needed for the new trolleybus bracket arms that are intended to be installed.
The next step for the new transformer/rectifier set is to determine how this equipment will be stored in the short-term, pending subsequent installation. We intend to consult a panel of “experts” to determine the next step/s – and how soon these next steps should occur. This panel of experts would likely involve Society members such as Steve Lea, Dave Sanders, Murray Sanders, Greg Harris, Brian Lester and Alex Hunter should be involved, their brief being to help determine:
- Do we leave the items in the container, or move them to “better” covered storage, and if so, where – Traction Substation if there is space, Tram Barn 3 or possibly elsewhere, and how soon?
- What do we need to do to commission the transformer/rectifier – and likely costs, and how soon? We may have to fund raise for this.
- Will it be “instead of”, or “as well as” the current Mercury Arc transformer installation in the Traction substation?
TROLLEYBUS NEWS
Alan Roi informs that all of the trolleybus wiring has been moved over to new poles and work has now moved down to the depot area. Here the focus is on realigning and simplifying the overhead to give a better result operationally, as well as reducing both the weight of the overhead and the possibility of de-wiring or stopping in a dead section when trolley bus services resume.
As of 7 December, the overhead had been transferred to temporary hooks at the new height; future work parties will focus on properly installing the overhead and bring the network one step closer to being operational again.
Here is the latest from Alan Roi. ... We have managed to connect all the existing spans to the replacement poles and we now have the old ones ready for our line contractor, Independent Line Services to remove. There are still a couple of poles we would like to replace in the area beside the Trolleybus Shed.
As part of the preparations for a cycleway running along the perimeter of the Ferrymead Park, a contractor to the City Council has been through and undergrounded the 66kv. power supply that feeds through to the port of Lyttelton. As part of this exercise the domestic wiring on Truscotts Rd and the relevant section of Ferrymead Park Drive has also been undergrounded and removal of the domestic wiring is underway. The requirements for overhead power lines in Christchurch specify new poles, not second hand, so all those in this work area are being removed and presented to us. It is more economical than the line contractors taking them away. We are sharing these with our good friends in the Ferrymead Railway but will get a number of good treated poles for further use on the trolleybus system.
Work is now concentrating on the area around the trolleybus shed. We had a complicated arrangement of wiring out the front of the shed that needed simplifying and repositioning. At one stage our trolleybus folk had plans to go from the shed into the Ferrymead township with a 3 different routes having been suggested. However we did not have the contact wire or the poles to do this job so it is currently just a possible future plan. Facing points had been installed at the start of this but were a problem with buses dewiring and as a consequence the overhead is being realigned through this area and the points are about to be removed. With this happening and the overhead being simplified at the front of the shed there should be considerably less chances of a dewirement or stalling on a dead section of overhead. As part of this realignment process a good portion of the overhead in the shed area has been removed from its hangers giving the impression it is catenary style railway wire but this is only temporary to keep the wiring clear of vehicles travelling through the site.
A number of new span wires have been installed to raise the overhead.
The Tramway Historical Society Inc. is located at the Ferrymead Heritage Park in the Christchurch, New Zealand suburb of Ferrymead and operates the standard gauge Ferrymead Tramway. Trams have operated at Ferrymead since 1968, with progressive extensions built between 1970 and 1984 allowing trams to operate within the boundaries of the Heritage Park. The Society also operates and own a collection of historic trolleybuses and diesel buses.