Melb destination rolls

["Darren H." <locob67@hotmail.com>]

Greetings all,
I was recently re-tensioning an ex Tait train destination roll (don't we
all?) and noticed the words "Tait and 1st series Harris roll" pencilled on
the rear of the bottom of the roll.
This of course leads me to ask why this was written on the roll? What, if
anything, made it different than a 2nd series Harris or a later type of
spark? Were there different widths or something? The roll is one from the
final years of Tait trains - has CITY LOOP, WERRIBEE etc. I assume other
trains from this era would have similar destinations anyway, so I wouldn't
expect this to be the reason for marking it in this way.
While I'm at it. Does anyone know if it is possible to fix these things so
that they don't keep scrolling off on strange angles? It seems impossible. I
know they often did this in service, so I'm prepared to live with the fact
that it is authentic.

Darren Hodges.