Re: Official launch in Bendigo of restored Sydney tram R 1808

[David McLoughlin <davemcl@NO***damned***SPAMiprolink.co.nz>]

David Bennetts wrote:

> A story I heard some years ago was that Melbourne's Tramway Board was
> offered the fleet of R1 class trams at 6000 pounds ($12,000) each when the
> Sydney system closed in 1961.  The newest of these was built in 1953 and was
> then only eight years old.  At that time Melbourne had considerably older
> trams still in service (W type dating back to mid 1920s)  They didn't take
> up the offer, and the trams were either burnt or sold as sheds for 50 pounds
> ($100) each.

Calcutta in India was also offered Sydney's R-class trams, but could not
afford them.

Melbourne didn't take up the R-class offer because by 1961, the future
of Melbourne's trams was uncertain. The state government ordered the
production of new trams to cease in 1956, just as 1040 (the last W7)
entered service. A further 30 W7s were under construction, but work
ceased because of the political order. Parts of them were used for
accident rebuilds.

The Melbourne trams were semi-independent of the state government at the
time and the state government was mightily pissed off that the tramways
board had converted the Bourke Street bus routes to trams in 1955/56
(the routes had been cable-tram operated until 1940). The trams were
still making a good profit, so the government starved them of capital
funds by diverting the tramway profits to pay for the Metropolitan Fire
Brigade. After a few years of this, the trams were plunged into losses
and were forced to borrow at commercial rates to carry on. They only
survived because of the pro-tram dedication of their boss, Major-General
Sir Robert Risson.

Eventually the tide turned in Melbourne. As a result of the 1973 "energy
crisis", state politicians came to see the value of the trams and the
rest, as they say, is history, with 433 new trams built since then, 100
more now on order, numerous new lines and extensions opened since 1977
and even more under way now.

Oh, in 1969, Melbourne was also offered Brisbane's modern FM trams
(newest built in 1964) when the vandal Clem Jones shut Brisbane's
excellent tramway system literally overnight after secretly buying
hundreds of diesel buses. But the FMs were much narrower than
Melbourne's trams and regarded as unsuited for the huge loads carried in
Melbourne. However Melbourne did buy some of the trucks from the FMs 
(which were to all purposes identical to the No 15 trucks used in all
Melbourne W-series from W5 on.

Which brings me to ask, after at the start of this thread, Paul
Nicholson wrote:

> R 1808 has been restored to Sydney condition but is mounted on W2
> trucks from Melbourne.

Why would R 1808 be mounted on trucks from a W2 (which used ancient MMTB
No 1 trucks) when the R class in Sydney also used MMTB No 15 trucks?
Surely there are some spare sets left? Hundreds of W-class trams are
rotting in depots and warehouses under a "protection order" from the
National Trust of Victoria. Couldn't just one set be spared? Surely even
the Bylands (Vict) tramway museum must have a spare set of No 15 trucks?

David McLoughlin
Auckland New Zealand