Re: Public Perception of Trams

[Dave McL <davemcl@AXE*THISiprolink.co.nz>]

Roderick Smith wrote:
> 
> Another tv show, in about 1987, showed an assemblage of round-the-world
> scenes.  The opening scene was of South Melbourne Depot at 5.00, with the
> first trams running out.  This was screened with pride.  Either it was a
> deliberate reversal of the item Ron remembers from 1967, or Ron has
> misdated this one.

You are surely thinking of the same show. It was June 26 1967, and
featured W5 774 running out of South Melbourne. I was only a small child
at the time, but I remember it clearly and I don't recall it attracting
cries of shame. A tram was chosen because trams were and are the symbol
of Melbourne. Maybe Ron remembers a letter to the editor from some
road-rager complaining.

Even when I was a kid, there were heaps of postcards of Melbourne that
specially featured trams, just as many postcards do now. That hardly
suggests that trams were an embarrassment to the city.

There are still people in Melbourne now who would get rid of the trams.
Nothing has changed.

David McLoughlin
Auckland New Zealand