Re: Batman Avenue Trams Finished!

[David McLoughlin <davemcl@REMOVEiprolink.co.nz>]

Andrew Mitchell wrote:
> 
> >Are 2001 and 2002 still in service? They were rarely used for many
> >years, and last time I was in Melbourne I only saw 2001 -- once. It
> >still had the trolley pole.
> 
> They still operate out of Southbank Depot on route 96 (and 12 on
> weekends)  A lot of the drivers don't like them because of their
> different bracking system (they can roll backward on hills like the
> A's & Z's) which would not be a problem, but the other B's at
> Southbank don't roll back...so the drivers find this annoying when
> they get stuck with it.


Surely something so basic could be attended to by a fairly simple
modification.

This reminds me of San Francisco's PCC trams. Most of them had the
standard arrangement of left pedal for the brake and right pedal for the
accelerator, but in a few, the arrangement was reversed. This was
extremely dangerous and the reverse-pedal cars were hated by the
drivers, but AFAIK nothing was ever done to modify the orphans.

David McLoughlin
Auckland New Zealand