Old London tram with helical wire on the front

[Basil Jet]

Jago's video about Highbury & Islington contains a modern picture of a preserved London tram just after 8 minutes in. It has what looks like a pig's tail on the front just below the upper floor windows.

Is it an original feature, or some weird artefact of the preservation? What does it do? I haven't seen anything like it on the numerous other pictures of old London trams that I have looked at.

 

[edwin_m]

I think the trolley pole rope is sort of flicked into the spiral, probably so it doesn't flap around and bang on the window. But not totally sure.

 

[EyeKay]

I’m guessing it was something to do with guiding the trolley rope. Many of the London trams ran on the conduit system in the city centre, so the trolley pole was tied down.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 13 Dec 2024 ==

I’m guessing it was something to do with guiding the trolley rope. Many of the London trams ran on the conduit system in the city centre, so the trolley pole was tied down.

However I’ve just looked up some pictures on the internet and when on the conduit, the trolley pole was held in place by a hook on the roof and the rope does not appear to go through the spiral thing.

 

[Skymonster]

Original feature. It just keeps the loose-ish trolley rope from waving around too much, but also allows the rope to move up and down a little as the trolley head wheel moves laterally or up and down slightly when the tram turns, the wire isn’t centred above the tram or the wire dips and rises. When the trolley pole is hooked down there’s less need to allow the rope to move a bit. The rope is waved about to get it into the loop after the pole is swung from one end of the tram to the other and taken out of the spiral before the pole is swung. Some other trams have straighter overlapping rods that serve the same purpose, some have no rope restraint.

 

[Harpo]

Go to Youtube and find the 1953 short film ‘The Elephant Will Never Forget’. Its an absolute gem and a little bit emotional.

The film shows in detail how London trams switched between overhead wire and conduit, a buried 3rd rail with a slotted shoe.

 

[Taunton]

For those too youthful for "Trolley Ropes" ( ) the trolley pole for the overhead wire was sprung upwards, and had a long rope attached by which it could be pulled down from the ground - good muscles required by the conductor. Different somewhat amateurish methods of securing the rope were used, which otherwise might swing around, snag on a passing vehicle, and pull the trolley off, or worse. Some trams had two trolley poles, one at each end, to be used depending on direction; others had to be pulled down and walked right around at the terminus. Some systems just took the trailing rope in the rear driver's window and wound it round one of the handles there, there were various other ways to secure it, as here.

Broken trolley ropes were by no means unknown, so long bamboo poles with a hook on the end were also at various key points around the system, or carried on the car slung above the bogies.