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45
highgate hill cable tramway.
In consequence of an accident and collision which occurred on the
5th December, 1892, an enquiry was held in the Board Room of the
Hornsey Local Board on behalf of the Board of Trade by Major
General Hutchinson, R.E., who reported to that Board that the
occurrence was the result of the failure of the driver of the car to
completely release the gripper and apply the slipper brake as tightly
as might have been done, and of the conductor neglecting to place a
scotch under one of the rear wheels of the car when it came to a stand
on a gradient of 1 in 15 owing to a temporary stoppage of the cable.
Major General Hutchinson also reported that certain of the pulleys
used in working the tramway were out of repair, and the Board of
Trade required the traffic on the tramway to be stopped until the
pulleys had been put into a satisfactory condition; the followingextracts
from his report to the Board of Trade are significant:—
Had there been a properly qualified engineer in charge of the machinery, he
would hardly have taken the responsibility of allowing the working of the tramway
to be continued with these pulleys in so faulty a condition, and it is certainly most
necessary that a proper eagineer should be appointed without loss of time, for
although the engineer in charge appears to be a capable man, he has not had the
necessary training to fit him for so responsible a post.
It transpired at the enquiry that there was occasionally only one man in the
engine room or depot when the machinery was in motion, a most improper arrangement.
The affairs of this Tramway having been for some time past in the hands of a
receiver, there appears to be a difficulty in obtaining the necessary funds to keep the
machinery, &c., in a proper state of efficiency, and it becomes a serious question
whether the present authority (now about expiring) for working the cable system
should be renewed until some more satisfactory arrangements for working the
Tramway, than now exiat, shall have been adopted.
The running of cars was stopped by order of the Board of Trade
shortly after the accident referred to and has not since been resumed.
NEW STREETS.
3,137 feet in length of roadway have been made, and 8,569 feet in
length of footway flagged by the Vestry during the past year pursuant
to its powers under the Metropolis Local Management Acts.