£17,000 as this was what the contractor was asking him for. He could not raise this amount so in his usual fashion he decided to make it himself. On the 26th of July 1899 the company changed from side rail to overhead conductor without a single days interruption in the traffic. Mr Traill had done the job for about £8000.

As the Board of Trade allowed the company to have the voltage at 500 to 550 volts, with the over head system, the company bought some more powerful generators. Even with this new system the maximum speed of the electric tramcars was about 12 mph. The maximum speed allowed by the Board of Trade was 10 mph. Often the trams went much slower than this e.g.. in wet weather due to current leakage or in dry times when the river Bush was not so full and not so much power was available.