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

["Paul Nicholson" <pn1@rocketmail.com>]

The story of the offer from Sydney was told on the tram yesterday. I can
remember it being reported in the paper.
But, apparently, Sir Henry Bolte, would have nothing of it.
I'm not a technical person but it was explained to me yesterday that 1808
was rewired underneath to a W2 configuration and that other restorations
would be done the same way. R1 1951 is already at Bendigo and 2001 will be
next.
It has also been reported that Haddon's VR #41 (St Kilda Brighton Electric
Street Railway closed in 1959) is to be restored in Bendigo.
The National Trust has been quiet of late regarding the fate of the trams
stored at Newport Workshops; these inclue R 1845, VR #20 and a Brisbane four
motor tram.
Exciting times for everyone!
Paul Nicholson

"David McLoughlin" <davemcl@NO***damned***SPAMiprolink.co.nz> wrote in
message 3a4d4a5f@news.iprolink.co.nz">news:3a4d4a5f@news.iprolink.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