The Fylde Transport Trust are an organisation who don’t seem to want the grass to grow under their feet as no sooner have they seen the launch of one of their trams into service (Standard 143 if you missed the news!) then they are continuing with plans to help another one back onto the tracks. That tram is one of the ever popular Coronation Cars, 304 – the only one still fitted with its original VAMBAC equipment.
Earlier this year the FTT launched a fundraising campaign to raise £3,160 to go towards the overhaul of the tram’s compressor and after just a few months 83% of this target has been reached. This has included a £1,000 donation from an anonymous enthusiast which means that just £529 more is needed to reach the target.
And that’s not all there is to report on 304 as the FTT have received wiring diagrams and technical specifications for the new 24 volt track brakes fitted to the Snaefell Mountain Railway cars over last winter. They are now looking at this information to see whether the track brakes on 304 could be converted to 24 volt on a cab operated switch via the batteries instead of the 500v circuit operated through the VAMBAC equipment.
If you would like to help the FTT achieve their funding goal please visit https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/coronation304 where you can make a donation, however big or small.
Minor correction, the track brakes on the coronations (like most other UK 1st gen trams) use regenerated enery from the traction motors to power the track brakes not the 500V traction supply. Using the 500V would be unsafe as the brakes would fail if traction voltage is lost (ie dewirement).
One of the major faults with VAMBAC is that Alan West used traction voltage controlled contactors and accelerator pilot motor (although the two brake contactors are 24V). A study of VAMBAC history indicates the early (1946) prototype system used a 36V battery system in its entirety like Westinghouse in the US. This in itself was not covered by US the patents.