July 1909

摘要

When the battle of the gauges was raging 60 years ago, various devices were proposed for enabling vehicles to run on the lines of either gauge. Amongst the several methods proposed for obviating the difficulty, the most general were telescopic axles, and wheels that could be slid along the axle and fixed to run on the 7ft or 4ft SViin gauge. Mechanical appliances were not so perfect in those days and none of many ingenious devices was found to meet all the exacting conditions imposed by the change of gauge. The same difficulty has arisen with regard to tramways but, happily the engineering difficulty has been overcome, with the result that a tramcar service between Leeds and Bradford was inaugurated on June 7 by the Lord Mayors of the two cities, each of whom drove a decorated car to the boundary between their respective jurisdictions.