Re: BRISBANE LIGHT RAIL / TRAMS

[karl <karl@merddyn.apana.org.au>]

David McLoughlin wrote:

> I am pleased you saved the archives. What I was talking about, and
> have
> always talked about, is what actually happened, not what might have
> been.
>

Point taken. What was happening was that Alfred Jones decided trams
should go and put plans into effect to do just this. John Chandler was
elected Mayor in 1940 (?)  and (war aside) put a stop to the scrapping
plans, built new cars (over 50 odd during the war from memory), major
extensions and introduced trolley buses as an alternate to diesel
buses on heavily trafficed routes that did not have the patronage to
justify the capital expense of trams. Conductors were on buses,
trolley buses and trams until 1960.

Trolley bus expansion came to an end with Sir Reginald Groom who
bought 6 more bases after the initial orders to bring the total to 36.
The last couple may have entered service under Jones. I'd have to
check on that.

The Brisbane bus service was only just really beginning to take off
when Clem Jones came to power. Although Chandler "nationalised"
several small companies in the inner city post war (to fill in the
gaps between the tram lines (and avoid direct competition with trams
(?)) , it was not until Clem took over that the larger companies  fell
victim to city hall.

Cheers

Garry