Accrington on Rails - The Tramways: A Complete History - Robert Kenyon

GENERAL RULES 37.All new men will be employed as spare Shedmen or Conductors subject to their being found suitable work, before being appointed to full service as vacancies occur. 38.Staff must not take instructions from any other than Tramway Officials, and must not impart any information on operations or accidents to unofficial sources. 39.Staff were expressly forbidden to accept or repudiate any liability in connection with an accident, or impart any knowledge thereof to other than the Traffic Superintendent or the General Manager. 40.In the case of a snowstorm or any other adverse weather conditions which might seriously interfere with the operation of the services, all employees are expected to show by their willingness to co-operate with the management in minimising the disruption. 41.In addition extra orders will be issued as may occasionally arise and these too will require full compliance. 42.Drivers in examining their cars before entering service must check that all maintenance has been done and repairs completed. Also that the fuse box contains sufficient spare fuses, that sand hoppers are full and that lights and controllers are all in working order, in addition to which there is a short length of insulated cable, a point bar and draw chain, extra sand bags and the telephone box key in the cab. 43.Before moving the car he must check that the trolley is in proper contact with the overhead wire, and that both canopy switches are in the ‘on’ position and pointing in the intended direction of travel. 44.After sounding a warning on the foot gong the driver must move the handle to the first notch, then on to each position according to the speed required. 45.When a car is worked on the first five notches the motors are ‘in series’, which gives the greatest pulling power, but the car achieves rather less than half maximum speed. 46.When running in the final three notches the motors are ‘in parallel’ which gives full speed. The power handle should only be held for a few seconds in notches 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 & 7, but it may be allowed to stay in notches 5 and 8 for any length of time as these are designated as the running notches. Drivers should never hold the power handle between any notches but always try to may a clean contact every time the handle is moved. 47.It is imperative that Drivers exercise rigid economy in the use of the power and brakes as this will greatly contribute to the financial success of the undertaking. 48.The electric brake should always be used for an emergency stop in preference to any other method, and Drivers are warned specifically not to use reversing the motors in order to stop a car, as this would cause the wheels to lock which is the worst possible situation. 49.If under normal conditions the Driver should find it necessary to utilise the electric brake the pointer on the controller should be allowed to dwell for an instant at the ‘off’ position before working up the brake. However, in the case of extreme emergencies, where life or property is in danger, Drivers should not hesitate to turn the pointer round from notch seven ahead to a brake notch corresponding to the momentum of his car. 50.Should the electric brake fail or become inoperative whilst the wheels are still turning, there is still an emergency brake which is very powerful and which can be relied upon to recover control of the car under almost any circumstances, providing that sand has been applied when it is put into operation. 51.To use the emergency brake as the last resort, Drivers should put the canopy switch to the ‘off’ position and have the reversing level pointing in the opposite direction to the motion of the car, then bring the pointer on the power handle quickly round to the sixth or seventh position, (but never the eighth). This method of stopping the car must only be used when all other means of stopping a car have failed. 52.Many of the accidents involving runaway cars had not been due to any faults on the car’s brakes or other equipment to respond satisfactorily, but chiefly through the lack of caution on the part of their Drivers , who had put on a certain amount of brake

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