cross-span

Updated: May 11, 2025

To eliminate any possibility of the trolley wire breaking, a strong steel cable, called a catenary, was slung just above the trolley wire. To this catenary the trolley wire was suspended by hangers at short intervals. These cables were strung from brackets so that a single row of poles could be used, save at the curves, at which cross-span construction was used.

Victor [pseud.] Appleton - Tom Swift and His Electric Locomotive, or, Two Miles a Minute on the Rails