Re: MELBOURNE TRAMWAY TRACK DIAGRAM

[John Cleverdon <johnc@cdi.com.au>]

David McLoughlin wrote:

> Ron BESDANSKY (formerly Ron BEST) wrote:
> >
> > Has there ever been an accurate map of Melbourne's tramways showing opening
> > & closing dates, duplication, electrification etc? (Like the ones in David
> > Keenan's book about the Sydney system.)
>
> No.
>
> The closest I have seen was one drawn up by Stephen Watson of 9 Lorne
> Street Moonee Ponds (it says this on the map) which seems to be his own
> private effort. It was published in 1993 and was sold in bookshops and
> like places. It shows where all the horse, cable and electric lines ran
> and gives opening and closing dates. However it does not give track
> layouts.... the lines are just shown as bold lines on the map. And there
> are some errors that leap out: for example, it shows the Holden Street
> line connecting St George's Rd with Lygon Street as being fully closed
> in 1939 when it was still open, at least as far as Nicholson Street,
> well into the mid-1970s (I have a photo of 1041 using it).
>
> About the best track map which has been published is the one in the
> latest (1993) edition of Destination City which itself was an update of
> the map in David Keenan's 1985 book Melbourne Tramways.
>
> But this one does not show closed routes (ie Pt Ormond, the Footscray
> local lines, the two VR lines) or deviations (such as on Route 1 into
> Nolan Street when the Arts Centre was built) and nor does it have
> anything to indicate when a line opened.
>
> A really decent decent Melbourne map would need to show the electric
> tram track layouts as well as the cable car system. AFAIK there has
> never been a proper track map of this published. The map in Mind The
> Curve is just schematic and doesn't show the track arrangements at all.
> Additionally, some cable car lines (Johnston Street Bridge, Port
> Melbourne) were not converted to electric trams so this would need
> covering too. Of course they are shown in Stephen Watson's map but as I
> said, this doesn't show the track layout.
>
> Hey, from writing this it is obvious there is a good opening for a
> decent map of Melbourne's trams. Maybe Stephen, if he is still around,
> might make another version.
>
> David McLoughlin
> Auckland New Zealand

Hmmmm, I have a map of the tram network from a few years back in digital format,
and also another map of the main road network in Melbourne, again in digital
format. If it wasn't for the fact that the latter is a big file (and overloads
the memory), I could *possibly* attempt something in CorelDraw, provided complete
details of all the lines were passed on to me.

Can something please let me know what the northern/southern/eastern/western
limits of all the tram lines are, anyway, please? I'll see what happens, and if I
have any luck, I could pass the "base" map on to someone to add dates and similar
things.

John
--
John Cleverdon, B.App.Sc. (Cartography), AMMSIA
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