Re: Melb (AUS) W-class trams

[billboltonREMOVE-TO-EMAIL@computer.org (Bill Bolton)]

Vaughan Williams <ender2000@my-deja.com> wrote:

> expert so its hard to challenge them with anything more concrete than
> an observation that the brakes worked fine from 1919 until 1999.

Well, to say the worked fine is probably somewhat of an exaggeration,
as I've personally seen numerous occasions over th eyeras between the
early 1950s and 1999 when they didn't!

In fact, they worked with what was considered an acceptable level of
failures for what was considered an acceptable level of maintenance
cost, when in public ownership.

The Victorian (mis)Government decided that for doctrinaire reasons,
that it was desirable to divest the trams form public ownership and to
expose them to a commercially competitive environment to "improve"
public service levels etc.

We are now experiencing the results!

Cheers,

Bill