Re: Melbourne Trams

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

Yuri J Sos/Melbourne wrote:
> 
> On Thu, 27 May 1999 08:32:44 +1200, David McLoughlin
> <davemcl@REMOVEiprolink.co.nz> wrote, and I selectively quote:
> 
> >Have you heard of National City Lines, the company owned by General
> >Motors, Firestone Tires and Standard Oil, which bought dozens of US
> >tramway systems in the 1930s, 40s and 50s and replaced the trams
> >with.... General Motors buses rolling on Firestone tyres and fuelled by
> >Standard Oil diesel????
> 
> I thought this had been debunked as an "urban myth" a long, long time
> ago.

Sort of. NCL actually existed, and did buy up dozens of US tramways, and
it did close most of those it bought down in the way I describe. The
"myth" is that NCL was responsible for destroying ALL of the US tram
systems. In fact most such systems closed without NCL help. Two major
ones, DC Transit in Washington DC and Pittsburgh Railways in Pittsburgh
PA were private companies never owned by NCL, operating modern fleets of
PCC trams... and closed anyway... the DC trams in 1961 by order of
Congress, and the Pittsburgh ones (with the exception of the South Hills
tunnel lines) by the municipality which took over the system in 1964.

Los Angeles' trams were bought by NCL but survived NCL, to be closed
under public ownership in 1963 despite what you saw in the film "Who
Framed Roger Rabbit."  And SEPTA in Philaldelphia, which still operates
eight tram lines (and five trolleybus routes) has done almost as much as
NCL to close Philadelphia's tram system which it acquired from NCL.

Times have changed, but I think the moral remains. I LIKE private
ownership, but I remain wary that private ownership of Melbourne's trams
will ensure their survival. We need to stay on guard.

David McLoughlin
Auckland New Zealand