"Doggies" (Was Vic Tangaras)

[pcc@ocean.com.au (Les Brown)]

markbau1@aol.comQQQQyuk (MarkBau1) wrote in aus.rail:

>The term Doggies was coined by the Melbourne press very late in the game. My
>uncle who was a spark driver from 1949 till 1981 NEVER used the term "doggie"
>but rather "swing door"
>
The Melbourne press must've been speaking to railfans to know they
were called "doggies". As a railfan from the mid-sixties, we called
them "Doggies" then. In fact, when the ARHS published a little booklet
to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Australian (and Victorian)
electrification in 1969, page 8 reads (after coming to the conclusion
that Tait trains, based upon their current levels of replacement,
would last until 1999!); "In the meantime, much to the delight of
"doggie" fans, a number of compartment, swing-door cars which have not
been given major overhauls in latter years because of their "pending
withdrawl" are now undergoing repairs at Newport Workshops". 

Whilst I have no reason to doubt the veracity of your uncle, amongst
railfans of the period, we knew that name well. Others may have known
them by that name much earlier.

Les Brown.