Jubilee Mass Report

["Andy B" <gunzel0@optushome.com.au>]

Caught the 0729 Up from Nunawading.   The driver on this service gave
passengers time updates at every major station (Camberwell, Richmond, etc).
At Richmond after giving everyone the time, he gave us the word of the day,
which was "Spuddle".  I can't remember what it meant :-)

Arrived SSS 0805, and had a quick cup of tea at Tracks cafe ($2.30!).  This
gave an opportunity to watch the trams go past. Noted B1.2002 running Route
96 at 0830, and at 0834 B2.2090 went past on Route 96 wth A3 signs saying
"S022" in the front and side windows.

>From about 0845 there was a fairly steady flow of students coming in. Seems
many of the younger students (primary) came earlier, the older ones seemed
to arrive later.

Connex and Bayside had many CSE's (and some management) on duty, in order to
direct children either to the subway or up the escalators. This had been
pre-arranged to minimise congestion,  I guess.  It appeared that Connex and
Bayside CSEs were mixing together to help one another today, rather than
just look after their own trains.  The CSE's were efficient, and had the
trains unloaded in less than 2 mins.

It appears Bayside were slightly more organised than Connex overall.

I think all of Connex's trains were signed with posters on the front window,
or drivers door, for identification by teachers/students, and only about 70%
of Bayside trains had this.

>From 0900 students were coming in thick and fast.

The first signed train was B01, which was 342M ... 474M., which arrived 1
min early.  Scheduled 0910, arr 0909.

It appeared many of the younger children were diverted quickly into the
subway, presumably for safety reasons, while the older kids took the
escalators.

I made notes on the trains being used for most special services.  List can
be supplied on request.

571M was observed exiting the loop, with thick smoke pouring out of the
engine.  One connex CSE was overheard saying something along the lines of
"all those bloody new trains have dodgy brakes, how can they run them?"

All in all, it was extremely well organised by Connex & Bayside, with
minimal disruption to normal services.  There was some congestion with kids
in the subway, some waiting up to 5 mins to move through.

I didn't stay around for the afternoon movements, too hot and too tired.

I'll have pictures next week, too broke to get them done this week.