Trolley Buses - any enthusiast?

Pretty sure early electric transport was DC - 630V usually. The smell is either hot enamelled copper wire or the crude resistors they used to limit starting current.

Do you have an outside electric point to plug a sump-heater into ?.

If so, and they are common, Canada could be well-placed for plug-in electric cars ??

My former employer, the parking lot at work had just about every parking spot with an electrical outlet for sump-heater.

The employees didn't abuse them.

They were all removed, the next time the lot needed paving :-)

We're talking about a lot with room for 700 cars or so.

Since the invention of decent oil for cars, the sump-heater is less necessary. My current car is the first one without a sump heater installed. The last couple of years, the low temp was -26C. (There was one day which was a bit colder, but you just wait it out until it passes. There were a few more

-26C days.)

Where my sister lives, gets colder than that. And she tells stories about what it takes to get a car started. There's not much room in the car, because she is a great believer in emergency supplies. If you need a deep-fried Mars bar, there's probably one in the glove box.

Whereas in my car, there's just about nothing for emergencies. A jack, a tire iron, and a spare tire I've never looked at :-)

Paul

The smell is ozone from the sparking at the brushes. Electrical substations on the route had mercury in glass rectifers that provided the DC from a 12 phase AC transformer.

Does she live in Scotland ? :-)

It's northern Alberta Canada.

She starts cross country skiing in late September. There's enough snow by then, for a track.

Paul

Icing was a big problem on the overhead trolleybus wire ISTR