Re: Batman Avenue Trams Finished!

["John Wayman" <trecker@bigpond.com>]

The Ls and the VR cars had no problems with clearance anywhere on the old
MMTB that I know about.

The VR cars were restricted to Footscray line because they were non standard
vehicles, along with W5 class cars 750 and 751 which also had non standard
control gear (same as a Glenelg tram).

W6 and W7 class resilient wheel cars were also restricted to the Bourke
Street routes for most of their early years.

The only platform that I remember in Swanston Street was at the Franklin
Street Signal box. The stops were standard safety zones, with different
railings, and yes, loudspeakers for a signalman to identify arriving cars.

The L class were fantastic cars to drive or to conny on.

I have movies of the first Z class doing clearance tests on the Wattle Park
route. Some modifications to kerbing, etc., were subsequently made,


Cheers
John Wayman


Christopher_Martin GORDON <cmgord@ecr.mu.oz.au> wrote in message
7j0fri$dtt$1@mulga.cs.mu.OZ.AU">news:7j0fri$dtt$1@mulga.cs.mu.OZ.AU...
> : > Didn't Swanston Street have some sort of platforms at some time?
Hence
> : > the reason that the VR trams couldn't run down Swanston Street (they
were
> : > too wide)
>
> : Hmm, don't think so but perhaps someone else can verify.
>
> Ok, from about the 1950's till I don't know the 70's?
> Swanston Street had low level platform(s).  There is even a picture of one
> at the corner of Flinders Street and Swanston Street (South bound) in
> "Melbourne's Tramways in 1974" on page 17 (Complete with inspector and
> loudspeakers telling people where each tram was going)
> That might have been the only stop I don't know I wasn't around then.
>
> The trams that were too wide for the platforms in Swanston Street were
> the L class trams.
>
> So low level platforms and restrictions on which tram could go where
> were around long before the Z class trams (and 1041).
>
>
>
> --
> Chris Gordon
> http://www.ecr.mu.oz.au/~cmgord