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forward the conduit channel veered sideways to outside the running track, automatically ejecting the plough - the tram was said to be 'shooting the plough'. At the changeover from overhead wire to conduit the process was a little more complicated. The tram pulled up alongside a ploughman, who engaged a two-pronged plough fork over the plough in a short length of unelectrified conduit and into the plough channel underneath the centre of the tram. As the tram drew forward, the conduit channel moved under the tram, carrying the plough into position. The conductor pulled down the trolley pole and stowed it. The ploughman's job was a fairly skilled one because, if he failed to locate the plough fork correctly, it or the plough could jam in the plough channel and cause lengthy delays. Some tram designs required an extra carrier to be located with the plough and these frequently caused problems for ploughmen not used to the design (particularly if the tram had been diverted from its normal route).
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370:. It had two cables with female connectors on cables to attach to matching cables of the car's electrical system. A "plowman" was assigned at each changeover point from overhead trolley wire to conduit to remove the cable attachments to the car and stow the plow, which did not remain with the car and was reattached in an incoming car running on overhead wire. The lower section of the plow "board" was drawn by the moving car within the cavity of the conduit. Because of this usage, many of Washington's streetcars carried
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161:. The conduit contains two "T" section steel power rails of opposite polarity facing each other, about 12 inches (30 cm) apart and about 18 inches (46 cm) below the street surface. Power reached the car by means of an attachment, called a plough (US – plow), that rode in the conduit beneath the car. The plough had two
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frequently very short, requiring cars to change from overhead to conduit and back several times in one journey. The last conduit line in Paris closed in 1936. The last
Bordeaux conduit car ran in 1958. The conduit systems in Berlin, Vienna and Budapest were very short lived, being replaced by overhead wires before World War I.
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In New York City, the
Queensboro Bridge between Manhattan and Queens had tracks installed on the outer lanes with conduits for Manhattan cars in addition to overhead wires. The conduit allowed them to run to Queens Plaza terminus without need for removing the plough and raising the poles. In later
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Conduit current collection systems were used in several major cities, including Monaco, Dresden, Prague, Tours, Washington, and London, Other
European hybrid tramway networks included Paris, Nice, Lyon, Lille and Bordeaux in France; Berlin, Vienna and Budapest. In Paris, the conduit sections were
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had a hybrid network of double-deck trams: overhead collection was used in the outer sections and conduit in the centre. At the changeover from conduit to overhead wire, at a change pit, the process was largely automatic. The conductor put the trolley pole onto the wire, and as the tram moved
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Conduit current collection was one of the first ways of supplying power to trams, but it proved to be much more expensive, complicated, and trouble-prone than overhead wires. When electric street railways became ubiquitous, it was only used in those cities that did not permit overhead wires,
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attached to springs that pushed sideways against the power rails. The plough was normally connected to a platform that could slide laterally to conform with variations in the placement of the conduit. For example, some trackage had a conduit for cable cars next to the one for electric cars.
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In some old photographs, two "slots" may be seen between the rails. In New York City, sometimes one slot was used for a cable line and the other for electric cars. Occasionally, two competing lines shared a common track and had independent slots for the ploughs of the respective cars. In
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The expense of creating conduit lines in New York was reduced where it was possible to convert the cable vaults from discontinued cable car lines. The huge cost of building new conduits gave New York the distinction of having one of the country's last
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also entered
Manhattan under wire, but did not use city streets. The primary reason for the initial adoption of conduit systems was for aesthetic reasons as an alternative to overhead wiring that was often objected to as being unsightly.
305:, two slots were sometimes used on a single-track stretch in a narrow road so that cars in each direction used separate conduits. Known as twin-conduit track, examples were found in York Road, Wandsworth and London Street, Greenwich.
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where the conduit plows were detached and the trolley poles raised, the reverse operation taking place on inbound runs. The 'pit' here has the meaning analogous to racing circuit pits rather than a depression in the road.
242:. The conduit was replaced with overhead electrification, as sand and saltwater entered the it and caused breakdowns, and there was a problem with voltage drop. However the line survives to this day as part of the
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of 1851. The last tram was withdrawn in June 1952 and virtually all the tracks had been removed by the 1970s, although a short section can still be seen at the entrance to the former
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including London, Paris, Berlin, Marseilles, Vienna, Budapest, and Prague in Europe, and the New York City borough of
Manhattan and Washington, D.C., in the United States.
374:, which were lowered while operating in the central part of the city; when the cars reached a point where they switched to overhead operation, they stopped over a
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The power rails are contained in a conduit midway between and below the two surface rails on which the cars operate, in much the same fashion as the
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Information, photographs and some sound clips about the ground level power supply system currently being used in
Bordeaux, France.
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The current was carried by a flexible cable from the plough through the platform to the car's controller and
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276:-based trolley lines entered the northern reaches of Manhattan using overhead wire. Trolley lines from
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are not part of the electrical circuit. In the United States, the cars were sometimes popularly called
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some tram lines were fitted with conduits, the last ones being converted to overhead operation during
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Also in 1885, a conduit system was used on
Britain's first electric tramway in the seaside resort of
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to streetcars via a "conduit", a small tunnel under the roadway. Modern systems fall under the term
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501:"Directly and Indirectly Reducing Visual Impact of Electric Railway Overhead Contact Systems"
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had the largest installation of conduit cars, due to the prohibition of overhead wires on
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Electrifying the streets: the surface-contact controversy in give
English towns 1880-1920
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New conduit track was laid in 1951 for the
Festival of Britain, which commemorated the
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of the original conduit line also still survives, and is preserved at the
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Illustrated articles on London's conduits and the
Kingsway Tram Subway.
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years the conduit was removed and only trolley wire remained.
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to avoid wires, as required by an 1889 law. Some lines used
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Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C.
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J Baggs (March 9, 2006), "5.1 Ground Level Power Supply",
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is an obsolete system that was used by some electric
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Conduit current collection was pioneered in 1885 in
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Conduit for current collection between the rails of
235:. The balky system was replaced three years later.
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Horse power giving way to conduit power in New York
46:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
531:Urban Mass Transit: The Life Story of a Technology
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555:"Blackpool Electric Tramway Company Ltd. No. 4"
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640:Wire-Free Traction System Technology Review
181:but did not typically draw power through a
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106:Learn how and when to remove this message
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44:adding citations to reliable sources
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533:. Greenwood Press. pp. 45–47.
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610:Gerry Colley (November 27, 2014),
394:Abandoned conduit trackage at the
362:areas. The last such line ran to
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582:. Capital Transport, pp.179-81.
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1005:Railway electrification systems
499:Jack W. Boorse (January 2005),
31:needs additional citations for
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505:Transportation Research Record
443:Railway electrification system
314:London County Council Tramways
297:, which operated until 1917.
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124:streetcars in Washington, D.C.
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1010:Tram electrification systems
825:Electro-diesel multiple unit
55:"Conduit current collection"
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517:10.1177/0361198105193000107
473:John H. White, Jr. (1966),
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780:Conduit current collection
578:Harley, Robert J. (2002).
131:Conduit current collection
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820:Electro-diesel locomotive
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770:Ground-level power supply
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433:Ground-level power supply
346:, had a large network of
143:ground-level power supply
529:Post, Robert C. (2007).
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1031:Electric rail transport
750:Railway electrification
705:Railway electrification
625:10.21954/ou.ro.0000d65c
619:, The Open University,
599:The process illustrated
557:. Crich Tramway Village
481:, 66/68 (46): 216–230,
438:Online Electric Vehicle
411:Kingsway Tramway Subway
396:Kingsway Tramway Subway
252:National Tramway Museum
233:electric street railway
218:National Tramway Museum
851:Traction power network
815:Electric multiple unit
648:Edinburgh Tram Network
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861:Traction powerstation
580:LCC Electric Tramways
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354:when they approached
231:, the world's second
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364:Cabin John, Maryland
339:Hybrid installations
295:Bleecker Street Line
216:, on display at the
40:improve this article
856:Traction substation
810:Electric locomotive
775:Stud contact system
835:Rubber-tyred metro
712:Current collectors
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316:experimented with
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540:978-0-313-33916-5
428:Current collector
327:In the centre of
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244:Blackpool tramway
210:Conduit tramcar 4
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29:This article
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830:Multi-system
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734:Contact shoe
729:Trolley pole
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559:. Retrieved
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511:(1): 57–61,
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333:World War II
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38:Please help
33:verification
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969:Switzerland
959:Former USSR
932:New Zealand
765:Fourth rail
561:26 February
382:In the UK,
293:lines: the
163:metal shoes
149:Description
1025:Categories
870:By country
760:Third rail
724:Pantograph
448:Third rail
260:Derbyshire
159:cable cars
96:March 2013
66:newspapers
922:Lithuania
877:Australia
805:Power car
240:Blackpool
214:Blackpool
942:timeline
927:Malaysia
487:40067257
421:See also
376:plow pit
360:suburban
329:Brussels
291:horsecar
278:Brooklyn
185:from an
179:trolleys
137:to pass
135:tramways
979:Ukraine
897:Germany
887:Estonia
882:Austria
139:current
80:scholar
974:Turkey
964:Sweden
954:Russia
949:Poland
937:Norway
917:Latvia
892:France
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400:London
384:London
322:Hoxton
303:London
282:Queens
171:motors
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998:Lists
912:Japan
902:India
644:(PDF)
617:(PDF)
483:JSTOR
460:Notes
356:rural
274:Bronx
256:Crich
248:Car 4
212:from
193:Usage
175:rails
155:cable
87:JSTOR
73:books
907:Iran
584:ISBN
563:2024
535:ISBN
509:1930
280:and
157:for
59:news
621:doi
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