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Ground-level power supply
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==Early systems== [[File:Washington, D.C. Aerial view of a street corner2.jpg|thumb|Conduit for current collection between the rails of [[streetcars in Washington, D.C.]], 1939. First installed in 1895,<ref name="White1968">{{citation |title=Public Transport in Washington before the Great Consolidation of 1902 |author=John H. White, Jr. |journal=Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C. |volume=66/68 |issue=46 |pages=216–230 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40067257}}</ref> it remained in operation until 1962<ref name="Boorse2005">{{citation |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0361198105193000107?journalCode=trra |title=Directly and Indirectly Reducing Visual Impact of Electric Railway Overhead Contact Systems |date=January 2005 |doi=10.1177/0361198105193000107 |author=Jack W. Boorse |journal=Transportation Research Record |volume=1930 |issue=1|url-access=subscription }}</ref>]] [[File:Kingsway tramway subway (6266160469).jpg|thumb|right|Remaining conduit tram track on the ramp to the abandoned [[Kingsway tram subway]] in London, 2011, with plants growing in the conduit]] [[Conduit current collection]] systems were implemented as early as 1881 with the [[Gross-Lichterfelde Tramway]].<ref name="Colley2014" />{{Rp|Appendix I}} The system is primarily composed of a channel, or conduit, excavated under the roadway; the conduit is positioned either between the running rails, much in the same fashion as the cable for [[Cable car (railway)|cable cars]],<ref name="Williams2004" /> or underneath one of the rails; a car is connected to a "plow" that runs through the conduit and delivers power from two electric rails at the sides of the conduit to the car's electric motor.<ref name="Schatzberg" /> Plows were manually attached and detached from cars as they switched rail lines.<ref name="Williams2004">{{citation |url=https://dewi.ca/trains/conduit/ploughs.html |title=London Trams: current collectors (ploughs) |author=Dewi Williams |year=2004}}</ref> [[Cleveland]] opened a conduit line in 1885.<ref name="White1968" /> [[Trams in Budapest|Tram companies in Budapest]] trialed a conduit current collector system in 1887. [[Overhead line]]s were met with public opposition for aesthetic reasons, so the contractor [[Siemens Mobility|Siemens-Halske]] implemented a concrete conduit underneath one of the trolley rails, with a narrow opening that allowed a "plow" to be inserted and make electrical contact with wires held by insulators at either side of the conduit. The system was used in several cities in Europe and the United States, where it was known as the "Budapest System".<ref name="Schatzberg">{{citation |url=https://ia600807.us.archive.org/23/items/technologiespowe00alle/technologiespowe00alle_djvu.txt |title=Culture and Technology in the City: Opposition to Mechanized Street Transportation in Late-Nineteenth-Century America |author=Eric Schatzberg |year=2001 |publisher=MIT Press}}</ref><ref name="szamosvillamos">{{cite book |title=Számos villamos [Numbered tram] |last=Legát |first=Tibor |author2=Zsolt L. Nagy |author3=Gábor Zsigmond |chapter=Bevezető [Introduction] |pages=6–12 |year=2010 |publisher=Jószöveg |location=Budapest |isbn=978-615-5009-15-0|language=hu}}</ref> [[Washington, D.C.]] installed its first conduit current collection system in 1895. By 1899 all downtown lines were converted to the conduit system, which remained in operation until 1962.<ref name="White1968" /> The system was generally safe, but tended to get clogged by mud and dirt. The system fell out of favor within a few years due to the cost of excavating the conduit, and was generally replaced with overhead lines.<ref name="Schatzberg" /> [[Stud contact system]]s were implemented from 1899 to 1921. Systems by the inventors Dolter and Diatto were used in Tours, Paris, and several towns in England. Power was supplied from studs set in the road at intervals, which connected to the traveling cars with [[contact shoe]]s or [[contact ski]]s. The studs were cylinders with their tops flush with the road surface. Underneath there was a switch mechanism that made an electrical connection with the top of the stud when a car with a strong electromagnet at its underside passed over it. The Diatto switches contained mercury, which often leaked or adhered to the side of the cylinder and kept the exposed top electrified. The Dolter switches used pivot arms, which tended to get stuck in the electrified position. Similar systems were operated by Thomson-Houston in Monaco from 1898 to 1903, and by [[František Křižík]] in Prague on the [[King Charles Bridge]] from 1903 to 1908.<ref name="Colley2014">{{citation |url=https://oro.open.ac.uk/54876/1/690467.pdf |title=Electrifying the streets: the surface-contact controversy in give English towns 1880-1920 |author=Gerry Colley |date=November 27, 2014 |doi=10.21954/ou.ro.0000d65c}}</ref>{{Rp|109–116}} Stud contact systems were short-lived due to safety issues.<ref name="Baggs">{{citation |url=https://dcstreetcar.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Section-D-Part-2-281-498-pagesred.pdf |title=Wire-Free Traction System Technology Review |author=J Baggs |publisher=[[Edinburgh Tram Network]] |section=5.1 Ground Level Power Supply |date=March 9, 2006}}</ref> Conduit current collection systems were used in several major cities, including Monaco, Dresden, Prague, Tours, Washington, and London,<ref name="Colley2014" />{{Rp|44}} but posed maintenance issues and road safety issues. The Bordeaux and Washington conduit systems remained the last in operation until being decommissioned in 1958<ref name="Baggs" /> and 1962,<ref name="Boorse2005" /> respectively. For decades, these systems were not reintroduced because they didn't meet modern safety standards.<ref name="Baggs" />
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