Re: Federation Tramway Proposal

["David Bennetts" <davibenn@pcug.org.au>]

Barry Campbell <campblbm@ozemail.com.au> wrote in article
<6no3m6$8hb$1@news.mel.aone.net.au>...
> 
> Barry Campbell wrote in message <6no1m8$r95$2@news.mel.aone.net.au>...
> >
> >David Bennetts wrote in message
> ><01bda798$77e1db80$6e4c0acb@davibenn.pcug.org.au>...
> >
> ><snip>
> >>Have you seen the job
> >>that Sydney Tramway Museum did on the former wreck of a W2 from
Newcastle
> >>and restored for Christchurch.  It's now in immaculate condition and a
> very
> >>reliable runner on that city's tourist tramway.
> >
> >I'm itregued. How did Newcastle figure in life of a W2?
> >
> >
> >Barry Campbell
> >
> >
> 
> Actually I meant I'm itrigued. But anyway where does Newcastle fit in?
> 
> 
> Barry Campbell's spellchecker
> 
 
Barry and other interested NG readers.


The W2 in question was part of the Newcastle Tramway Museum collection. 
The Museum was for a while operating at Rutherford along a piece of disused
railway line, with a motor generator mounted on a trailer powering the
trams.  There were proposals to relocate the Museum into the city area to
run along the waterfront, and to run from the Stockton ferry terminal
across the river, but the plans fell through.

The collection deteriorated quite badly through exposure to the weather,
and without any real source of income, the museum went bankrupt.  The
Sydney Tramway Museum acquired much of the collection, including the W2
aforementioned which they restored and leased to the Christchurch Tramway. 
More recently, another of the former Newcastle museum tram bodies has also
been restored by the Sydney Tramway Museum from a virtual wreck - this was
a Sydney R Class body, and is now in the Hunter Mall as Newcastle's answer
to Sydney's famed Harry's Cafe de Wheels. 

Regards

David Bennetts