The section of railroad on which this system has been operated was only 2 miles long, in which distance the curves were considerable, but, although they were mostly in one direction, the indications of wear upon the traction wheels, and upon the guide rail and trolley wheels, were hardly perceptible.
12.
Both were fitted to the top of the car and were spring-loaded in order to keep, respectively, a small trolley wheel or grooved lubricated " skate " mounted at the top of the pole or a steel rod forming the top of the bow firmly in contact with the underside of the overhead wire.
13.
In a true line with, and fifteen feet directly above, the face of the track rail was the lower face of a guide rail, supported from posts arranged along the side of the track, and on the sides of this guide rail run pairs of rubber-faced trolley wheels attached to the top of the locomotive and the cars.
14.
Credit for development of the first working trolley pole is given to Charles Joseph Van Depoele, a Belgian engineer who moved to the United States in 1869 . Van Depoele made the first public demonstration of the spring-loaded device on a temporary streetcar line installed at the Toronto Industrial Exhibition ( now the CNE ) in autumn 1885 . and Sprague employed trolley-pole current collection on an electric streetcar system he installed in Richmond, Virginia, in 1888, also improving the trolley wheel and pole designs.
